An enjoyable outdoor living space comes down to creating a memorable experience, regardless of square footage. From a soaking tub under the stars to a high-rise vegetable garden, these 10 compact outside areas uploaded by the Houzz community show how good things don’t always come in big packages.
1. Taste of MarrakechLocation: Los Angeles
Size: 150 square feet (13.9 square meters)
Majorelle Garden, Yves Saint Laurent’s tropical retreat in Marrakech, Morocco, inspired Carrie Hayward’s patio in L.A.’s Windsor Square neighborhood. Working with landscape designer Laura Morton, Hayward transformed an uninviting apartment balcony into a Mediterranean oasis in Southern California.
Morton used the color palette of Hayward’s wedding as a springboard and applied it on the custom tiled dining table. Moroccan light fixtures and easy-care Mediterranean plants fill out the patio’s corners, provide the homeowners with fresh fruit, and screen unsightly views. “In the end, not only did we get an extra room, but we improved the view and atmosphere of the two rooms that look out on the patio,” Hayward says. “We try to eat dinner out there most nights from spring through fall, and we love to entertain guests there too.”
Blue paint: Deep Sapphire, Dunn-Edwards; dining table: Badia Design Photo by Root Photography
Melanie Rekola Landscape Design
2. Lush and Drought-Tolerant Deck
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
Size: 168 square feet (15.6 square meters)
Landscape designer Melanie Rekola’s former backyard in southern Ontario may have been tight on square footage, but it wasn’t short on plant life. “Small spaces can indeed be lush,” she says. “I grew lots of herbs and vegetables in pots there too, plus shrubs and grasses in pots.”
To add privacy and block intense summer sun, Rekola built a wood-framed screen and packed it tightly with saplings. A verdant living wall filled with a variety of sedum species contrasted with the screen and contributed to Rekola’s enjoyment of the space. “Having the lush plants all around made it always feel cool, even in the hot sun, as the plants absorb some of the heat,” she says. An irrigation system kept the green wall watered, although it didn’t require too much. “It was quite drought-tolerant,” she says.
3. Sunny Porch for Edibles
Location: Minneapolis
Size: 72 square feet (6.7 square meters)
On a ninth-floor balcony of a Minneapolis high-rise, Jenna Lipscomb grows tomatoes, peppers, kale and chard, among other edibles, and she even has a birdbath. “Birds come to swim in the little bath, and I have a ton of growing space,” she says.
New composite decking, multiple seating areas and plantings along the railing create an outdoor oasis in the middle of the city. To maximize the limited square footage, an Ikea banquette doubles as storage, and a long planter next to the railing maintains a narrow footprint while keeping the soil from drying out as quickly as it would in individual pots. “My neighbors all thought I was nuts out there with my power tools for a weekend, but now everyone is doing the same flooring to cover the ugly, cold concrete,” she says.
When Minnesota’s extreme winter weather strikes, Lipscomb can pack everything up in the benches or move it inside for storage.
Jay Sifford Garden Design
4. Monochromatic HarmonyLocation: Charlotte, North Carolina
Size: 70 square feet (6.5 square meters)
Landscape designer Jay Sifford designed this walled courtyard for a Charlotte townhouse with limited outdoor square footage located next to a street. “I went with a fairly monochromatic color scheme to make the space seem more harmonious and built up,” Sifford says. He stained the concrete patio a medium gray, and used Mexican beach pebbles to conceal conceal the yard’s slope and frame the patio. Potted Japanese maples flank the water feature and soften the perimeter wall.
5. Soak Under the Stars
Location: San Francisco
Size: 200 square feet (18.6 square meters)
Ruth Krumbhaar lives with her family in an 850-square-foot house in San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill neighborhood. “The master bath is small, so it only has a shower, and we wanted a place to soak,” she says. A small private deck off the living room offered the perfect spot. “We love having a soak at night with a glass of wine while looking up at the stars — or fog. It’s also a great way to get kids to bathe as they find the outdoor aspect of it fun.”
Resilient Trex decking integrates with the home’s interior wood floors, and an elegant bamboo planting and custom fence add interest and privacy. Builder John Steadman collaborated on the redwood fence’s design and construction, as he did with the rest of the project.
6. Downtown Seclusion
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Size: 244 square feet (22.6 square meters)
“Our townhouse is quite small, so we really liked the idea of having an outdoor living room that is very comfortable and private,” says Michael Rumsby of his downtown Vancouver home. A wood screen blocks the view to a high-rise and bicycle shop, and palm and maple trees shield the patio from surrounding buildings. A comfy sectional sofa that Rumsby has slept on during warm summer nights rounds out the space. “My close encounter with a raccoon ended that practice for me,” he says. Orange and teal accents carry through to the house.
7. Relaxing Nook in ParadiseLocation: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Size: 253 square feet (23.5 square meters)
Terry and Jay Paulson may already live in paradise, but their deck on Hawaii’s Big Island provides them with a private spot to sit, relax and read after a long day. Made of long-lasting ipe wood, it abuts a flamed-finished granite spa deep enough for swimming. Vincas and other tropical plants surround the homeowners in their intimate oasis. “Of course, it’s great in daytime,” Jay says, “but in the evening, we’ve got those remote-controlled Costco candles, the tiki torches and dedicated speakers for the music.”
Jay built the side table between the two chaise longues, putting it on casters so that it can move around the deck. It stores towels and a propane tank for the grill, and has an acid-washed galvanized steel top and corrugated galvanized steel sides.
8. Morning Meditation Space Location: Sarasota, Florida
Size: 144 square feet (13.4 square meters)
Maurina Rachuba retreats to this enclosed patio off her master bathroom to meditate every morning. The bold blue wall and tropical plantings evoke Morocco and Greece, and provide distinction from an otherwise neutral home. “We decided to make it as lush and colorful as we wanted to contrast with the interior as a happy little surprise for us alone,” she says.
In addition to providing a calming place for the homeowners to relax in the morning, the private patio also features a retractable clothesline for them to air-dry their clothes. Rachuba purchased the metal gears at a vintage shop and decided to hang them on the patio because they resembled small suns.
Blue paint: Royal Peacock, Behr
9. Secret Patio for SippingLocation: Dallas
Size: 192 square feet (17.8 square meters)
Tom Morrow and Jens Mielke’s narrow side yard in Dallas leads to a small patio for lounging and drinking iced tea. The iron fence protects them from the street while still providing visibility, and a fountain repurposed from the backyard softens the sounds coming from the road.
Privet and Japanese boxwood provide structure around the patio, and ivy, Knock Out roses, gardenia, jasmine and dwarf azaleas fill in. “Our young niece calls it her secret garden, and we agree,” Morrow says.
10. A Little Goes a Long Way
Location: Houston
Size: 72 square feet (6.7 square meters)
With a new hammock, drapes and a grill on the way, Lauren Zemp can now take advantage of her deck off the dining room. Evee, shown here, appreciates the shade these new curtains provide. Pocket doors separate the dining room from the rest of the house, so Zemp often leaves the French doors to the porch open. “While entertaining and grilling outside, we can use both the porch and dining room effectively as outdoor space, without worrying about bugs invading the rest of the home,” she says.
“Solar string lights and prayer flags from my recent trip to Nepal keep the space bright and colorful, even at night.”
Your turn: Show us how you’ve made the most of your patio or deck. Upload your pictures in the Comments.
