Key Takeaways:
You don’t need an acre, or even half an acre, to create a luxury resort-style backyard. Some of our favorite projects have been smaller properties where we had to get especially creative.
– Prioritize what you love. Think about how you want to spend your time outside and which features you’ll enjoy most.
– Get creative with scale. Thoughtful proportions, unexpected pool shapes, and clever sightlines can make a smaller yard feel much more spacious.
– Think about lighting. Lighting can completely change how you experience your backyard after dark.
Some of our favorite projects are ones that most people would look at and say, “There’s not much you can do here.”
But you don’t need a huge empty estate. You don’t need an acre. You don’t even need half an acre.
You don’t need a lot of room to create a luxury resort-style space in your backyard.
The key is having a really thoughtful design that considers every aspect of what’s important to you, the realities of the space we have to work with, and how to fit it all together.
Here are three things we consider when designing these smaller properties.
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Prioritize Your Wish List
Whenever we have a new project with a smaller space, there’s one word that’s especially important to how we approach the design.
And that word is edit.
We always encourage our clients to make a big wish list. Put every feature you’ve ever wanted on it. Every idea you’ve ever had.
From there, we can look at everything together and figure out what’s most important to you.
Maybe you’ve always wanted both a pool and a spa, but there isn’t quite enough room for two separate features. There’s something in the industry we call a spool, which is a combination spa and pool. That could be a great option for you.
Or let’s say you’re deciding between a sunken seating area and an elaborate, full-scale outdoor kitchen.
How do we decide which one makes the most sense?
Well, first of all, we ask, what’s your lifestyle like? Do you love hosting people? Do you regularly have friends and family over?
Maybe you actually don’t.
Maybe you see your backyard as more of a personal haven, somewhere you can curl up next to a beautiful water feature with a book. And maybe a large outdoor kitchen isn’t something you’d use very often.
When it comes to making those decisions, we always lead with lifestyle.
Think about the things you already love doing and how you would enjoy spending your time outside. Those are the things we want to prioritize.
And that’s really the value of editing. It’s about making thoughtful decisions so we can incorporate the features you’ll enjoy most and make the best possible use of the space we have.
Understand Scale
The next important consideration when designing a smaller property is scale.
Foxterra is based in Orange County, California, and our office isn’t very far from Disneyland.
A lot of us in the office have a special relationship with Disneyland, and one thing Disney does incredibly well is understand how scale works and how to manipulate it to create a certain effect.
This is something we think about a lot when designing smaller backyards.
In a large space, you have the room to make everything full scale. But in a smaller yard, we can play with proportions to create a sense of spaciousness and openness that doesn’t necessarily correspond with the actual square footage.
One of our favorite ways to do this is with the pool.
Sometimes, if you have a straight rectangular pool in a smaller yard, it can dominate the space and make everything around it feel cramped.
So instead, we might have an edge of the pool wrap around a corner, creating almost a little peninsula where it feels like you’re sitting on an island.
We might incorporate a daybed with water wrapping around it.
Even in a very small yard, something as simple as having the waterline of the pool continue around a corner can make a huge difference.
You look at it and think, wow, this yard must be pretty big because we can’t even see where the pool ends.
By playing with scale and creating those unexpected views, we can give the illusion that we have a lot more space to work with than we actually do.
I’ll say this: as a designer, small yards can be very challenging, but they can also be a lot of fun.
They’re a great opportunity to get creative with proportions and see how many elements we can incorporate in a way that makes sense. We still want everything to be useful and comfortable, but we also want the space to feel unexpected and uncrowded.
Get The Lighting Right
Of all the design elements we could possibly include, from swimming pools and spas to outdoor kitchens, sunken seating areas, and fire features, there’s one thing that really stands out when we’re working with a smaller space.
And that’s lighting.
Understanding which features to highlight, where to draw the eye, and what we might want to draw attention away from can make a tremendous difference in how spacious a yard feels, especially after dark.
We always say we’re designing two yards.
We’re designing the daytime yard and the nighttime yard, and hopefully, both offer an incredible, unique experience.
This is especially important in smaller spaces.
Think about how different your backyard can feel at night when you have beautiful lighting highlighting the trees, illuminating the water, or drawing your attention to a particular architectural feature.
We can use light to create depth, emphasize certain areas, and change how you experience the space after dark.
When you’re working with limited square footage, those details become even more important.
So lighting is something we would really encourage you to think about when planning your backyard. It’s an opportunity to make the most of your space and create an entirely different experience at night.
Hopefully, this has helped you see your small yard as an opportunity rather than a limitation.
Some of our favorite projects have come from properties where we had to get especially creative with the space available.
And you might be surprised by just how beautiful and functional your backyard could be, regardless of its size.
If you’re ready to explore what’s possible for your own property, connect with our team to talk through your project.
