Is a sunken seating area worth adding to a backyard?
A sunken seating area gives you a cozy, dedicated place to gather around a fire, reconnect with friends, spend time as a family, and enjoy your yard after dark. And because seating is such an important part of how you actually use an outdoor space, it’s worth thinking beyond one gathering area and making sure you have plenty of places to sit throughout the yard.
Key Takeaways:
– Sunken seating creates a natural place to gather. Dropping the seating area below the rest of the yard makes it feel more intimate, while a fire feature gives everyone a reason to stay awhile.
– Seating helps you use your yard for more than one part of the day. A fire pit gives you somewhere to hang out at night, while dining areas, loungers, daybeds, and other seating make the yard more useful throughout the day.
– One seating area usually isn’t enough. Different types of seating give you more ways to eat, entertain, relax, watch the kids, or spend time together outside.
Would you put this in your yard?
If you want your outdoor space to feel cozy.
To be the perfect place for reconnecting with friends.
Hanging out as a family.
Or you want to make sure your yard is designed so that you can use it after dark, not just during the day.
Consider adding a sunken seating space with a fire feature.
There’s something really cozy about dropping a seating area down below the level of the rest of the yard. And when there’s a fire feature as the focal point, it naturally brings people together.
It gives everyone a place to settle in, sit around the fire, and spend more time outside together.
And there are a lot of ways to approach it.
You can place a sunken seating area beside the pool, surround it with water, tuck it below an infinity edge, face it toward a view, or place it somewhere a little quieter and more private.
Here are a few sunken seating areas we’ve designed that might give you some inspiration.
Sunken Seating Beside the Pool
Sunken seating works really well right beside the pool.
Because you’re sitting lower, your eye level is much closer to the water, and that gives you a completely different view across the pool than you get from a standard patio.
It also keeps everyone close together. The people who want to swim can be in the water, while everyone else has somewhere comfortable to sit without feeling removed from what’s going on.
Add a fire feature in the middle and it gives you a place to gather during the day and keep using well into the evening.
Sunken Seating Surrounded by Water
Another option is to make the seating area look like it’s floating in the middle of the pool.
Because you’re completely surrounded by water, it can be an incredibly relaxing place to sit, especially with a fire feature in the middle.
It also gives you a really striking view from the rest of the yard. The lowered seating almost disappears into the water, while the fire becomes the focal point.
Sunken Seating With a View
If you have a great view, a sunken seating area is a really good place to take advantage of it.
You can face the seating toward the mountains, the ocean, the pool, or whatever part of the property you want to enjoy most. And because you’re sitting lower, you can often keep that view more open instead of having furniture or other features blocking it.
It gives you somewhere comfortable to sit for a while and actually enjoy the view instead of just seeing it as you walk through the yard.
A Smaller Sunken Seating Area
You also don’t need a huge amount of space to add sunken seating.
A smaller version can give you that same cozy place to gather around a fire without taking up a big portion of the yard. It can work really well for a family that wants somewhere to sit together at night but doesn’t necessarily need room for a huge group.
It really comes down to making the seating area the right size for your family and giving it enough room to be comfortable without using more of the yard than it needs.
Seating Is One of the Most Important Parts of a Yard to Get Right
Adding a sunken fire pit to your yard is always an impressive focal feature, but the bigger thing to think about is where everyone is actually going to sit once they’re outside.
You can have the pool, the spa, the outdoor kitchen, the putting green, the sports court, all of it. But if there aren’t enough places to sit comfortably throughout the day, you’re probably not going to use those areas as much as you could.
That’s why we think about seating in a few different ways.
Outdoor Dining + Bar Seating
If your family eats outside a lot or you have people over often, make sure there’s enough room for everyone to sit together.
That might mean a large dining table under a covered patio, stools around the outdoor kitchen, seating near the grill, or even a swim-up bar at the edge of the pool.
And those seats usually get used for a lot more than dinner. Breakfast, coffee, snacks, games, drinks with friends, all of that tends to happen in the same places.
Poolside Loungers + Daybeds
Not everyone wants to be in the pool all day.
Some people want to stretch out in the sun. Some want shade. Parents might want to sit close by while the kids swim.
Loungers and daybeds give you a comfortable place to stay near the pool without having to be in the water, and if your family spends long afternoons outside, you’ll probably use them constantly.
Swings
Swings are another really fun option because they work for kids and adults.
We’ve used them beside pools, overlooking views, tucked into landscaping, and even over the water.
They give you another place to sit without needing a full seating setup, and they can make use of areas that might otherwise get ignored.
Smaller Conversation Areas
You also don’t need every seating area to fit a big group.
Sometimes two chairs in the right spot are enough.
That could be somewhere to have coffee in the morning, sit with one other person, enjoy a view, or get a little space away from the main group.
Those smaller areas can be some of the most useful parts of the yard because they give you more options depending on what you want to do that day.
The point isn’t to fill the yard with furniture. It’s to make sure there are enough places to eat, relax, gather, and hang out so you can actually use more of the space.
If you’re renovating your yard, think about all the places you’d actually want to spend time outside. Maybe that’s around a fire at night, stretched out by the pool during the day, or sitting around a table with your whole family for dinner.
Those are the kinds of details we think through when we’re designing a yard.
Tell us about your project and what you want your time at home to look like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a sunken seating area worth adding to a backyard?
A sunken seating area can be a great addition if you want a cozy place to gather, especially around a fire. It also works well beside a pool because you can stay close to the water without everyone needing to be in it.
Where should you put a sunken seating area?
That depends on the property and the view. We often place sunken seating beside the pool, surrounded by water, facing a view, or in a quieter part of the yard where people can sit and spend time together.
Can a sunken seating area include a fire pit?
Yes. Adding a fire feature in the middle gives everyone a natural place to gather and makes it easier to keep using the yard after dark.
Does a sunken seating area have to be large?
Not at all. A smaller sunken seating area can work really well if you only need room for your family or a few guests. The important part is making sure the size makes sense for the number of people who will actually use it.
What other seating should you add to a backyard?
It depends on how you spend time outside, but dining seating, bar stools, pool loungers, daybeds, swings, and smaller conversation areas can all give you more ways to use the yard throughout the day.
Behind The Blog
Justin Fox
Founder & Creative Director
Founder Justin Fox grew up with a passion for landscaping. After 15+ years building luxury yards and pools as a licensed contractor, he saw the limits of the design/build model. Homes get detailed, architect-led plans, so why shouldn’t yards? In 2019 he convinced brother Nate Fox to join him and launched Foxterra Design to focus on immersive, luxury outdoor spaces.
Foxterra designs immersive outdoor environments that blend architecture, landscape, and lifestyle into one cohesive vision. Our work is rooted in timeless materials, intentional layout, and outdoor living that feels effortless to use every day.
Nate Fox
Designer
Nate Fox helps shape Foxterra’s creative vision, blending architectural detail with a designer’s eye for proportion and flow. His work redefines the backyard as an extension of modern luxury living.
In recent features, Nate’s perspective has been quoted across leading design publications, including Homes & Gardens and Luxury Pools + Outdoor Living, where he shares practical, design-forward guidance on everything from integrating sculptural moments and sightlines to creating “living wall” effects that soften hard architecture and make compact spaces feel more expansive. For this blog, Nate shares why sunken seating works so well around a pool and how the right mix of seating can give your family more ways to actually use the yard.
