13 Best Backyard Ideas

If you're like the rest of the world we all want to be outside in our backyards enjoying our space we're going to go 13 of the best outdoor living ideas right now stay to the very end you're going to have my very favorite idea for your outdoor space that will pull you outside and get you enjoying the space very much with your family and your friends enjoy.

oh so idea number one is a covered outdoor living space now you're thinking of course we want a covered outdoor living space but what i wanted to say is think about having a freestanding structure as.

A destination as an idea so put it away from the house everybody thinks that they want a covered space and they just want to attach it right to their house but these serve as an amazing destination i just want to keep saying that if you've watched my channel for a long time you know that i feel strongly about having a freestanding structure as.

A destination but look at some of these examples and what you can do with a freestanding structure so a freestanding structure can be done with a gable style as you're seeing here it could be done with a hip and ridge style it could be done as a traditional gazebo style.

and it could also be done as a lean-to style you could also do a pergola as a kind of a destination but i would really recommend as the ideas that i want to give you is to cover it fully to be able to protect you from the elements extend your seasons a little bit and to be able.

To really get out and use the space in all weather if you do some of the other things we're going to talk about in this video you could add heaters you could add a fireplace you could do an outdoor kitchen to your covered structure and all the sun it becomes a true four season outdoor living area.

With some of these structures you can also do a wall on the back side now that will just add a little bit more protection from the elements give you some privacy protection as well now i want to show you this too something you can do for shade is you can add one of these screens and this is just the push of a button all of a.

Sudden that screen will go down and it'll give you great shade in the summer heat but this also does a great job of protecting you during a rainstorm or a windy day this will this will really kind of buffer the elements and kind of keep the heat in as well for even those colder days.

Idea number two is adding an outdoor kitchen now it's not just a standard outdoor kitchen for this idea i want you to think about adding more to your outdoor kitchen now kitchens are amazing right they're gonna be a destination no matter what especially outdoors but if you add a.

Grill that's great but you can add a griddle right next to it you can add a side burner right next to that you could do a pizza oven as a secondary cook area you could do a refrigerator you could do an ice maker to your outdoor kitchen you see these techniques are just going to get you outside and it's going to.

Keep you outside now i want to say a little bit about these cook stations that you can have you can do these smokers and the green eggs are very popular right now as a secondary cook surface some people right now are actually doing multiple cook surfaces so the barbecue and then over here we have the green egg that we are.

Preparing to install actually in the countertop itself so that's another thing i want you to really think about is get creative with your outdoor kitchen it doesn't just have to be the standard grill anymore we can really take that outdoor kitchen to the next level idea number three would be creating a.

Relaxation spot so what do i mean by that well what would relax you in your outdoor space that's kind of a personal question to think about but here's some ideas so a little spot in the landscape and i would always say of course keep it away from the house so make it somewhere you'd walk to or somewhere you'd see from a window and want to go out too but.

It could be a little water feature spot maybe you have a little patio right by a tree a little water feature very calm very soothing little spot that could be or maybe it could even be a hammock in the landscape and you just want to kind of go out there relax kind of let the stress of the day melt away it could also be a little garden spot in your.

Landscape gardening is known to be therapeutic and just relaxes you so maybe a little raised garden bed for you to be able to just go out and putter in after a long day of work it could be a hot tub it could be a sauna an outdoor sauna we're going to talk more about those in the future but.

Really whatever will kind of get you out in the landscape using it for relaxation that's what i really want you to think about as this idea for this backyard space is give a secondary space for you to be able to go and just relax another one that makes my list for the best backyard ideas is a fire pit now of.

Course you're thinking of fire pit yes we all want a fire pit but i want to really let you think outside of the typical fire pit box so there's lots of different styles of a fire pit you could do a fire pit that is at the end of your outdoor structure like you're seeing here we did a little reflection wall here.

Reflects the heat back to the space it's almost like a fireplace but this is a fire pit a lot less expensive and it really gives a lot of style to the space but the main point of a fire pit is it's going to draw you out with family with friends and it's just going to be a huge entertaining area so think.

About the different things that you can do with your fire pit it could be a seat wall on one side of it to really pack it full of people all the kids could sit at that end or vice versa and really the main thing you're thinking about is how to get out and use the space so really you don't want to have your fire pit right next to the house you.

Don't want to have it right next to all your other outdoor living area you want to have it as that destination again a little fire pit area all by itself to attract as many people over to that while you're entertaining as possible no matter what age you are we all need the break from the tv we all need to break from our mobile devices just to be.

Able to spend time together and a fire pit does an amazing job of attracting people out to enjoy that time together my fifth favorite backyard idea is considering getting an outdoor sauna you're thinking what but it's so fun to be able to have that sauna i use my sauna all the time i'm out there.

I don't know three times a week ish so really think about having an outdoor sauna it is a nice little meditation spot too a little place to go out and just have as your kind of private oasis but really it also does a nice job of just attracting people and you can even have friends over and hang hang out and take an outdoor sauna together.

So really these are therapy type sessions you can see here where we have it next to the hot tub they have a beautiful window in this outdoor sauna so you're really taking in that therapeutic benefits of nature while you're taking it into therapeutic benefits of a sauna so an outdoor sauna really does make my list for a very good.

Idea that you should strongly consider as a secondary or even a third kind of a destination in your outdoor living space my sixth top idea for a nice backyard space is an outdoor bar if you've watched my channel for a while you'll realize that i always try to sneak a bar in my designs of my outdoor space.

And the reason is is because an outdoor bar attracts people and attracts entertainment and i love a bar too because you can kind of put a bar in almost any space if it's a very small space you can put a bar in look at what we've done here we've actually put a bar in around the post of.

A structure so just this little tiny bar area it adds so much now usable space you can imagine two people talking at the bar having a drink together playing some cards together in just little tiny area which was pretty much dead space prior now of course with a bar you can also sneak it.

On top of a deck look at what we've done here we use this little bar as a railing now this design was to go down as fast as possible to get to the real outdoor living space which was on the lower level but i just love that little pause moment.

Where you can sit at the bar kind of look over the area maybe you can be up there and kind of entertain as well and take a look at what we did with this bar we're right on the river here they had this beautiful view they weren't allowed to go any further out in their landscape so we designed this bar area to be able to fully utilize the space so.

We built it at a true bar height and then we put in those bar stools those are built-in bar stools that they pivot in and out so you can put them away when you're not using it the bar area or you can just fold them out when you are ready to use the bar area so it really maximizes the space so you don't have a bunch of chairs in there hindering.

People's flow through the space so a bar in an outdoor living space cannot be understated and i hope you strongly consider getting a bar for your outdoor living area another one of my top ideas for your outdoor living space is an outdoor tv or an indoor tv that you move outside or doing an outdoor projector with a movie.

Screen now surprisingly these are not very costly but they add such an amazing summer evening environment to your outdoor living space now movie screens if you've watched my channel for a while this is one of my favorite things to do is those summer movie nights so we we just put up a movie screen very inexpensive movie screen.

Have a very inexpensive projector and all of a sudden you're really enjoying summer evenings with lots of family and friends out watching movies under the stars together so really think about that as a good idea outdoor movie screens outdoor tvs they really do add a fun environment of course some people knock us because.

We are moving things outside but i just love being outside yes if we watch tv we watch tv but at least we're outdoors hanging out with our family and our friends so seven great ideas right there i'm sorry to say please don't be mad at me but i was only able to get the first seven in this video but i do have the other six and because of the trouble of.

Having to click on that next video to see the next six i'm going to give you a bonus idea in the next video thank you very much for watching please don't forget to subscribe see you soon