3 Landscape Design Ideas That Make Spacious Backyards Feel More Intimate in Sparta and Blairstown, NJ, Areas
A big backyard may be desirable for many, but it’s not without its challenges. Some backyards feel like a fishbowl, by having no clear definition of space and nowhere to cozy up with friends. Every activity feels like you are on display. You can, however, enjoy both wide open spaces and spaces that offer a more welcoming feel when you want to have quieter moments. Here are three landscape design ideas that make spacious backyards feel more intimate in the Sparta and Blairstown, NJ, areas.
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1. Outdoor Rooms
Ideally, a patio provides enough space to comfortably accommodate your lifestyle without feeling like a parking lot (which are often exposed, hot, and impersonal). One solution is to create “rooms,” or smaller patios linked by stepping stone walkways.
For example, an outdoor kitchen area/dining patio—a space of high activity—could be positioned adjacent to the home for convenience. This “room” could serve as the hub of outdoor activity. Beyond it, pathways lead through beautifully landscaped areas to a much quieter patio, where you can entertain guests around the fire pit or lounge with a good book.
In general, you would want to avoid creating outdoor living islands in the middle of a sea of lawn (a choppy look that invites trampled landscaping if you have pets or kids that need room to run). Instead, position the “slow zones” closer to the property perimeter, away from traffic flow. A fire pit crafted out of natural stone, located in an otherwise unused corner of your property, becomes an intimate space that still feels part of the backyard. Placing that same fire pit in the middle of the lawn would promote the fishbowl effect.
2. An Intentionally Intimate Approach
Surrounding your outdoor living spaces with vertical elements, such as a pergola, helps to create a feeling of being embraced and sheltered.
A fire pit area loosely surrounded by large boulders and varied-height plants is a clearly defined space. You can see through the landscaping into other areas of the backyard, you don’t feel closed in, and you can adjust the amount of intimacy you want with shrubs and trees, including a living wall for more privacy from the neighbors.
Reducing the lawn and restoring a more natural landscape filled with natural stone, trees, and shrubs can also make your backyard feel more intimate because you’re replacing an essentially two-dimensional space with a three-dimensional space. Vertical elements give the feeling of being able to hide out in the backyard, whether your tiny patio features a bench and a small fountain set among boulders and trees, or an entertainment area is nestled in a wooded corner.
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3. A Pleasant Journey
The transitions between outdoor rooms are in no way secondary to the destinations. A good landscape design could make walking from one patio to another a delightful progression from high-activity zones into quieter zones.
Walkways should flow organically, gently meandering through the landscaping to encourage slow movement, but not awkwardly (people tend to create shortcuts if a walkway is too indirect). Finding the right balance between utility and pleasure in a walkway could mean simply going around a rock garden or water fountain.