Small Backyard Design Ideas and Photos for Narrow Blocks

How a courtyard sized backyard becomes the best room in the house — one level, one material, built-in seating, a plunge pool and layered green walls. Small backyards fail for a predictable reason: they are treated as scaled down large gardens. A tiny lawn, a narrow border, a rotary line and a barbecue on castors leaves a space that is neither garden nor room. The alternative is to stop pretending and design it as an outdoor room — one continuous floor, built-in furniture, planting on the vertical planes and a single strong focal point at the far end. Keeping the space on one level is the highest impact decision available. A single paved or decked plane running out from the interior floor level, using one material and one laying pattern, makes a courtyard read as an extension of the living room rather than a leftover strip. Where levels must change, use a full width step as a bench seat instead of two narrow treads, so the change of height earns its space. Built-in seating along a boundary wall frees the middle of the space entirely and can hide the storage every small garden desperately needs — cushions, tools, pool equipment...

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Beach House Designs

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding, Sandy Stone Paving and Woven Cane Detailing, Sea Grasses, Pigface and Low Sculptural. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding, Sandy Stone Paving and Woven Cane Detailing, Sea Grasses, Pigface and Low Sculptural Shrubs, featuring a Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun Lounge Zone, complemented by Durable Weatherproof Finishes and Low-Maintenance Detailing

Bh 42 is part of our Beach House Designs collection — one of 57 large-format widescreen concept visuals in this section. It is presented here at full size so you can study the layout, the planting, the surfaces and the way light falls across the design before you commit to building anything on your own block.

Classic and modern coastal homes, dune gardens, decks and ocean-front living. Use this concept as a starting point: note the proportions between built form and greenery, where shade and shelter sit, how paths and paved areas move people through the space, and which materials repeat to hold the whole scheme together.

Every visual on this site is a design idea created for Home Design Photos. Browse the rest of the Beach House Designs collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber and Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens and Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle →

More Beach House Designs concepts

Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber and Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk

Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber, Charcoal Roofing and Glass Balustrades, Frangipani, Agapanthus and Soft Silver Coastal Foliage, featuring a Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk Approach, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft Layered Textures Throughout

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding, Sandy Stone Paving and Woven Cane Detailing, Sea Grasses, Pigface and Low Sculptural Shrubs, featuring a Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun Lounge Zone, complemented by Durable Weatherproof Finishes and Low-Maintenance Detailing

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens and Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens, Off-White Render and Bronze Fittings, Coastal Banksias, Spinifex Grasses and Windswept Dune Planting, featuring a Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle and Evening Deck Lighting, finished with Sculptural Feature Planting and Inviting

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens and Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens, Pale Render and Black Framed Glazing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Palms and Pale. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens and Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens, Pale Render and Black Framed Glazing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Palms and Pale Pebble Borders, featuring a Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower and Relaxed Lounge Setting, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

Complete image catalogue

Plunge Pool Design Ideas and Photos for Small Backyards

Small pools, big impact — sizing, siting, ledges, water colour and surrounds that make a plunge pool the feature of a courtyard garden.

A plunge pool is the most efficient luxury available in a small garden. At around six by two and a half metres it fits along a boundary, costs a fraction of a full pool to build and run, heats quickly, and delivers the two things people actually want most days: somewhere to cool off and a sheet of moving light in the middle of the garden. Lap swimming is the only thing it gives up.

Siting is the whole design. Push the pool hard against one boundary so the remaining space stays usable, align its long edge with the house so it reads as architecture rather than an object dropped in, and keep the surround wide on the side you will actually sit. A full width bench ledge at the shallow end gives adults somewhere to sit in the water and children somewhere to stand, and it is the single most used feature of any small pool.

Water colour comes from the interior finish, not the water. A pale grey or white interior gives bright resort blue, mid grey reads as deep aqua, and a dark grey or black interior creates a mirror that reflects planting and sky — the best choice where the pool doubles as a water feature. Tiled finishes cost more and look better for longer than render, especially on the waterline where the eye always lands.

Swimming Pools design ideas photo from the Plunge Pool Design Ideas and Photos for Small Backyards feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Surrounds and equipment decide whether it feels resolved. Coping flush with the paving looks engineered; a raised bullnose looks like a swimming pool. Carry one paving material from the house to the pool edge, use planting on the far side as a green backdrop, and hide the pump, filter and heater in an acoustically lined store away from bedrooms. Add warm underwater light, a heater and a cover, and a plunge pool is used ten months of the year rather than two.

House Design Photos is a HUGE Library Gallery and Directory of Home Design Photos

Small Backyard Design Ideas and Photos for Narrow Blocks

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

More Beach House Designs concepts

Plunge Pool Design Ideas and Photos for Small Backyards