Japanese Inspired Courtyard and Zen Garden Design Photos

Stone, moss, raked gravel, water basins and pruned form — the restraint and asymmetry behind gardens designed to be looked at as much as used. Japanese garden design is often copied through its objects — a lantern, a maple, a bamboo screen — when its real lessons are compositional. Asymmetry rather than symmetry, odd numbered groupings, borrowed views, controlled framing from inside the house, and an enormous amount of empty space so that each element has somewhere to be seen. Restraint is the technique, not a lack of ambition. The materials list is short and used with intent. Stone as the permanent structure, in stepping paths, groupings of three, and edges that hold gravel. Raked gravel or fine granite as still ground representing water. Moss, ferns and clipped forms for texture in shade. Water in a single simple basin fed by a bamboo spout, positioned so its sound reaches a window. Timber for a low deck, a gate or a screen. Nothing shiny, nothing symmetrical, nothing repeated in a grid. Pruning is where the garden is actually made. Japanese maples thinned so light passes through their layers, pines cleaned to reveal trunk and branch structure, azaleas clipped as soft mounds...

Read the full article

Pool Designs

Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior and Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana

Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior, Bluestone Coping and Blackbutt Decking, Cycads, Strappy Foliage and Uplit Feature Trees. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior, Bluestone Coping and Blackbutt Decking, Cycads, Strappy Foliage and Uplit Feature Trees, featuring a Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana and Outdoor Shower, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed Family

Poolside is part of our Pool Designs collection — one of 97 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.

Infinity, lagoon, plunge and lap pools with surrounds, surfaces and pool-side 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 Pool Designs collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Family Lap Pool and Deck Design with Glass Mosaic Tiling and Waterfall Wall, Stepping Family Lap Pool and Deck Design with Glass Mosaic Tiling and Waterfall Wall, Stepping →

More Pool Designs concepts

Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior and Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana

Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior, Bluestone Coping and Blackbutt Decking, Cycads, Strappy Foliage and Uplit Feature Trees, featuring a Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana and Outdoor Shower, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed Family

Compact Plunge Pool Design with Natural Boulder Edging, Timber Deck Inserts and Sandy Beach Entry, Mass-Planted Agapanthus, Palms and Soft. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Compact Plunge Pool Design with Natural Boulder Edging and Pool-Side Pergola Dining Area

Compact Plunge Pool Design with Natural Boulder Edging, Timber Deck Inserts and Sandy Beach Entry, Mass-Planted Agapanthus, Palms and Soft Coastal Grasses, featuring a Pool-Side Pergola Dining Area and Firepit Lounge, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft Layered Textures

Family Lap Pool and Deck Design with Glass Mosaic Tiling, Travertine Coping and Frameless Glass Fencing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Olive. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Family Lap Pool and Deck Design with Glass Mosaic Tiling and Waterfall Wall, Stepping

Family Lap Pool and Deck Design with Glass Mosaic Tiling, Travertine Coping and Frameless Glass Fencing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Olive Trees and Silver Groundcovers, featuring a Waterfall Wall, Stepping Pads and Evening LED Glow

Resort-Style Swimming Pool Design with Pale Sandstone Surrounds and Swim-Up Bench, Spa Spill

Resort-Style Swimming Pool Design with Pale Sandstone Surrounds, White Rendered Walls and Bronze Fittings, Layered Ferns, Elephant Ears and Lush Poolside Greenery, featuring a Swim-Up Bench, Spa Spill and Poolside BBQ Kitchen, complemented by Durable Weatherproof Finishes and Low-Maintenance

Resort-Style Swimming Pool Design with Pale Sandstone Surrounds and Swim-Up Bench, Spa Spill

Complete image catalogue

Water Feature and Fountain Design Ideas and Garden Photos

Sound, reflection and movement — sizing pumps, hiding plumbing, choosing between still water and spill, and keeping a feature clear.

Water gives a garden three things nothing else can: sound that masks traffic, reflection that doubles the light, and movement that draws the eye. Choosing which of those you want most decides the design. A still reflecting pool is for mirroring architecture and planting. A spill or wall spout is for sound. A rill or channel is for connecting two parts of a garden and making a level change readable.

Scale and position matter more than the object. A feature too small for its setting looks like an ornament, while a generous trough, bowl or basin holds its own. Place it where the sound will actually be heard — near a seat, a window or a doorway — and where reflection will be seen from inside the house. Water in a corner nobody visits is money spent on maintenance rather than atmosphere.

The plumbing decides how good it looks. A hidden reservoir sized generously so it does not run dry, a pump matched to the head and flow rather than oversized, a level spill lip precisely ground so the film of water is even, a top up line or float valve, and access to service everything without demolition. Design the overflow so a heavy storm does not flood the garden. None of this is visible in a photograph, and all of it determines whether the feature survives.

Water Features design ideas photo from the Water Feature and Fountain Design Ideas and Garden Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Then keep it clear and light it well. Shade the water partly, avoid dropping leaves overhead where you can, use a filter and ultraviolet clarifier or a properly planted balance of oxygenators, and keep the water moving. Light from within, warm and dim, or graze the falling water from the side so it glows without glaring. Done with restraint, a single well made water feature does more for a garden than a dozen ornaments.

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

Japanese Inspired Courtyard and Zen Garden Design Photos

Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior and Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana

More Pool Designs concepts

Water Feature and Fountain Design Ideas and Garden Photos