Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos

Lime render, terracotta, olive trees and gravel courtyards — the warm, shaded, waterwise style that suits hot dry climates better than any other. Mediterranean design is a climate response that happens to be beautiful. Thick walls and small openings on the hot side, deep loggias and pergolas for shade, pale lime washed render to reflect heat, courtyards that trap cool air, terracotta and stone underfoot, and planting that survives long dry summers. Every element earns its place practically, which is why the style still looks right after centuries. The materials are unpolished and generous. Textured lime or sand finish render rather than flat acrylic, terracotta or clay tile roofs, stone thresholds and window surrounds, chunky timber lintels and shutters, wrought or blackened metal for gates and rails, and floors in terracotta, travertine or tumbled limestone. Imperfection is part of the language, so avoid dead flat surfaces and machine perfect joints — they read as a shopping centre rather than a villa. Outdoor rooms carry the plan. A shaded loggia along the main elevation doing the work of a hallway, a gravel courtyard with a central tree or fountain, a vine covered pergola over the long table, and a pool positioned...

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

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

Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos

Seating circles, clearances, materials, flues and gas versus wood — how to build a fire zone that gets used through autumn and winter.

Fire is what extends outdoor living past summer. It gives a garden a destination in the cold months and it changes how people behave — they sit longer, closer, and later. The two options behave very differently. A fire pit is social and circular, with everyone facing in; an outdoor fireplace is directional and architectural, anchoring one end of a terrace like a hearth indoors.

Layout is mostly about seating geometry. Around a fire pit, allow roughly a metre from the fire edge to the front of the seats for comfort and safety, and build the circle from a continuous low wall, bench or a mix of built-in seating and movable chairs. Sunken fire pit lounges work brilliantly because they get people below the wind line and out of the view across the garden. For a fireplace, arrange seating in an L or facing pair rather than a semicircle.

Materials and clearances are non negotiable. A fire brick or steel liner, non combustible surrounds in stone, block, rendered masonry or corten steel, a paved non combustible zone extending well beyond the fire, and generous distance to fences, eaves, pergola timbers and planting. Any covered or partly enclosed fireplace needs a properly sized flue with the correct height above the roofline, or it will smoke back into the seating area every time the wind shifts.

Outdoor Living design ideas photo from the Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Then choose the fuel honestly. Wood gives the smell, sound and radiant heat people really want, but it needs storage, ash removal and legal wood burning in the area. Gas lights instantly, has no smoke and suits a courtyard or a covered terrace, and it is the sensible choice where fires are used spontaneously on a weeknight. Either way, add a woodstore or a hidden gas bottle enclosure, low soft lighting nearby, and a place to put a drink within reach of every seat.

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

Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos

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

More Pool Designs concepts

Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos