Outdoor Furniture Layout Ideas and Photos for Patios and Decks

Clearances, zones, rugs and scale — the layout rules that make an outdoor space feel like a room instead of furniture pushed against a wall. Most disappointing outdoor spaces have the right furniture in the wrong arrangement. Pieces are pushed to the perimeter, leaving a bare middle nobody uses, and the space ends up feeling like a waiting room. Outdoor rooms follow the same rules as indoor ones: pull furniture in off the walls, define zones, give every seat something to look at, and leave clear paths between them. Clearances are worth measuring before buying anything. Allow 90 centimetres behind dining chairs so people can walk past a seated guest, 40 to 45 centimetres between a lounge and a coffee table, and at least 60 centimetres of walkway around the edge of any zone. A dining table for eight needs roughly four by three metres of clear space including circulation, which is far more than most people assume when they order online. Two zones beat one big set. A dining zone under cover close to the kitchen, and a lounge zone positioned for the view or the fire, gives a space rhythm and lets it host different occasions. On smaller...

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Pool Designs

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. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — 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

Plunge 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.

← Lagoon-Style Swimming Pool Design with Charcoal Pebble Interior and Sun Lounge Terrace, Shaded Cabana Resort-Style Swimming Pool Design with Pale Sandstone Surrounds and Swim-Up Bench, Spa Spill →

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

Drought Tolerant Garden Design Ideas and Waterwise Garden Photos

Gardens that look lush on a fraction of the water — soil preparation, gravel mulch, planting in blocks and irrigation that only runs when needed.

A waterwise garden is not a gravel yard with three succulents in it. The best examples are dense, layered and green, and they use a fraction of the water of a conventional garden because of decisions made below ground. Soil improved with compost holds moisture, deep mulch stops evaporation, plants grouped by water need stop the thirsty ones dictating the schedule, and irrigation delivers water slowly at the root zone rather than spraying it into the air.

Soil comes first. Break up compaction, add organic matter generously, and create planting beds deep enough for roots to go looking for moisture instead of sitting in the top few centimetres. Then mulch — 75 millimetres of coarse bark, gravel or crushed stone depending on the look you want. Gravel mulch suits Mediterranean and native schemes, keeps foliage dry, reflects heat away from the soil surface and never needs topping up the way bark does.

Plant in blocks and repeat. Three to five species massed together read as a designed garden and shade the soil between them, which is itself a water saving. Reliable performers include ornamental grasses, westringia, agave and other architectural succulents, lavender and rosemary, salvias, dianella, kangaroo paw and olive or crepe myrtle for canopy. One well placed tree does more for water use than any other single plant, because everything beneath it loses less to evaporation.

Waterwise Gardens design ideas photo from the Drought Tolerant Garden Design Ideas and Waterwise Garden Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Then water intelligently. Inline drip under the mulch rather than sprays, separate valves for each water zone, a weather or soil moisture based controller so the system skips rain, and deep infrequent cycles that train roots downward. Add a tank plumbed to the irrigation if the roof area allows. Within two seasons the garden establishes and the water bill drops sharply, while the planting looks better than the lawn it replaced ever did in February.

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

Outdoor Furniture Layout Ideas and Photos for Patios and Decks

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

More Pool Designs concepts

Drought Tolerant Garden Design Ideas and Waterwise Garden Photos