Granny Flat and Backyard Studio Design Ideas and Photos

Second dwellings that add real value — siting, privacy, services, light and the layouts that work for family, guests, work or rental. A second dwelling in the backyard is the most practical small building most people will ever construct. It houses a parent, an adult child, a guest, a home office or a tenant, and it does so on land already owned and already serviced. The design challenge is not the building, which is simple, but the relationship between it and the main house — privacy, outlook, access and noise all have to be resolved on the site plan. Siting decides success. Position the studio so its main windows do not look directly into the existing bedrooms, give it its own small piece of private outdoor space rather than a share of the family yard, and provide access that does not require walking past the main living room windows. A separate path down the side boundary, a screen of planting between the two buildings, and a clear front door with its own number make the dwelling feel independent. Plan for one thing done well. A studio layout with a kitchenette along one wall, a bathroom in the corner, a bed...

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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

Modern Swimming Pool Concept 02 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.

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

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

Complete image catalogue

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 as a still rectangle framed by hedging and cypress. Water appears as a wall spout into a trough, or a simple bowl, rather than as a feature demanding attention.

Mediterranean Style design ideas photo from the Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Planting is the most waterwise palette available. Olive, fig, citrus and pomegranate for canopy and fruit; rosemary, lavender, santolina and cistus for structure and scent; grapes and jasmine on the pergola; pots of pelargonium and herbs at every doorway. Gravel mulch, drip irrigation, and a bias toward silver and grey green foliage that looks cool in heat. The result is a garden that peaks in the hottest months, when most other styles are struggling.

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

Granny Flat and Backyard Studio Design Ideas and Photos

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

More Pool Designs concepts

Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos