Backyard Remodel: Which areas are the best to invest?

last year

Hey Houzzers!

I need your wisdom! 🙏🙏

We have a corner lot just up the hill from the beach in San Diego (Del Mar) and are currently racking our brains to design the backyard landscape. We are about a month or two from completing our pool in the NW corner. Please be kind with your responses as we now realize we were dumb for building the pool before finalizing a backyard design.

QUESTIONS:

-To those who have done a backyard remodel, what do you wish you had done differently?

-What are you most glad that you invested in?

-Where do you spend the most time in the backyard besides the pool? (I.e. dining area, the BBQ island, Outdoor living room/tv area)?

-Any thoughts on the 3 designs someone has made for us so far?

DESCRIPTION OF US AND OUR WISHES TO CONSIDER:

-We are trying to create an indoor/outdoor flow. The consistent climate is perfect for this.

-We want a space that is great for our 9 and 12 year old kids and entertaining fellow friends and their 8-15 year old kids.

-We are not BBQ fanatics but would like to have one should we use it and for future resale value.

-We love to watch Tv.

-We are practical people who want the place to look really nice but with low maintenance, functional, practical stuff where we don’t have to worry constantly about cleaning or ruining things.

-We want low maintenance, drought tolerant plants

-We want to hide the yellow house directly past our fence to the West

-We want privacy on the North and Easter sides

-The single story section on the North side of has our kitchen and living room.

-We have future plans to build an ADU in the Southern corner.

I have included a pic of our pool at the moment and 3 designs that a landscaper has come up with thus far.

Thank you!!
Merris

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Comments (6)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
last modified: last year
Can we see your actual house please .We use out BBQ 3 times a week all year and we live in Creston BC Canada we have a pooluse it less often unless wehave grandkids home then it gets used all day. We spend a huge amount of time outside snd have outdoor DR thta can seat 20 we also have w arap around deck so seating around the pool along the one side of the house where it is nice and cool on hot days and also a large seating area to seat 10 . IMO you work on the hardscape first then work on plantings in your drawings not much in the way of plants so I hink mybe see if more greenery can be incorporated into the plan even if just really large pots and lots of them . I think if you do not BBQ a lot the idea of an outdoor kitchen for resale does not make much sense unless you are selling soon.
Merris Delane
Original Author
last year
Thank you for your response! Here are pics of the house. They’re not great as I’m out of town but just thought I’d reply quickly. We will be painting it white with brown/black window trim.
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Well done again Kevin - but that's what we now expect from your transformations. The outdoor lighting adds just the right enhancement to the view from your kitchen. I'm curious - what is the large tree with the smooth bark? It's in the corner with the new fence and the brick wall. In the before photo you can see some leaves but not enough to identify it. Is that a dwarf magnolia planted in the raised bed? If so - be prepared - mine looked like yours when first planted and it's quickly outgrown it's spot. You may need to sharpen your pruners.
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Since no planting can be figured out until the hardscape is planned, you should limit your request for help to hardscape to start with. It's going to be hard to help with hardscape until you can make the site and your expectations better understood. Will there be walks that link various doors? These should be made obvious on the plan. Would the larger patio be adjacent to the deck? Is this the front yard or the back? Do guests enter the property through this yard? Is that the permanent location of the hot tub? You didn't mention a fence around the carport. Is that a passing thought or something you're committing to? It's important to stay at a single position with the camera while capturing a view. I would suggest you show us the yard from this view (see plan) providing a full 180* of slightly overlapping pictures. Because the area is at a lower level, it would be best if you found something 2 or 3 feet high to stand on for the pictures, and hold the camera in the vertical format. If possible, set the pictures to a size or two up from what you're showing above, as those are small. The above pictures might have loaded sideways if you're uploading them from a phone. Try submitting new pictures via computer.
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Jorge, you can go as crazy as you'd like with the play area. Here's one that has a lot of ideas including a playhouse (my personal favorite as a child but it could be a fun kitchen for boys and girls) and various play equipment. Something to climb would definitely be fun. This one is in a small yard and utilizes mulch under a tree. Perhaps if you're keeping one of the trees, you could build a small play deck around it like this one. Likely grass won't grow under the tree, so a good way to use the space. Here's an interesting layout in that the swing and play equipment doesn't really have a footprint so it doesn't take up a lot of space. Here's another one that's interesting, it has swings like above but a climbing wall has been built. You could do that on your current wall if you can secure hand and foot grips well. Don't forget the sandbox. Here's a nice one where the sandbox becomes a feature of the yard plantings. This one has something for everyone! Regarding size of pool, that might be driven by local building codes regarding how close you can come to the property line. Anything narrow and long would be a good use of space. But if you can't fit that into the space, even a small pool the size of a hot tub would be fun to hang out in with the kids. Imagine this a just a regular pool in the corner of the yard. Or this Here's a really crude layout. The dimensions may be totally off but it provides the concept.
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Merris Delane
Original Author
last year
Please also ignore the circles as I have done that when sending these photos to our contractor. And I to agree with you about greenery. I would like for turf to outline the coping in the pool and potentially beyond.
mcarroll16
last year
Our most valuable outdoor space is our covered patio. We're in the Seattle area, so any outdoor lounging time needs to be under cover. But San Deigo sun might call for full cover too? Our best outdoor furniture is a patio take on our favorite indoor furniture. Dining set for meals, Adirondack chairs for lounging with coffee or cold drinks. Gas grill for cooking.

For the preference you're giving, I think your needs are an attractive covered area with lounge furniture (sofas/arm chairs) centered on a TV, a fridge for outdoor snacks and beverages, and a dining set. A full outdoor kitchen seems like overkill for how you live. I like the first rendering, but put a generous-sized dining set under cover where the kitchen is pictured. At the end where the rendering has bar seating, put a small linear cooking area with a grill, a gas or electric burner, an under-cabinet fridge, and a couple of feet of countertop on each side of the grill. And a full vented hood, to protect your roof and your lungs.
Merris Delane
Original Author
last year
Wow!!! This is FABULOUS advice, mcarroll16!! Thank you!!!
Merris Delane
Original Author
last year
And we used to live in Kirkland. Definitely know about that rain. It was so fun there though. 😆 Great memories.

Backyard Remodel: Which areas are the best to invest?

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Patricia Colwell Consulting

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