Honestly I’m a huge fan of grass and wide open spaces for play. I would put grass in lost spaces and pavers for a patio for seating near the pool and house access. The tiny landing off the house looks odd compared to all the space you have. For a path I would do large square pieces with grass between them to break it up a bit

Are you "Building a Home" like you have it categorized or are you just planning landscaping?

I guess both we built the home and are now adding to/around it we added fencing, pool, and now pavers trying to figure out the rest another idea we are floating is possibly some kind of pergola attched to back of house vs free standing something length of the house back gets full sun. should i remove build a home category?

It’s totally fine in this category.

It would be nice to have a covered shady spot for sure. Do you have a picture from the pool looking back at the house? Is it an option to extend the deck a bit and create multiple seating options?

Locate the septic field outside the fenced area.

@Mark Bischak, Architect can you explain the comment again? not sure i understand what you are asking? do u want to know where the septic goes outside of the fenced in area or are u saying to move it to outside the fenced in area?

@WestCoast Hopeful by the 'tiny landing off the house' u mean the stairs coming out of the back of house it's the original builder stairs to pass CO. They will be replaced with paver block, pavers, and bluestone caps. they will have to be L shaped though instead of fully open all around because when we put the pool in they required a gfi outlet close to the pool so the electrician put it near the landing. it would block that side and we didn't have time to move it right now so we just went with L shaped stairs instead. also one of the basement windows is closer on that side so stairs would possibly interfere there. The L would start at the right side door opening at back of house and continue left.

@WestCoast Hopeful is that good enough of pool looking at back of house or do u want ground level pic?

@WestCoast Hopeful yes we were looking at putting grass in a lot of spots for now but trying to plan out long term options as well to optimize the yard. our area is sandy as you can see. we were thinking of adding top soil and sod with fertilizer and irrigation for now but came here looking for ideas to build into a long term plan. for the privacy screening if we say go with green giants any reluctance towards adding a drip line to our rain bird irrigation system? for the rest of grass/sod area we assume to just add zones/sprinkler heads like the rest of the property has for now.

with the pavers one person mentioned covering the 2 basement windows areas and putting a drain system there and another mentioned leaving the bump outs in case someone ever needs to get out and build the pavers around them and just adding a cap on them. thoughts?

for outdoor lighting we attached RAB floodlights right below roof facing down on the back yard which covers the main area nicely where the pool is. we used RAB wallpacks on the left side large size yard area which is set lower but spreads nicely between front side and back side/corner. for the side with the neighbor house we are worried about pushing too much light on them. trying to figure out best lighting solution for that side especially if we decide to utilize the space and want to hang out in that area at night. that would be #2 area on pic.

Honestly the landing needs to be made bigger into a deck and then stairs come down to something. But tue basement windows are right there so it really limits you. Might be good to hire a landscape designer to give you a layered plan here. Doesn’t all need to be done at once but then you have the big picture idea

gotcha thanks. neighbors did do something along the lines of what you are saying so i see what you are relaying here. they have a larger area to work with. we already went with pavers/stairs. the landing will be 8x4 coming down in L shape and paved between pool and house. if we did a deck we wouldn't need pavers there then. the area is about 800sq ft mostly width of the house/cement. coming out of house to pool for us is maybe 20'.

If you "built the home", you are not "Building a Home", because it is built. Listing it under "Building a Home" gives the illusion that major changes can be made, like changing the location of the septic system. You should remove the discussion from the "Building a Home" category or some people will be wasting their time thinking of solutions that are impractical due to new existing conditions.

Agreed i added the category because some ideas might be added to the home so i thought building a home would be closest. i do have CO so i guess the home is built per se i thought about adding attached pergola or awning on back, attaching oitddor kitchen, maybe pool shower, etc what would home addition section be?

Mark, really? Based on all the nonsense posted on Houzz and all the spats this is your advice? Who cares

no worries thanks all. appreciate the feedback. hopefully some more good advice to come. looking forward to this thread :)

Yes, really. I care.

Not to long ago I spent a bit of time sketching out a thoughtful solution to a poster's question, only to find out she categorize the tread as "Building a Home" and failed to mention that it was a remodeling of an older home. It was a waste of my time, and it makes me not want to give free professional advice.

And therein lies the problem of giving free advice to strangers on the internet. I think Mark's advice is always helpful, and most of the time given with wickedly clever humor!

I see your point Mark, but this thread is posted on three categories and clearly shows a house in the image. I adore the free advice you give and your lovely designs but in some ways this fits better on a building forum because it’s also a blank slate. Tough to please everyone I suspect.

I'd incorporate as many fruit trees and edibles (varieties that you like and suitable for your area) that you can into the design!

The title could be more helpful. It really isn't "ideas for property" it is "ideas for landscaping and hardscaping new built home".

I do think you should hire someone local - landscape designer. They can be very helpful. Knowing things like what trees that don't have aggressive root structure to put near the pool. They typically can plan out privacy as well as flowering timing etc.

I doubt those basement windows are egress but you certainly wouldn't want to cover them either.

Thanks all @Kelly Jones i am zone 7a. there are a number of fruit trees for my area. i also grow some in planters as well that are not native for here. in planters i have dwarf banana, plantain, lime, avocado, and orange going. also have different berries, herb garden, etc. one offs each year are like tomstoes ans peppers. i can see about incorpating some into the landscape. thanks for the idea! i also have a few Japanese maples in planters right now until i find permanent place for them in landscape. i would like to add conifer garden at some point as well..

@David Cary thanks title changed! removed build a home category as well. i don’t see hardscaping category though oh well.