Bold Tile and Mountain Views in a Southwestern Backyard Oasis
An Arizona family embraces outdoor living with a backyard designed for swimming, cooking and enjoying the scenery
The red Ledge Loungers frame the spa and provide a refreshing spot to partially submerge and cool off while taking in the mountain views.
The pool was the first component of the plan. The second was the large-scale outdoor living area. A covered ramada, a seating area in front of the fireplace and an extensive kitchen are located adjacent to the pool.
Prideaux created a collection of covered and open spaces, as well as a redwood-slatted roof over the dining area. The Restoration Hardware outdoor dining table is surrounded by electric blue Tolix chairs.
Concrete pavers surrounded by a reveal filled with black river rock create an outdoor “rug” underneath the dining table.
Find blue Tolix chairs
Concrete pavers surrounded by a reveal filled with black river rock create an outdoor “rug” underneath the dining table.
Find blue Tolix chairs
The designer hand-placed the colorful tile accents that surround the outdoor kitchen, which includes a refrigerator and built-in gas grill. The woven, rusted-metal wall conceals the kitchen from the neighbors for privacy.
The same colorful tiles appear again across the top of the wood-burning fireplace. Black-and-white concrete tile provides a graphic accent, as do the pillows atop the red-cushioned wicker lounge furniture. Wood barn doors slide open to reveal the TV, which is recessed into the stucco above the fireplace.
Three steps accented with the same colorful tiles lead to the pool and spa, creating a raised perch to take in the views.
“Rustic contemporary” is how Prideaux describes the style of this Southwestern outdoor room. “I think of it as using warmth and textures in materials, but in a clean, straight-lined sort of way.”
More
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“Rustic contemporary” is how Prideaux describes the style of this Southwestern outdoor room. “I think of it as using warmth and textures in materials, but in a clean, straight-lined sort of way.”
More
20 Outdoor Rooms With Entertaining Flair
100 Sparkling Pools With Postcard Views
Browse outdoor concrete tile
Outdoor Room at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two boys
Size: 900 square feet (83.6 square meters)
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Designer: Kathryn Prideaux, Prideaux Design
On what was once a bare lot, designer Kathryn Prideaux created an outdoor living space that dovetails with the architecture of the existing house. Prideaux positioned the pool and spa right outside the house’s three large picture windows, so the pool and nearby mountains are framed the minute someone walks in the front door. “The more you see the pool from inside the house, the better,” she says. “It’s so cooling here in the desert; such a dramatic point of interest on the property. The water also beautifully reflects the sky and mountains.”