Outdoor Living Space: Six Ways to Plan and Start

The COVID 19 lockdown led many people – us included –  to rethink how to make use of ALL their space, indoors and outdoors.  If you are one of the fortunate, you can take the (sizeable) funds you have, hand them over to a landscape architect and be surprised (hopefully pleasantly) when your project is finished. But if you are like the rest of us, you need to do a bit more research, prepping and planning to get the outdoor living space you want with your available budget. So where to start? How to begin?

Gain Perspective: Patio vs Garden

Now, most of us have an idea about how to design, organize and decorate a room, basically because all of the elements already there – the walls, ceiling, doors, windows, floors, etc. But when we design an outdoor space, most of us are starting from scratch, usually with no frame of reference or experience. That’s why you need to put your yard into perspective: you are not just getting a patio, you are ‘designing’ an outdoor space, one that includes HARDSCAPES (things like patios, fences, sheds, walkways, etc.) and as well as SOFTSCAPES (things that grow, like flowers, shrubs and trees). Basically softscape are the living garden plants and hardscape are the stones, cement, pavers.  Look at your entire yard as an outdoor living space that needs both hardscape and softscape to function well together. How do you start to do that?

Entertained While Getting Ideas

What was one of the most ubiquitous activities universally engaged in under COVID? Binge watching! But rather than watch the Tiger King, I binged on garden TV shows, such as Garden Rescue from the UK or from Canada, Backyard Builds. Both these shows are illuminating but for different reasons: Backyard Builds usually have large budgets and Garden Rescue create spectacular patios and yards on smaller budgets. They are helpful in various ways – how designs can be so different, bringing realistic expectations to the process, identifying costs for hardscape and plants, and of course, creative ideas.  There are more garden shows that are popping up all the time now that can help you gain perspective and ideas.

Getting Ideas from Local Gardens

Another avenue to explore are actual pubic gardens in the area. In our area, The Wildflower Garden at Mill Mountain Park had recently been renovated. The other was the Hahn Horticulture Garden on the Virginia Tech Campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. What a great experience to see an actual outdoor living space that include many of the features you may want in your space.

Tap Into the Local Knowledge Base

The Wildflower Garden has the Mill Mountain Garden Club, a 100-member, all volunteer organization, having the mission of promoting and protecting the natural beauty of the Roanoke Valley and the surrounding area behind it.  The Hahn Horticulture Garden was established in 1984 by horticulture faculty and serves Virginia Tech students and the surrounding community as a hands-on learning resource for plants, landscaping concepts and environmental awareness. Explore ways you can tap into that wealth of knowledge and experience that may exist in your  area – join the club, volunteer and keep your eyes and ears open for all the knowledge that will come your way.

Utilize a Familiar Resource

Our local library had numerous books available and I used them to familiarize myself with the process of landscape design and analysis. In many cases, I found that the books were often a way to showcase a particular professional design or style – and there were LOTS of choices. Here are two I checked out: 1) The Wellness Garden: Grow, Eat, And Walk Your Way to Better Health by Shawna Coronado (truly amazing information about a wellness journey we hope to follow one day). Also available at Amazon. 2) The Essential Garden Design Workbook 2004 By Rosemary Alexander (geared toward the professional landscaper/gardener). Also available at Amazon. There are tons of other books and resources available at your local library. 

Asking the Right Questions

After seeing the shows, the gardens and the books, nail down what you want. Most importantly, determine your budget and what your space will look like when it’s all finished.  We suggest you follow our lead: one day, we took our bistro table with some wine and Sausage Wonton Cups, set it up in the yard and began to talk – what’s important in OUR outdoor living space? What’s a realistic budget for us? (prioritize your wants in relation to your budget realizing you won’t get all your “wants” in phase one of your patio project. How much work do we personally want to handle? We asked ourselves a lot more questions. And we also walked around the yard – A LOT.  You may want to do the same.

The ‘Winning’ Design for your Outdoor Living Space

We actually followed the process outlined here. We thought of this process as our personal ideation exercise (remember those?). And that helped us create a worksheet that we used to talk with a landscape designer, hardscape providers, and to determine what we could DIY.  It’s not a how-to plan doc, but a very useful tool in helping you to determine your realistic needs and wants in creating your desired outdoor space that fits your budget. Get this five-page worksheet: Getting Started — Research, Prep and Design here.

Six-Tips Summary for Your Outdoor Living Space

1. Look at your entire yard as an outdoor living space that needs both hardscape and softscape to function well.
2. Watch available TV garden shows that will help entertain and educate on costs, process, and ideas.
3. Visit local gardens to see an actual outdoor space that include features you may want in your space.
4. Research landscape design, style, how-to, etc at your local library.
5. Ask and answer questions about your priorities for your outdoor space
6. Utilize the LivingOnThePatio worksheet to help you plan the development of your outdoor living space. In completing this worksheet you will detail your current outdoor situation and what you’d like your future outdoor living space to include. It will generate discussion, help to prioritize elements, and help you decide what dollar amounts to dedicate to each element in relation to your project budget. Get the worksheet here.

With a little advanced planning you can have a fun outdoor living space without spending tens of thousands of dollars. We’d love to share more of our experiences with you to help you start living on your patio.

Please Leave a Comment: Outdoor Living Space

Did you find this blog post helpful? What’s missing that you wanted answered? What research have you done to-date or that you did before starting your completed project? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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