Outdoor renovations typically begin with a similar wish list: places to kick back, room for gathering and spaces for cooking and dining outdoors. For ideas on weaving those elements into your own backyard, explore this countdown of the five most-viewed outdoor makeovers of the year. Each project shows how architects and designers thoughtfully integrated flexible seating, fire features, outdoor kitchens and more into welcoming landscapes that feel like natural extensions of the home.
In compact city gardens, every square inch counts, and an adaptable design can greatly expand how a space functions. This Chicago backyard, tucked between the house and garage, once served mainly as a pass-through. Landscape architect Benjamin Himschoot of Himsben Design Studio reimagined it as a versatile patio framed by lush plantings. Lightweight plastic Adirondack chairs and a portable smoke-free fire pit allow for quick rearranging. When the seating area isn’t in use, the homeowners’ two children can clear the furniture and set up a soccer net.
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This serene hot tub, part of an Oakland, California, landscape designed and built by Barry Sacher of Rock Paper Scissors Landscape, gives the homeowners a peaceful retreat within their sloped backyard. Once short on level, usable space, the yard now features a series of decks and terraces that work with the grade rather than against it. The 7-foot-diameter Alaskan cedar tub sits in a prime spot facing redwood trees, with an outdoor shower tucked close by. A few steps up, a larger deck provides lounge seating beneath an umbrella, while additional stairs lead farther up the slope to an outdoor kitchen and dining area conveniently close to the house.
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Before and After: 3 Creative Solutions to a Sloped Yard
This Timnath, Colorado, backyard, designed and built by Lindgren Landscape, has plenty of features packed into a modest footprint. After downsizing, the homeowners wanted to replace a patchy lawn with a space built for lounging, dining and entertaining nearly year-round. Landscape designer Jamie McCarn delivered a highly functional layout, adding a solid-roof shade structure that covers both dining and lounge areas, along with a nearby fire pit patio for cozy evenings. Just off the back door, a slightly elevated deck houses an outdoor kitchen with a grill and smoker, while a kit-built barrel sauna beside the fire pit offers a relaxing all-season retreat.
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This striking backyard in Needham, Massachusetts, claimed the top spot as the most-viewed outdoor space of 2025. When the homeowners first consulted landscape designer Jim Stucchi, they were considering buying the home and installing a pool. Stucchi ultimately reimagined the entire backyard, adding a pool, a cabana, a spa, a dining terrace and an outdoor kitchen. The landscape’s modern-meets-traditional style complements the home’s architecture, while carefully chosen plants soften the hardscape’s clean lines, adding color and other visual interest at every turn.
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Outdoor seating areas that echo the comforts of indoors — cushy furnishings, shade, heat and bug control — tend to be the spaces people use most in a yard. In this inviting Los Altos, California, backyard, KNR Design Studio and Changras & Frey Construction created multiple flexible seating zones with varying levels of comfort to make indoor-outdoor living feel effortless. A covered veranda just off the living room can be fully enclosed with motorized screens or opened wide through black-frame sliding glass doors. Nearby, an outdoor dining table enjoys partial shade, while an adjacent lounge area offers views of a putting green.
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