Outdoor Living Pics

Instantly my new favorite thread; ill post some later!
Thanks
KEVIN

 

Here are some pics of my place just as it was being finished. It's now fully furnished and the pool is completed:
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Very nice. The stones of the column supports and walls are so uniform, is it a concrete product?

 

They are technically "pavers", but the manufacturer offers them in a "wall system" - basically more uniform cuts so the walls don't have many gaps. If you are close to it, you can see some gaps, but that lends to the rustic nature of the patio.

It was worth every penny, we spend a ton of time out there. We've had 60 people with tables / chairs / food, etc. The fireplace heats well and we also have a propane heater that helps when it's cool. In summer, it has a nice breeze that runs through it, so if you need to cool off, you can.

 

Here is a small pic of our patio as featured in the paver manufacturer's catalog. The pic is reversed, probably to help with the flow in the catalog, and it shows it as completed, with furniture.
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Great thread idea! I love this kind of stuff. One of my ump-teen hobbies is landscaping/gardening/designing/building outdoor stuff. Not sure how many pics I have here on my work computer, but I will do some digging and post later. Right now I've got a couple of projects going on. Our lot is long and narrow, so one small side yard I am turning into an enclosed brick courtyard area with raised beds, fountain, and fire pit. We're using antique reclaimed brick from Charleston. Also, with my garage project I am currently planning, we are including some outdoor living space that will hopefully include patio and outdoor kitchen area, with room to add a pool at some point.

 

Rob - that bar/grill/couch set up looks like something from an island resort.
Cool outdoor fireplace R.

Our place makes the most out of <1/2 acre IMO. Previous owner spent his retirement working on the house and yard: reclaimed brick paths, boardwalk through the back section, stone canals to route gutter water and drainage with foot bridge, 2 ponds, tons of perennial flowers and plants, etc etc. Not much we have to do just watering, raking leaves, minor weeding, trimming rose bushes and basic pond maintenance. No grass to mow is a big plus.
Now if only the snow would freakin melt so we can enjoy it this year....
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I realy like the way your pool is integrated with the house and porches..

Looks great and love the outdoor fireplace. Even here in TX they are popular and were a frequent client wish when I was an architect.

I'd like to have an outdoor room like yours. Here it would need to be screened in - mosquitos a plague that comes with our 100F summers.

 

This is the back yard I designed and built at our old house. We now have this as a rental property, and the yard has made it instantly lease every time it's had a vacancy. I wish I had some "before" pics, but essentially it was a bare, flat grass yard with zero landscaping. The cool part to me is I literally did everything with my own two hands....structures, landscaping, waterfalls, sod, fences, etc.....aside from the pool itself.

Here is a video tour I did a couple of months ago when I knew the renters at the time were planning to leave. Has some good panoramas of the back yard. Property is vacant now so I've been putting together the advertising this week: Tour #21982
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Wow!! How did you build the grill island? What are the specs on the pool?
KEVIN

 

Great stuff here - more pics!

 

The pool is about 16x24, depth goes from about 3-5 feet. Gunite/plaster construction, saltwater chlorination. More details from planning and construction are in the "show your pool" thread, I think in Silver.

Grill island is built to last through a nuclear holocaust. Filled concrete block construction/rebar with stone veneer. Top is galvanized steel frame with 2 layers of concrete backerboard and tile on top of that. I didn't want any wood anywhere in the construction to potentially ever rot, so the only wood is cabinet door framing and doors themselves. The island has a propane grill and sink in it. If I were still living there I would have gotten fancier and put in side burners, wood BBQ pit, icemaker, etc, but just wanted something solid and basic for it as a rental.

Looking back, building it was a huge pain in the ass, and took way longer than I estimated. There are methods for building a wood framed outdoor kitchen, and I would maybe go that route. The concrete block construction is sturdy as hell, can't catch fire from a hot grill, but is slow, dirty, and very laborious. I also learned having good concrete tools is a must. I started by cutting the blocks with abrasive blades, and towards the end decided to try a much more expensive diamond blade. WOW! What a difference. I could have saved probably a weekend or two of work if I had bought the diamond blade in the beginning. Now I would just go buy the baddest-ass diamond concrete saw known to man as Step One in any concrete block/stone project. Maybe we need an official DIY thread here to share projects and tips.....

 

Glad I found this thread....I love landscaping....I'll contribute a couple.
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thank you

 

+1, really like it, looks almost mid century modern.

 

Nathan, that is awesome. I like how the pool has the walk in like it was an actual lake. Add the fire pit and waterfalls, that is awesome.

Working on my backyard. Have a half acre lot with an 1100 sat house, so I have a big yard. And most of the back half is a hilldside. So I've built a retaining wall to have a fire put soon, planting trees and doing natural landscaping. Will have houses behind me soon, and I don't want to see them.

 

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