One of the best parts of what we do is the privilege of creating awesome Outdoor Living Spaces for our clients. We recently put the finishing touches on a Travertine Paver Patio that is especially nice.

The client had an existing pool and pool house already in the backyard but the surrounding areas were rather nondescript. They called us to help them with design ideas to transform the backyard into a place where they could entertain their family and friends.

The clients were interested in an outdoor kitchen, a bar area, an outdoor fireplace and an area where they could set up additional tables for dinner parties. One concern that they had was that the area was very hot in the summer because it faced west so they were interested in creating shade.

As always, we started by developing a Master Plan and budget that incorporated all of the elements that they were interested in. Once the Landscape Master Plan was complete our 3D Design Expert also created an animated movie showing the backyard as if you were flying around it in a helicopter to help the client visualize our ideas. Once they saw the plan and video, they loved it and couldn’t wait to get started.

We started by creating a bar and outdoor kitchen that tied the house and the pool house together. We used Brussels Dimensional Wall Units to build a bar and outdoor kitchen with a built in gas grill, refrigerator and pizza oven. The Counter Tops for the grill and the kitchen are beautiful Santa Cecilia Granite. One detail that I really like is the foot rest we built into the bottom of the bar. Because of the tremendous weight of the Outdoor Kitchen structure it required a special concrete footer.

The original plan called for pavers to be installed but the client decided to upgrade to outdoor rated Travertine and the results are outstanding. We used Ivory Colored Granite and then outlined it with a Reddish colored paver for a little visual interest.

In order to protect the area from the blazing afternoon sun we worked with a subcontractor who specializes in retractable awnings.

The Outdoor Fireplace became the Focal Point of the backyard and it is also perfectly located to see it from the back windows of the house. The Fireplace has built in wood boxes and an ornate matching hearth. We used the same Travertine with paver detail for the seating area in front of the fireplace.

The final area was the Pavillion for outdoor dinner parties. In addition to the Travertine Paver Patio floor this one also had a Retractable Canopy for shade when needed.

The final touches were a new fence to enclose the entire area and colorful, easy to maintain landscaping.

The results are outstanding and I am sure that over the next years the clients are going to create many great memories with family and friends.