Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

How to Create an Outdoor Living Room

How to Create an Outdoor Living Room

This entryway by Seattle landscaper Scot Eckley shows how you can create a multi-functional outdoor living room no matter the size of your outdoor space.

If you ask landscape designer Scot Eckley to point to his best work, the small garden courtyard with outdoor living space that he created for one Seattle couple is it.

“This is a little garden where every decision counts,” says Eckley, noting he’s so proud of it he brings new employees to check it out. “It’s a garden where we have multifunctional spaces, and no detail wasn’t considered. It’s just really thoughtful and cohesive.”

The clients, Yann and Angie Christensen, a software architect and a crime-victim advocate, respectively, wanted Eckley to make the most of their small entry space of 507 square feet. On their list: to screen the front patio off from the busy street, create a new entryway for the house itself, add an outdoor living room to make the most of indoor/outdoor living, and include a “spa deck” for Yann where he could bring his laptop and work during the day.

As a result, this garden is like a Bento box; each piece fits together just so, while Eckley’s attention to the smallest details—from creating garden views while seated at the fire pit, to screening the front door without enclosing it—can be seen throughout.

Landscape designer Scot Eckley transformed this small Seattle courtyard with garden views by the fire pit.


One thing this garden is not, however, is “pretty” in a conventional way. Contrasting tones are used in both the hardscape and the plantings, and brutalist materials like concrete and steel give the space an edge. (Albeit one softened with textural plants like Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’ and Fatsia Japonica).

“You don’t hire us because you want a ‘pretty garden,’” Eckley says. “You hire us because we will create an incredible outdoor space that’s super functional and comfortable, and is beautiful on the crappiest, gloomiest, wettest day of the year.”

Here, Eckley breaks down the elements that tie this small space together, with tips on how anyone can emulate his principles in their own yard.

An Outdoor Room with a View

Eckley didn’t want people looking down at the ground, so he elevated the plantings in gunmetal steel raised beds, which gave the outdoor living room an eye-level view. “The space was designed to be really rich when you’re sitting down,” he says, “because that’s the way you’re going to appreciate the garden most of the time.”

TIP: To lift the eye in your garden, low beds or planters at 2 feet high or less will give you eye-level views of your plants when sitting down.

A Carefully Planned Escape

The Christensens wanted to use the available square footage to create more living space outdoors. They also wanted a way to beat the heat in the summer. “Yann and Angie really conceived of this garden as a respite—a way to get away from the sun here in July and August,” Eckley says, noting that the house itself, not the plantings, created the bulk of the shade they needed.

The street, meanwhile, is a mere 10 feet away from the edge of the fire pit, so creating extra privacy was a concern. Eckley addressed this by adding overlapping concrete walls, punctuated by a well-placed Japanese maple.

TIP: Use walls, screening fences, and bamboo to create privacy from the street and adjacent homes. If heat is a concern, consider locating your outdoor living room in the shadow of your home.


The Plants Are Saying ‘Hi’


Since guests have to walk by the outdoor living room to get to the front door, a row of pavers leads the way. To create a small foyer of sorts, Eckley hung silver orb planters that catch the light but don’t completely wall off the space from the rest of the garden.

TIP: For a small-space entryway, consider lightly screening it while creating a moment of visual interest. “The mirror ball planters block your view and create a boundary at the front door,” Eckley says, “but it’s like those little planters are greeting you.”


Compare and Contrast


As our home and design editor Christine Lennon has pointed out, dark tones are very on trend right now. But that doesn’t mean the look is gloomy—quite the opposite. To contend with the darkness of Seattle’s rainy days, Eckley created contrast with plantings of ferns and hostas that pop in bright green shades against darker backdrops. Textural plants like Japanese forest grass spill out of steel planters to add drama to the look.

TIP: “To see if your plant plan works, take a black and white picture of your plantings,” Eckley says. “You’ll immediately see if there’s good contrast in color, size, leaves, and texture.” He adds: “If it looks good in black and white, it’s going to look good when you plant it.”


Keeping It in Perspective


One of the things Yann wanted was a spa-like area in a corner, but the couple also wanted it to be open to the rest of the garden. “They had these dreamy concept images of very lush places you’d see in Bali,” says Eckley. To give the space its own identity, he added lighter wood tones and used perspective to add depth. (In one brilliant detail that tricks the eye, Eckley used cedar for a screen with gunmetal steel behind it and textural plants in front.)

TIP: To create a sense of perspective, “use backdrop screens and plant plants with really big, bold textures right in front of them,” says Eckley. “This will make the plants appear to advance toward you.”

To give a deeper insight into this idea, Eckley waxes poetic in the best possible way: “Think about if we were standing next to each other in Seattle, and we were looking out at the view to infinity,” he says. “The things closest to us would have texture, the things further away would have less, and then we’d hit the horizon where everything turns blurry and gray. … We provided really high contrast colors between plants, and contrasted that with the backdrop to add depth.” A unique perspective on garden design, indeed.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×