Small Backyard Necessities: How to Transform Your Small Backyard into an Entertainment Oasis

Summers in Minnesota are truly unbeatable, but also fleeting. Everyone here knows the importance of taking advantage of those hot summer days and cozy summer nights by spending as much of it outside as possible. Quality time with family and friends is must–but let’s be real, rallying the troops to meet at a crowded restaurant or grilling at the local public beach is getting old and you’re craving the comfort and convenience of stepping right outside your back door. The only problem is, it feels like you just don’t have enough space to make your backyard a place for people to gather.

Outdoor Lighting Trends

Outdoor lighting is a great way to boost the curb appeal of your home. With options including, but not limited to, mount lighting, table lamps, step lights, and fairy lights, generating a new aesthetic for your outdoor space is as simple as flipping a switch. Whether you’re looking to add some flair to the front yard or to brighten up the backyard, there are lighting options for every design taste and budget.

Project Spotlight: Elevated Entertaining

The main level of this home has a beautiful wood-panel pub that led to a deck that was barely big enough for a grill. The clients wanted to open the room to a much more substantial deck to accommodate larger gatherings and integrate the indoor and outdoor living spaces while preserving privacy from the neighbors.

The new space needed to offer relief from evening insects and untimely showers, but also extend the outdoor season and add direct access to the yard. The roof line was low and the side yard setback restrictions dictated that the new structure could not extend beyond the side of the garage.

So, senior designer Heather Sweeney created a complete solution with a tall, mechanically-louvered pergola, disappearing screens, a line-of-sight fireplace wall, glass bifold doors and an open deck that wraps around the back of the house. While it extends the pub’s black and brown tones, the project achieved the clean contemporary look the clients desired.

It’s Alive! – Planting a Living Privacy Fence

The fence is the simplest way to divide boundaries and to create privacy in your yard. The difficulty with fences, however, is that many municipalities only allow for the construction of fences that are 6 feet in height. This limits to the amount of privacy that can be achieved with just a fence. If you would like to have anything taller, there are a few simple ways in which privacy can be achieved. The best such way being, with plants!

Salad Days

Long before it became a scourge upon middle class Americans wanting to masquerade as lords and princes upon their suburban estates, the dandelion was prized for its usefulness making medicine, wine, and food. In these dreary days of March, even the most fervent dandelion hater looks forward to the emergence of this adversary.

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Mom's & Design Build

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