If You Want Your Backyard To Look Like An Oasis, Then Try This Landscaping Style

Most of us don't need a huge waterfall, a fancy deck, or a koi pond to enjoy our backyards, but if you're trying to turn your outdoor space into a welcoming retreat, you might be wondering exactly what it needs. For a backyard oasis that's as comfortable and inviting as you're dreaming about, the secret lies in creating spaces you actually use. To create the structure for your outdoor oasis, consider a landscaping style that uses built-in masonry to create permanent spaces for cooking, gathering, or seating.

Making built-in concrete or brick hardscaping part of your landscape design works for everything from small city backyards to large parcels with acreage. It can turn your yard into what designers call an outdoor room, capturing a space's pure functionality. Built-in masonry features give your outdoor space a job. Rather than just being a patch of concrete like a basic patio, features such as an outdoor kitchen, built-in fire pit, bench seating, and planters become permanent parts of the landscape instead of something you have to store away every fall. Instead of drifting around the patio like a four-piece furniture set does, built-in masonry seating and coffee tables define the boundaries of your space and become fixed improvements to your property.

The permanence of masonry features offers distinct advantages, but it requires better planning since it's harder to change once it's built. It means laying utility groundwork before you start building, whether that's a gas line to an outdoor kitchen or electrical for lighting. Also, brick and concrete are susceptible to freeze-thaw cycles, so you must ensure your outdoor spaces are sloped properly and that water drains away from your built-ins.

Before designing and building, other considerations to address include permitting issues and fire safety codes. For fireplaces and fire pits, recommendations often call for at least 25 feet of clearance from combustible structures, so it's important to verify your local building and fire codes before construction. It should have a non-flammable base made from concrete, dirt, or gravel and a fire screen. If you're considering built-in masonry seating for this, 4 feet is the recommended distance from a fire pit.

To use masonry for the hardscaping in your backyard oasis, carrying the same material across all of your features is what gives it the cohesion it needs to be seen as a room or a space. While cohesive elements make your features feel like one room, giving each area its own specific job is another way to pull this off. Similar to what designers do indoors, keep your cooking spaces in your outdoor kitchen zone separate from your gathering spaces. That way, when you use the same building materials and a cohesive aesthetic, each zone feels intentional and it pulls the whole backyard together. 

Whether your backyard oasis gives you a solid return as an investment in your property depends on factors like the materials you use, your climate, and the local real estate market. But how much you enjoy it depends on the design choices that actually make you want to spend time there. If you have a brick home or find that texture appealing, you can use brick cabinet bases, brick planters, and a brick pizza oven to create a warm, earthy outdoor kitchen. Or, if you prefer the cooler look of concrete, you could build a fire pit with matching concrete benches and end tables.

Whether you choose brick, stained concrete, or add a stone veneer to your built-ins, these are the details that make it yours. With porous masonry materials, especially high-end ones like travertine veneers, keep in mind that they can absorb water and crack or spall in freeze-thaw climates. So, in addition to taking drainage into account during the design and build phase, they also need to be sealed. The maintenance required for your unique build will depend on the climate you're in.

When it comes to making an outdoor space feel truly personal, the magic is in the details. For the built-in benches that frame your patio, use cushions made with fast-drying foam and outdoor fabrics. Choose shrubs and other ornamental plants for your built-in planters to create the privacy you're looking for, and add water features that fit your space and budget.