While the Pacific Northwest – especially the coastal areas – is known for rain, its beauty truly shines in the summer months. Those who live in the region spend a lot of time outdoors, even when they’re at home. This makes it important for them to make their backyards more functional and inviting. If you’re looking for ideas on how to make your backyard more pleasant with a weekend project, we have are three DIY projects that can turn your backyard into the place to be.
Transform Your Backyard Space with 3 Trending Hardscape Projects
1. StackStone Fire Pits
People love their fire pits! In fact, it’s one of the top added-on features for people who are buying a new construction house. Fire pits add warmth and elegance to a backyard, while extending the livability of the outdoor area past the summer months.
But what makes a fire pit different from the rest? The built-in seating. One of the most popular trends is to build seating in circular or squared off shapes around the fire pit to allow seating year round.
In particular, a circular stone seating arrangement serves two main functions. The first is to reduce the number of chairs that need to be set up when you want to use the fire pit. The second is to maintain the elegance of the fire pit and extend the style onto your patio.
Our StackStone retaining wall blocks are the perfect choice for a fire pit. With their tapered sides and multiple sizes, you can create either a square or circular design, ranging from 39” to 58”, depending what your outdoor space deems appropriate.
2. Walkway from Patio to Gazebo
Gazebos are common in the Pacific Northwest since they offer a way to be outdoors with shade and protection from the elements. However, to add beauty and function to your gazebo, create a walkway using concrete pavers or natural stone. A walkway serves two functions. The first is to provide structure to the backyard and subtly instruct guests where to go and how to get there. The second is to continue the stone design from patio so the transition to the gazebo is seamless.
There are a few Mutual Materials you can use to make your stone walkway from your patio to your gazebo:
- Flagstone Pavers – If your patio is built with stones of all different shapes and sizes, you may have used Flagstone Pavers. Continue using the Flagstone pavers in your walkway to provide a uniform theme in your backyard. Alternately, use them to create some interest with shape and texture into what might otherwise be a plainer patio area. Their natural look makes them ideal for nearly any style.
- Dominion Pavers – If you have a classic and clean-lined patio, continue the clean lines with Dominion Pavers. These pavers comes in three different sizes, enabling you to create diverse patterns or go completely linear for a truly modern look. Dominion Pavers have been tumbled for rounded corners to provides a worn texture look.
3. Retaining Wall Backyard Border
See How to Build Retaining Walls!
Retaining walls are popular in the Pacific Northwest as they add functional space to the backyard, enabling developers to leave natural swells and hills (often preserving trees and vegetation in the process) instead of leveling the property. While hills and mounds can be attractive in their own right, they sometimes prove difficult to landscape.
Most often, these retaining walls are built to add usable space to a yard or set aside planting and gardening space. On the aesthetic side of things, retaining walls can add dimension to an otherwise bland wall of the yard, while adding texture at the same time.
The CornerStone, Roman Cypress, and the ManorStone walls are the most commonly used Mutual Materials stones for Retaining Walls:
- CornerStone – CornerStone is the largest retaining wall block at Mutual Materials. While it’s ideal for large walls, it comes in a variety of colors to style the wall as you wish and can be used on walls of any shape or size.
- Roman Cypress – Similar to the Roman Dominion pavers used for walkways, the Roman Cypress gets its unique look from a specialized tumbling process that rounds the corners. This gives the appearance of real stone.
- ManorStone – These pavers are flat-faced and straight-sided to provide a modern, sleek look to your retaining wall. If your goal is to have your plants noticed more than the retaining wall, ManorStone is a good option for you as its beautiful in design but allows the beauty to take the spotlight. Add a cap unit to give your wall a finished look. ManorStone is also ideal for stairs and they are study and versatile.
See More Retaining Wall Blocks!
So there you have it – three project ideas and resources you need to take your Pacific Northwest backyard from bland to fabulous! If you have any questions about the products referenced here, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.