Creating an intimate outdoor space is easier than you think. With the hectic pace of modern life we are spending more and more of our days in the car, at the office, and staring at our computer screen. Plugged into to seemingly never-ending stream of noise and information, now more than ever we need a place to retreat and regroup. What would it be like to have that getaway in your own backyard? Not simply a garden or patio, but an outdoor space as intimate as the den or bedroom in your home. A well-designed outdoor space should be an integral part of your home, and it begins with ideal location.
FINDING THE RIGHT SPOT
Whether you live on an expansive suburban lot, or a tight urban site, there are most likely opportunities for creating intimate outdoor spaces. Certainly privacy plays an important role in an intimate garden, so any area that provides some degree of privacy is preferred, especially spaces free from unwanted noise, light, or unpleasant scenery, would be the ideal. While much can be done to overcome these obstacles it’s always best
to find the most suitable area first, and then work around these constraints. It’s difficult to have an intimate space facing a busy street or underneath a harsh fluorescent light. Typically these spaces are in back or side yards, but this all depends on your particular home and its setting. Also important to creating an intimate space is consideration for the edges and transitions. That is, what are the other spaces around this space, and how do they relate. Do the adjacent spaces compliment or conflict with the intended use of the new space? For example, it may look like a nice spot in your backyard, but unfortunately the prominent view the area is to an unkempt area of your neighbor’s yard. And while the secluded spot at the rear of the house seems nice now it can really be noisy on summer days with the air conditioning units on high. Carefully consider how you hope to use this space when selecting a location.
A SENSE OF ENCLOSURE
No matter where you find to create your intimate garden there will undoubtedly be certain aspects you will want or need to highlight or moderate. This is really dependent on your unique site’s features and how you hope to use the space, but there are a number of universal techniques to help the space be more intimate. The idea of an intimate place is a place where you can feel comfortable and relaxed, which means having a feeling of privacy, safety and security. And the easiest way for this to be accomplished is with enclosure. Situating a space in a natural depression, along a wooded edge, or against an architectural wall will naturally begin to create a sense of enclosure that leads to a feeling of intimacy. The next step would be to begin developing this enclosure through the use of fencing, screens, walls, and plant materials, or a combination of these elements. Use plants such as arborvitae and yew to create evergreen
hedges to establish the walls of this outdoor space. Augmenting those with creatively designed and finished wood screens will add an architectural feel and can be situated to restrict negative views or create a sense of anticipation by blocking the view to the space from its entry. The same could be accomplished with a hybrid solution of climbing vines on a trellis structure or vegetated “green screen”.
FIT AND FINISH
Along with the siting and enclosure it’s also important to focus on the look and feel of the space, which means turning your attentions to materials and furnishings. As an area devoted to comfort and relaxation a careful selection of materials and how they make the user feel are essential. The use of the right materials and how they all work together is the key to creating an intimate space. Natural materials such as stone, brick and wood are versatile materials well-suited to paving, walls, screens and furnishings and are well-suited to creating intimate spaces. Depending on the particular style of your home, concrete, steel or synthetic materials might be a part of this materials palette as well. Whatever the material there should be a meaningful consideration of how they help to build a comfortable and inviting setting. This is true of all the materials that go into the garden, everything from paving to planters, structures such as arbors and pergolas, and furniture. Along with hardscape elements, the use of plant materials is essential as well. Careful selection and arrangement of these materials is and important task for the landscape designer looking to design an intimate outdoor space. Special consideration should be given to plants with interesting foliage or flowers that are best viewed and experienced up close. These spaces are meant for leisure and relaxation, where you have time to spend enjoying the nuances of every plant. Choose some varieties that offer fine details that might otherwise go unnoticed in another setting. Select others for the fragrance of their blooms or an ornamental grass with an unusual seed head that sways in a breeze. Also important is the value of plants is in their ability to “soften” a space. The bulk of our days are spent in “hard” environments with the flat planes and right angles of floors, walls and ceilings defining our spaces. Plant materials are used to “soften” outdoor spaces with their irregular forms and literal soft feel by lending a light and natural tone to a built environment. A large shrub planted at the brick corner of a home, or a trailing vine climbing a trellis build along a wall are ways in which plant materials are used to create an intimate environment. Areas of groundcovers are a soft but refined alternative to hard paving. And as we discussed, shrub hedges help define the space and can control and manipulate the circulation and views to and from the space. Just as the perfect couch makes the living room can create the mood for your home, the right furnishings are also critical for creating intimate outdoor spaces. Selecting comfortable furnishings that are sized appropriately for the space is important to creating the right setting. Also, interesting pieces of artwork and planters are very effective for creating this atmosphere. Particularly important to setting the right mood for a space is a focus on lighting. This will allow for use of the garden at night and can be used to create an interesting balance of light of shadow. Use path and step lighting to add safety without being obtrusive, or uplighting to focus on a specimen tree. Architectural lighting on the building can wash the wall with light and strings of bulb lights can gently and evenly light a space. And subtle water features are also important for an intimate space. A simple bubbling boulder fountain or trickling stream will add dynamic but soothing vitality to a space.
The idea of creating an intimate space is too have a place where you can escape the hustle of day-to-day life. Selecting the right location, defining the space, and building an atmosphere through materials and furnishings is the recipe for creating this environment. On a wide-open rural lot or in the heart of the city any home can have an intimate outdoor space with this design approach.
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