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I’m always impressed by successful collaboration, where each party brings its best to the table. Outdoor Rooms & Retreats magazine is filled with examples of such teamwork—between designers, architects, and Mother Nature. Mother Nature laid the foundations and the creatives enhanced what was already beautiful with comfort and opportunities for relaxation and fun. As more of us conduct more activity outside for safety reasons, it stands to reason that we want our outdoor areas to rival the softness and style of their interior cousins. This issue looks at the design of spaces we know you’re considering as you rethink your home: pools, fireplaces, porch swings, dining areas, and architectural accents. Plus we present palettes to make those spaces sing. Open-air cooking makes outdoor kitchens a high-ranking residential upgrade. Designer Michele Plachter outfitted…

A larger-than-life toy duck sculpture perched beside a sparkling pool pretty much says it all: This is the place for fun. “That sculpture is the quintessential example of who they are,” Philadelphia designer Michele Plachter says of her clients—a young, active family with two kids and two dogs. “They love to have a good time and wanted a welcoming yet sophisticated backyard where their guests would feel at ease.” Plachter was more than game to take on the outdoor space. “As an interior designer, I like to have fun too,” she says. “So when I find a client who allows me to be creative, it’s a great match.” Plus, she’d already worked with the family from the ground up on their new transitional-style Colonial in Haddenfield, New Jersey. Working from the inside out,…

Nature wasn’t natural to Joanna Buchanan. In fact, she never considered it part of her DNA. The British home accessories designer grew up in Hong Kong where exposure to idyllic outdoor spaces is rare. She dabbled in gardening in the English countryside during her childhood summers, but adult life led her to more urban living. Glass and steel skyscrapers, grids of intersecting streets, and large populations were far from the quiet of life outside of London and New York City, two places where Joanna lived for decades. Then in 2014, she and her husband, Brad Pascarella, decided to leave the tight quarters of Manhattan and relocate to Connecticut. And it’s there that Joanna rediscovered her love of planting, training a yard to achieve splendor, and sharing the fruits of her labor…

Human beings have long put down roots near water. A lake or river provides water not only for drinking, washing, and fishing, but also for low-key recreation and cooling off on a blazing day. We may not need bodies of water for all the reasons of our forebearers, but gazing out over a rippling pool still relaxes and taking a dip still refreshes. These days we bring bodies of water to us and are sure to make those pools sizzle with style.…

Introducing fire into a backyard taps into something visceral and primal. Who doesn’t love the dance of firelight, perhaps while roasting hot dogs or marshmallows, as the stars shyly appear and the rest of the sky slips into darkness? But outdoor fireplaces are also absolutely luxurious: All of a sudden, cooler nights or a bit of frost can’t keep one from savoring the great outdoors, with the comforts of home just a few steps away. “OUTDOOR SPACES ARE NEVER AN AFTERTHOUGHT. FRESH AIR IS AS MUCH PART OF A DESIGN SCHEME AS THE FURNITURE.” —designer Oscar Yague…

Let’s take a moment, shall we, to drink in the astonishing ocean view from the back patio of a beach house. You practically can feel the warm breeze like balm on your skin, hear the waves crashing into the cliffs below, and taste the salt in the air like the first sip of summer. Do you catch your breath at the thought of spending an afternoon surrounded by such splendor? Those stirring sensations are all in the design when Steve Giannetti plans a California home. He is the architect behind these two homes perched on surf-buffeted bluffs of the Southern California coast, each one oriented to encourage gazing over the Pacific. Giannetti thought through every room, every surface, and every detail to make the most of the nearby ocean, so he…