If you’re considering a landscape makeover, you could start with thinking about the masonry features you’d like to incorporate. Expert masonry can bring the perfect mix of utility and beauty to your landscape, from the creation of a long-lasting driveway to stone pillars that make your entryway stand out. To inspire you, here are four backyard designs with masonry focal features in Port Jefferson, NY.
Welcome Design Trends
Welcome visitors with elegance by adding matching pillars topped with decorative lighting at the driveway entrance. If your driveway is currently made of asphalt and you want a more classic look, you could replace it with driveway pavers or simply add a paver apron at the driveway entrance.
At the front entry, a stylish paver walkway flanked by a low seat wall can offer a warm welcome that softens the transition between the home and the landscape. For a wow factor at the entryway, perhaps nothing beats a masonry fire fountain—this dramatic fire and water combo is sure to turn heads.
Walkways are opportunities to add elegance to your home using natural stones or concrete pavers instead of a boring asphalt or poured concrete walkway. Not only will the surface far outlast cheaper alternatives, you can’t beat the curb appeal of charming brick, rustic bluestone, or sleek limestone.
Defined Spaces Using Retaining and Seat Walls
Whether your property is flat or sloped, you can create ideal places to relax or entertain by defining these spaces using retaining or seat walls. Walls can add a sense of history to a new home, define spaces, and guide the eye. They can be ideal for any decorating style, from ultramodern to casual-rustic.
Create a gorgeous Tuscan-inspired sitting area beneath terraced walls overflowing with wisteria. Or if your space is flat, raised masonry planters could add visual appeal and more formal greenery. Transform your backyard into a luxury private retreat by choosing smooth, sleek wall materials and monochromatic plantings. Embrace the rugged beauty of natural stone by choosing the kind of fire pit with seat walls that will bring back childhood memories of summer camp.
Comfortable Places to Gather
The most important feature of any patio could be comfort. You want to be there without feeling like you’re in a fishbowl or exposed to the elements.
Masonry naturally makes us feel secure. Of course you don’t need to enclose your backyard with castle walls with ramparts and towers, but even a low seat wall around a patio will give a warm sense of enclosure while serving double duty as overflow seating.
Few outdoor living spaces feel complete without shelter from the elements. This could be an open-roofed pergola to cool things down on a hot day; a pavilion with a solid roof that extends your outdoor entertaining season well into the cooler months; or a gazebo, which can serve as the perfect romantic spot for a quiet conversation or a good book. A masonry base added to any shelter structure could project elegance and integrate the structure into the landscape.
Ambience: Water and Fire
A conversation area anchored by an outdoor fireplace, fire pit, or fire table will naturally bring people together. Fire features can be completely stand-alone both as structures and in design, or they can borrow from the surrounding hardscapes to blend in.
Create a backdrop for memorable meals by requesting a water wall flanked by masonry pillars. A serene reflecting pool could add further dimensional interest to your outdoor space.
Related: BUILDING A MODERN RETREAT WITH MASONRY IN BABYLON, NY
