17 Great Ideas for Better Outdoor Living

This 3,000-square-foot deck and adjoining patio boasted spectacular ocean views, yet felt uninviting and saw surprisingly little use. However, a renovation that combined indoor luxuries with the pleasures of outdoor living, created an outdoor living space to envy. Tour the highlights, then use these ideas in your own backyard.

A thoughtful layout and well-placed patio doors create an easy flow between indoor and outdoor rooms.

Back-to-back seating marks the transition from deck to patio. This custom piece combines a bench facing the dining table and a daybed facing the ocean.

Did you see this light fixture? That's the point. Well-camouflaged downlights in the arbor are positioned to illuminate seating areas. Dimmers allow fine-tuned moonlight effects.

The outdoor dining area features a gas fireplace with a stone-and-stucco surround and a fir mantel. The raised hearth continues to either side, forming a built-in bench.

The arbor is made of sandblasted fir topped with three colors of stain to mirror the natural tones of driftwood. A fungicide added to the stain minimizes maintenance. What you don't see counts, too: wires for lights are in the channels routed into the timbers and capped with matching wood.

A honed-granite top and a distressed-fir base ensure this side table will weather gracefully. Nearby cushions are weatherproof, too -- the owner simply hoses all the surfaces about once a week.

A custom-built daybed repeats the materials and forms of nearby structures. It is constructed of the same distressed fir as the arbor, while its lattice base complements the wall fountain's square tiles.

Water dances down the wall fountain, whose porphyry face matches the stone of the fireplace. Decorative tiles add a splash of blue.

An infrared heat lamp -- one of five in the arbor, each with its own switch -- warms the air on chilly evenings.

A rustic hanging lantern illuminates the arbor's dining area. Coordinated wall lights above the fountain complete the decor.

Made of tempered glass, the deck's railing preserves views while blocking ocean breezes.

Traffic-hardy porch paint treated with a fungicide protects the redwood sun deck.

A tropical wood, a dais of oiled ipe, dramatizes a portable spa and defines another outdoor room. The platform is an easy step up, yet high enough to also serve as a bench. The spa itself rests on a poured-concrete platform set below deck level.

Downlights illuminate steps after dark.

A teak offset umbrella offers shade when and where it's needed and can be moved aside to reveal the sky at night.

The wall fountain's filters and pumps hide beneath a remote part of the deck, so only the soothing sounds of falling water are audible here. Stepping stones offer an adventurous path across the basin.

A flagstone patio wends through a side garden, linking a car court to the deck area. The trickling fountain lures visitors deeper into the landscape, where the patio's water feature also becomes audible and the ocean views unfold.