How to Create the Perfect, Custom Backyard Oasis
Think about your favorite vacation. Were you at the beach? In the mountains? Wherever you were, you probably spent a lot of time outside! Hiking beneath whispering trees, walking along warm sandy beaches, or just relaxing on the patio of your hotel or vacation rental with your favorite cocktail.
Some of the best parts about vacation are the moments spent outside with friends and loved ones! The laughter, relaxation, and joy stay with you as sweet memories for literally years to come. But what if you could enjoy the cool breezes, luxurious outdoor dining, and walk-up bars of your vacation all year long in your own custom luxury home? You would feel like you were on vacation every day of the week once you stepped outside, right? Of course!
Well, this is exactly the vacation lifestyle you can enjoy when you pick the perfect elements for your custom backyard oasis created by your own Des Moines builder! Are you ready to find out just what you need to include in your backyard oasis to make it transport you back to your favorite vacation?
The Outdoor Kitchen
The outdoor kitchen is probably the most important part of your custom backyard oasis! This is the place you are going to grill that mouthwatering seafood and slow smoke that giant brisket. You will hand out popsicles here to your kids and make margaritas for you and your friends. Your outdoor kitchen is the largest component that makes you feel like you are on your favorite vacation!
So what do you need in your custom outdoor kitchen? First, a grill! Cooking space is the most important part of any kitchen! (Hint: If you want the delicious flavor of wood smoke but the ease of a glass grill? Consider a pellet grill!)
Second, you need prep space. No matter how much prep you do in your indoor kitchen, there is always something to do once you bring your food outside. This doesn’t mean that you need to build your grill into an outdoor island like you usually see (though you can!). Instead, you can have a custom prep table near the grill, or an actual island or wet bar that the grill isn’t built into.
Third, you need seating! You need a place to enjoy the grilled delicacies that you have just created. And you want a place to sit, relax, and enjoy the moments you are actually outside while grilling! If you create a custom backyard oasis, you want your friends and family to be out there. You want it to feel like you are on vacation! So create a lovely long rustic wood plank table. Or a grouping of select wrought iron tables! And if you really want to recreate the vacation vibe, create a walk-up bar with a pass-through window to the kitchen!
The Deck
When you are on vacation, you love looking at your surroundings from multiple vantage points. You enjoy the space. The different breezes from different levels and the different views. To recreate this in your backyard, you want to pay attention to your deck! Do you want just one giant patio on the bottom story? (This creates an island feel.) Or do you want to recreate the sense that you are in the Pacific Northwest with multiple tiers of wood decks? Do you want to create the feeling that you are in a luxury hotel room every time you wake up? Then you will want to have a private deck (or semi-private one) outside of your master bedroom, no matter what level your master is on.
Built-In Entertainment System
Which one of your senses can transport you the quickest to your favorite oasis? Sound of course! Just close your eyes for a moment and listen to the sound of the waves lapping against the beach from a white noise or meditation app. Instantly, you are transported back to vacation!
In your outdoor oasis, you might not want to pump the sound of lapping waves (or you might - that’s totally up to you!), but you will want to be able to bring in your favorite vacation tunes. Do you love Parisian cafe music? Island music? A simple Bluetooth speaker won’t cut it. You need a surround sound system to truly being any vacation reverberation to life!
Lighting
Once your long and full-day is over, and the cooking and dishes are done, it’s finally time to relax in your beautiful and custom outdoor oasis. But it’s dark outside! What are you going to do? Turn on your custom lights of course! None of those blinding spotlights that generic homes have! You need beautiful light strips. Dim-able overhead lamps and sconces. You need lighting that creates a relaxed ambiance. And you can only find this with custom lighting!
Temperature Contol
Imagine that you are sitting on a restaurant’s outdoor patio in the Caribbean. You feel an ocean breeze against your face. It calms and relaxes you. Or you are in Colorado at a ski lodge huddled around a roaring fire sipping hot cocoa. Temperature control is a huge part of bringing your favorite stay-cations to life! Of course, you can’t perfectly control the outside temperature - that is the nature of being outside! But you can bring breezes into your backyard oasis during the peak of summer with giant and powerful outdoor fans built into the ceilings of your decks. And on cold winter nights, you will thank yourself for planning that beautiful fire pit or giant stone fireplace.
Are you ready to feel like you are on vacation every day that you step into your backyard? Then it is time to create your own backyard oasis! Contact us today and let's discuss your dream home.