Backyard transformations combining best of indoors, outdoors

By KAREL HOLLOWAY

Delores Jackson knows the value of a good backyard. In Edmond, Okla., when the kids were still at home, there was a swimming pool, basketball court and room to play.

She and her husband spent a lot of time in that yard and she was sad to leave. But when her husband got a promotion, they moved to Lantana, a community in Denton County.

“I said OK, but you’re going to have to give me a backyard,” says Jackson, 60.

Their new house included a covered patio and some grass — a standard subdivision backyard. Recently they completed a major project that includes a waterfall, creek and two small ponds.

The Jacksons are following a national and local trend of spending money on the backyard to add entertaining space, outdoor living rooms and home value. More than two-thirds of home remodelers are planning outdoor improvement projects this year, up 70 percent from last year, according to a survey done in May by Ipsos, a market research company.

“Now that the market has gotten better, we’ve just seen that trend multiply,” says Courtney Plaeger, marketing and business development manager for Garden Design, a landscaping company with offices in Farmers Branch, Houston and San Antonio. “It doesn’t have to be a million-dollar home with a $200,000 backyard.”

Homeowners are adding arbors, full outdoor kitchens, fire pits and entertaining areas that can include big-screen TVs and sofas upholstered in weatherproof textiles.

“Just an outdoor patio is no longer enough,” says Gene Freeman, owner of Complete Landsculpture in Dallas. “We’re seeing a good mix of all ranges and sizes.”

People want music, lighting and other entertainment equipment. “It’s not just a fireplace but a pizza oven. Then outdoor kitchens don’t have just a barbecue grill, they have a hibachi grill, an eating station,” Freeman says.

Local home values are encouraging people to invest and “anchor some roots in the area.” Typically, Freeman says, projects run 10 to 20 percent of a home’s value.

In the past, homeowners emphasized the front yard, what the neighbors saw, Plaeger says. Many homeowners dreaded going into the backyard. “The only time they went out there is with their pets or to mow.”

Now they see a backyard with nothing but a lawn and maybe some landscape beds as wasted space, something that, instead, they can use to enhance their lives and property values, says Marc Funderburk, owner of Land Patterns, a Dallas landscape firm.

“I think a lot of people look at it as an ability to integrate outdoor space with indoor space,” Funderburk says. It’s like an addition to the house.

Plaeger says outdoor spaces are practical because of North Texas’ temperate climate. “It’s not like we get terribly cold weather all winter long,” she says. In the summer, “it’s maybe August and September when it’s too unbearable to be outside.”

Homeowners are not looking for a magazine-perfect landscape. For some, it’s something as simple as a fireplace. “They can go out there and have their drinks and have a fire. It’s just like an old campfire,” Funderburk says.

Water features, and not just swimming pools, are increasingly popular, he says. “The sound of water is important to some people.”

Jackson, the Lantana homeowner, says she and her husband, Alan, specified a water feature when they discussed their upgraded backyard with Funderburk.

“When we met with him, we told him we wanted a waterfall for the sound,” she says. The couple wound up with a man-made creek and waterfall to provide ambience.

Man caves are a popular 21st-century feature, too. Funderburk thinks that may account for the outdoor rooms with televisions. “The women can stay inside, and the men can go outside and do their thing.”

Plaeger agrees. “Guys, they want their grill and they will use it,” she says. “They don’t have to grill outside and run inside to watch the game.”

While there is upfront effort and cost, there are other advantages beyond enjoying the outdoors. Often, little lawn is left and upkeep goes down.

“Actually, there is no grass,” Jackson says of her remodeled space.

Today, a decked-out backyard can increase a home’s value. She says it was the backyard at her Oklahoma house that clinched the sale.

The landscaping at her new house is worth the time and cost the couple invested, Jackson says. “It’s really, really cool.”

Karel Holloway is a Terrell freelance writer.