Eight Ways to Make a Backyard Retreat
With the gorgeous weather summer brings, now is the perfect time to dress up your backyard and turn it into an outdoor oasis. Here are eight tips to sprucing up your outdoor area for the perfect backyard retreat:

1. Destination Deck
Make your deck a destination by giving it a clear definition and purpose. Set up an area designated for dining with another area designed for leisure and relaxation. By bringing your home outdoors with a living area, your backyard will immediately feel like a resort location rather than a typical backyard. Add in a TV or fireplace for added luxury. Check out direct2tv.com/direct-tv/arizona/chandler for the best deals on your outdoor entertainment needs.

2. Expand Your Interiors
Your outdoor space should feel like an extension of your indoor living space. Use French doors as your point of entry to the backyard in order to create a cohesive space. Additionally, decorate the outdoors as you would the indoors, especially when entertaining. With a big group of people, you want the space to be inviting, welcoming, and homey. Adding in decor touches like candles, lounge pillows, and blankets create a warm space.

3. Plant a Garden
Greenery and bright florals add life and vibrancy to the outdoor space. Bring flowers to the deck and patio area with potted plants and plants growing on trellises. Create a garden space with a planter box in order to bring key visual interest to the space. And, if you have the space for it, create a vegetable garden where you can grow your own produce or herbs.

4. Add an Outdoor Kitchen
If you grill often and spend a good portion of your time outside, building an outdoor kitchen will be well worth the investment. You don’t need anything fancy—just conveniences like a grill, countertop for food prep, a small mini fridge, prep sink, and side burner. When your guests are over, you won’t have to hide away inside of the kitchen; instead, you can entertain with your guests while preparing the meal.

5. Privacy
One of the best ways to make your backyard feel like a complete retreat is to have a sense of privacy. Fences and garden walls ensure privacy for patios and low-level decks. Adding in additional foliage like trees, large plants like oleanders, and lattices and pergolas keep the space feeling enclosed and private while adding beauty to the space.

6. Shade
No matter how much you love the sun, sometimes a little shade is welcomed. If you don’t have a patio cover, invest in a few umbrellas that are set around some of the outdoor furniture.

7. Outdoor Structures
If you have the space, a gazebo adds another level of luxury to your outdoor space. Classy and elegant, gazebos offer another area for guests to relax. Set them near the pool or near the garden to become a focal point for the yard.

8. Spa
After a long day, a relaxing soak in a spa is a must-have luxury. Place them on the deck, or near the gazebo so that people who are inside of the hot tub can still be in conversation with those chatting on the outdoor furniture.

photo credit: coco+kelley via photopin cc