Whether you enjoy relaxing in the garden filled with colorful blooms or lounging by the pool on a sunny afternoon, a backyard pavilion can be the perfect complement to your favorite setting. With proper design and planning assistance from a landscape professional, you can enjoy a beautiful pavilion without breaking the bank.
Although a pavilion is built with a closed, open or pitched roof and open walls, there’s a variety of backyard pavilion designs and materials to choose from. Typically square or rectangular in shape, pavilions can be built in various sizes to accommodate your needs. Whether you prefer a large pavilion for entertaining or a small pavilion for an intimate setting, you’ll feel comfortable in your space and enhance the beauty of your home and landscape.
Garden Tranquility
If you love gardening and the tranquility it brings to your landscape, you don’t need hundreds of acres and a big budget to create a beautiful garden landscape. Lush greenery, colorful flowers, aromatic scents and natural beauty provide a perfect setting for backyard pavilion designs where you can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. You can relax in a romantic garden pavilion surrounded by beautiful rose gardens or colorful garden beds, the sounds of chirping birds and beautiful butterflies fluttering through your back yard.
Garden pavilions put the focus on lush landscaping that creates an inviting atmosphere and natural surroundings. Whether you prefer the look of a casual, rambling garden with lilac, sage, sunflowers and iris, or a well-manicured, formal garden with azaleas, roses and shaped hedges, a garden pavilion will provide the perfect spot to enjoy the view. Consider adding garden pathways that lead to different parts of the garden, an outdoor fountain with running water or several benches where you can sit, relax and enjoy nature. To showcase your garden at night, install pathway lights along walkways and garden beds and uplighting, spots or floods to highlight trees and shrubs.
When building your garden pavilion, size, materials and special features will impact cost. More square footage, larger beams and higher ceilings will increase your construction costs. Any features you add like stone flooring, lighting or a ceiling fan will also increase the cost.
Poolside Luxury
It’s difficult to compete with the poolside luxury of many celebrity homes, but you can create your own poolside luxury with backyard pavilion designs that include special features. Poolside pavilions create a shady, comfortable place for swimmers to dry off and relax on a hot, summer day. They also create a cozy spot for dining and entertaining around the pool. If you throw an afternoon pool party, a pavilion provides a comfortable setting for seating, food, drinks and an evening of extended swimming and entertaining. If the pavilion has a changing area stocked with clean towels, your guests can change out of their swimwear in the comfort of a private setting.
Since poolside pavilions focus on activities in the water, it’s important to provide warmth and light for evening activities and entertaining. Consider these outdoor features that will create poolside luxury for your pavilion:
- Large potted trees and plants
- Comfortable lounge seating and casual tables
- An outdoor fireplace with a large hearth for seating
- An outdoor kitchen with a refrigerator, wine cooler or beer tap
- A large screen TV
- A surround-sound music system
- Ceiling fans and standing heaters
- Overhead lighting
The cost to build a poolside pavilion will vary depending on size, materials and interior features. A large pavilion with all of the luxury features often included in celebrity backyard pavilion designs can cost thousands of dollars. A landscape professional who specializes in design/build services can help you design a similar style pavilion with great interior features for less.
Stunning Views
Many celebrity landscapes have backyard pavilion designs with spectacular views of the ocean, mountains and city skylines. Although your Bergen County home doesn’t overlook the Pacific, you can create stunning views of a lush, green landscape with special water features, such as backyard ponds and waterfalls. Depending on the style of your home and existing landscape conditions, you have several unique options for creating a stunning view.
A Backyard Pond
A backyard pond will create a peaceful area where you can enjoy a cup of tea, relax with a great book, meditate with nature and enjoy quiet conversations. A water garden, a type of natural pond, requires little maintenance. It’s usually built in an organic, free-form shape and surrounded by foliage and rocks, so it looks natural in the landscape. Water gardens and ponds can be filled with a variety of aquatic plants that attract frogs, birds, bees and other wildlife. You can also fill a pond with beautiful Koi fish that can live up to 20 years in the right environment.
An Outdoor Waterfall
An outdoor waterfall will create a stunning focal point for your backyard pavilion designs. It will enhance visual interest and add tranquil atmosphere to your backyard. Imagine a natural rock waterfall nestled on a hillside next to your pavilion, or built into a low wall in an adjacent garden. The soothing sounds created by moving water instantly have a calming effect. If you add landscape lighting and a variety of lush greenery and colorful blooms, you will have a stunning view from your cozy pavilion.
Unique Style
For backyard pavilion designs and landscapes that look like they cost a million bucks, work a unique style into your design that enhances your home’s architectural features. Whatever the style of your home, creating a backyard that reflects the same style will look like it’s well-designed and properly planned.
Modern
A modern-style pavilion emphasizes clean lines, contemporary materials and sleek features. If you prefer the organic appeal of wood, species like teak, cedar, redwood and ipe will weather naturally over time, but a waterproof sealant should be applied twice each year for best protection. The wood and design features you choose will influence the overall cost.
For long-term durability and easy maintenance, consider vinyl composite materials. They’re available in baked-on color finishes that won’t fade in hot sun. Vinyl composite materials are waterproof, insect-resistant and won’t warp, crack, splinter or rot when exposed to outdoor elements. To emphasize modern architectural style for backyard pavilion designs, add a metal roof instead of a vinyl roof. A vinyl composite pavilion may cost more than a wooden pavilion, but less maintenance may offset the added expense.
Modern landscapes have sleek sophisticated style that feels organized and controlled. Focus is often placed on hardscaping with concrete pavers and outdoor structures in wood, vinyl or steel. A modern landscape is usually filled with greenery and plants selected for their shape and texture, then pops of color are added with occasional bloomers that provide interesting contrast. It’s important to be selective when creating contrast, since too much can be overwhelming and defeat the purpose. Pick two or three spots in your back yard and focus on one contrasting element for each spot.
Tuscan
A Tuscan-style pavilion emphasizes curved lines, arched openings and round columns or supports for the roof. Columns may be anchored in stone or concrete pillars that reflect typical architectural materials used in this style. If you live in a Tuscan, Mediterranean or Spanish home, you can use Tuscan-style elements for your backyard pavilion designs to create stunning features. Unique features like arched openings and stone pillars may add to the cost of your pavilion.
Tuscan landscapes tend to be formal near the house and more casual as the landscape progresses back. If you have a large, open yard, you can create a labyrinth or maze that provides a great play area for kids and meditation walks for adults. Tuscan landscapes and gardens include beautiful outdoor benches and chairs placed throughout the garden that provide quiet areas to relax and read. Typical elements in a Tuscan landscape include stone walkways, fountains, large urns and terra cotta pots and sustainable plants that require little water and maintenance.
Luxurious Privacy
Outdoor pavilions in NJ are constructed with closed roofs and open walls, so they need some type of privacy and protection from outdoor elements, especially if you want to use your pavilion year-round. Northern NJ spring and summer seasons are hot and often rainy, while fall and winter seasons are cold and windy. To get maximum use of your backyard pavilion, you’ll need privacy and protection. Here are some luxurious options that will rival celebrity backyard pavilion designs for less:
- Outdoor Draperies – Outdoor fabrics are an affordable option to create privacy, warmth and weather protection in your pavilion. They can easily be closed or opened as needed. You can find a variety of outdoor fabrics that are made to resist fading, water and staining and they’re available in an array of solid colors, interesting patterns and unique textures to complement every design style.
- Glass Walls – If your budget allows, consider glass or plexiglass walls or partitions for added warmth and protection from rain and wind. You can enclose your pavilion with low stationary walls or full-height movable walls that can be opened and closed as needed. With clear glass or plexiglass walls, you will stay warmer during cooler weather, and you won’t have to sacrifice any of your view from inside the pavilion.
A backyard pavilion will provide endless opportunities for outdoor activities. With proper planning and installation by a landscape professional, you can build a beautiful pavilion that rivals the most expensive backyard pavilion designs for much less money.