An Outdoor Oasis

For decades, living large in your own backyard meant firing up the grill, going for a swim or sipping chardonnay during a soak in the hot tub. But in an era where homes are becoming ever more resort-like, the standard for opulent outdoor living has been raised.

Today the barbecue grill has evolved into a full-fledged outdoor kitchen. The back porch is a cushy outdoor family room. The pool has morphed into an oasis enhanced by cascading waterfalls.

And though the Jacuzzi is still de rigueur, it's declaring its independence from the pool and finding its own place in the landscape along with cabanas, putting greens and other backyard amenities.

"Adding an outdoor living space to the home is probably the hottest trend in residential housing throughout the country today," says Rick Jennings, vice president and manager of Summer Kitchens of Central Florida.

Business is booming for Jennings, who says many homeowners simply are no longer content with a lanai, a roll-around gas grill and PVC furniture.

Summer kitchens are all the rage, says Jennings, complete with grilles that can range from 27 to 60 inches in width with up to five burners. Stainless appliances and bar sinks are also popular, and Jennings expects to see the demand increase for brick pizza ovens as that trend moves east from California.

Serving bars, cabanas, fireplaces, overstuffed furniture and large TVs are among other amenities cropping up in the backyards of new homes, says Ray Coudriet, president of Ray Coudriet Custom Builder.

"People like to relax in their backyard and have all the amenities and comforts of a five-star resort," Coudriet says. "Budgets for backyards are just skyrocketing-we're doing more and more pergolas, waterfalls, hotel-type pools and hot tubs the size of pools."

The trend to upgrade outdoor living areas has been bolstered by turbulent times, says Marion McGrath, chairman of the Remodelers Council of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando.

"Ever since 9-11, people haven't wanted to travel as much," says McGrath, who serves as vice president of Jonathan McGrath Construction of Longwood. "Now, they're making their backyards into little paradises so they don't have to go out of town."

Paradise is a fitting description for the outdoor area created by Coudriet to enhance a $2.35 million, 8,000-square-foot-plus home in Lake Butler Sound.

The covered back porch is plush with overstuffed furniture, and a 600-square-foot cabana features a huge summer kitchen, a full bathroom with shower and sauna, large TVs in each corner and a stand-alone hot tub just outside the cabana.

Beyond the cabana, a 650-square-foot guesthouse also features a porch, and there's an outdoor fireplace-conversation pit with its own overstuffed chairs.

Carrying on the home's Bermuda style is an estate-type pool surrounded by soft, golf-course-style grass and lined with queen palms to add splashes of shade. A broad putting green and a concrete ping-pong table offer additional recreational opportunities while gas torches light up the night for outdoor gatherings.

Homeowners for whom entertaining is a lifestyle are spending whatever it takes to create the equivalent of an outdoor family room and recreation area, says Rial Jones, president of Jones-Clayton Construction of Orlando.

"All the houses that we're doing right now have very large outdoor entertaining areas, fireplaces and TVs," Jones says. "Now, it's not uncommon for us to spend a half-million dollars on everything including landscaping for a resort-type environment."

For last fall's Street of Dreams, Jones-Clayton built a $2.5 million home with a $250,000 outdoor area. The home featured large and small courtyards, each with fireplaces, along with a Jacuzzi, a splash pool, a swimming pool, a fountain, an outdoor family room and a covered dining area. A black pebble bridge connected a guest house to the main house.

But even that wasn't the most elaborate backyard getaway Jones ever created. In one particularly memorable custom home, he installed a Benihana-style grill within an open-air cabana built of rocks from which waterfalls cascaded into a pool. The cabana was air conditioned, the pool featured a 180-foot Caribbean-style water slide and the tropical landscape was enhanced with Canary Island date palms.

Remodeling and building options are much greater today because products are so much more durable, says Steve Gidus, president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando and partner with PSG Construction.

"With the introduction of weather-resistant materials that include cabinets, countertops, appliances and overstuffed furniture, homeowners have many choices as they consider ways to extend their home's livability to the backyard," Gidus says.

Even when budgets are modest, homeowners can create the backyard of their dreams without breaking the bank, says Mary Horn, project manager of The Home Depot based in Atlanta. She says more shoppers than ever are buying products to help them create their own water gardens, koi ponds, backyard kitchens and entertainment areas.

"People want to extend the interior of their homes to the exterior, and to use the outdoors as another room," says Horn, who worked with Walt Disney World horticulturists this spring to plan the Ultimate Backyard Garden display at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. "There are a lot of ideas that we can help them cultivate through our experts."

For example, French doors that swing open to expand the home are replacing sliding doors. Decks are providing a practical, attractive transition from indoors to outdoors. And chimineasWHAT's THIS? CHIMNEYS?-including an especially popular eggplant-shaped portable fire pit made of clay-are enhancing backyards everywhere, Horn says.

Do-it-yourself backyard water features are big, too, with handy homeowners buying and installing pre-formed ponds or using pond liners to lay over designs they've dug.

"We've got the pumps and chemicals, the water lilies and other specialty plants appropriate for a water feature," Horn says. "I just built a pond myself using a pre-formed pond, a pump and light with a filter that adds different colors."

Landscaping is critical to the ultimate backyard garden, Horn adds, noting that rose gardens have become popular for gardeners who want to putter in their newly enhanced outdoor environments.

Just as the movement to upgrade kitchens accelerated in the early 1990s, gardens and landscapes designed for hobbyists are flourishing now, says Tony Weremeichik, principal of residential design at Canin Associates.

"Roses grow well on a trellis, and they're nice garden ornaments with a lot of charm," says Weremeichik. "I'm buying one for my own small backyard because I want to grow roses-it's a popular hobby."

For homeowners who want to minimize landscape maintenance, xeriscaping is a popular option, he says. With native plants and drought-tolerant exotics, outdoor areas stay attractive with little fuss. Landscape designs for Central Florida employ colorful crotons, oleander and azaleas, as well as cabbage, sabal and queen palms to beautify backyard areas, Weremeichik adds.

Even without a lot of backyard space, it's possible to create an appealing environment, says Weremeichik, who finds solutions for small townhome lots like many of those in high-density, traditional neighborhood developments such as Baldwin Park and Avalon Park.

"English cottage-type gardens, smaller plunge pools and stand-alone outdoor fireplaces have caught on," Weremeichik notes. "And people are enjoying front porches again. When they get home, they like to sit outside and breathe the fresh air."

When they swim in their backyard pools, many homeowners now prefer saltwater systems to chlorinated fresh water, says Ken Bowles, president of Bowles Custom Pools and Spas of Orlando. Other pool trends include upgraded water features such as misters for a fog-like effect, jets that shoot streams of water into the pool from a wall above the tile or deck and even "rainfalls" that resemble streams of rain falling into the pool, Bowles adds.

From summer kitchens to fantasy pools, fire pits to cabanas, rose gardens to tropical plantings, Central Floridians have plenty of options for creating an ideal outdoor living and entertaining space, notes Gidus, who is a remodeler by trade.

"People are finding new ways to make their home more livable- we've done so much inside, and now designers are really focusing on what can be done outside," Gidus says.

"They're just trying to pull out the stops to come up with really creative ideas and ways to enhance outdoor living."