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Health & Fitness

Bringing Your Favorite Destination into your Backyard

Tips on bringing elements of your favorite travel destination into your backyard and patio design.

Outdoor spaces can be extremely special places that allow us not only to relax, entertain, and be in touch with nature, but can also transport us to our favorite travel destinations.  As I have always said, as much as we would love to travel to exotic destinations on a regular basis, that is not really practical or feasible, for many reasons.  Why not then, bring a little bit of that favorite place into your own yard.  It does not have to be a carbon copy (nor will it ever could be), but you can bring a flavor of those elements that you love about that special country or culture.

Take for instance my client Debbie who loves to travel and has a special affinity for Spain and all things Mediterranean.  She loves Barcelona and all the Gaudi architecture, and would love to have a space that she can entertain large groups of people but which is very low maintenance.

To achieve these goals, I wanted to bring a very important feature of her travels to Barcelona, her visits to the Parc Guell by Gaudi, and more especifically the iconic curved bench that occupies a large part of the park.  I created for her a curved bench inspired by the one in the park, and had it be part of the focal point, a large water fountain done with colorful broken tile, a surface treatment that is very prevalent in Gaudi’s designs.  To keep it low maintenance, I gave her a large round concrete deck where she can have a pergola, an outdoor kitchen, and a custom firepit.  This deck steps down into a brick covered patio, where she can have several groupings of bistro tables and chairs (another feature she happens to love) arranged by the curved bench,   Existing plantings along the back and side fences would be retained, as well as her large tree by the house, adding great shade.  All in all, I hope it gives her a vision for what her space could be, and that it allows her the motivation to make it happen!

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Check out the video to see the full design of this Mediterranean Patio:  http://youtu.be/MR1TJ0KTnNQ.

To get more information about this and other project please visit my website and portfolio at:  www.fullcircleinteriorsolutions.com.

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