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Having a patio is great. It puts a whole new spin on the attraction of home and makes quite a drawing card for residents and guests alike for any modern home with great backyard landscaping. Glendale, AZ backyard planning generally evolves around the outdoor living space requirements for relaxing and entertaining. Adding great features that enhance the space and it’s uses goes a long way for homeowners and home buyers today. To think we once thought that having a deck was the height of style. How did we live without the elements we can add to patios today?

The first step to great Glendale, Arizona patio design is to address giving everything and all activities that will take place here adequate area to be pleasantly useful. Nothing is worse than improper space planning that leads to insufficient room to use your patio dining table or move around without tripping over people and furniture. When you add something that will be as popular as outdoor fireplaces, you definitely want to ensure that it’s placement and surrounding space for use gives you all that you wanted from this feature element. It’s not like you can pick it up and move it over after the construction is done.

Glendale, AZ outdoor fireplaces can be built in many shapes and sizes. Here the homeowner elected to have flanking seat walls incorporated into the structure’s design. This is a popular way to increase not only a patio’s seating area, but also does wonders for giving the fireplace a different look. Unique ideas are always applied to our work at Desert Crest. You’ll never see us build two patio fireplaces or even outdoor barbecue islands with the very same look twice.

This project we gave the area behind it a less closed off feeling by incorporating two windows in the back walls. The combination of crisp white stucco and dark beauty of the natural Autumn Blend stone veneer gives this homeowner’s new paver patio’s design a whole lot of pizzazz. Soon the newly installed trees will begin to fill and spread as they mature bring relief from that glaring sun. As with any Glendale, Arizona landscape design, as time goes by this backyard will increase in attractiveness and beauty.

It would be great if huge trees took more readily to being moved to give us instant shade, but it’s hard on the tree and they require tons more maintenance. Then there is the cost factor involved in buying, moving and installing them too.  It’s best to just be patient and let newly installed trees and shrubs grow into their allotted space in your landscaping. Otherwise its a lot more work for you and them too. At least you won’t have to wait for the patio and outdoor fireplace to grow too.

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Making the most of Arizona outdoor living spaces adds so much to home and entertainment possibilities. Custom Phoenix outdoor fireplaces can function as more than one element on your patio.

Sure, its a fireplace, but it can become so much more with planning and foresight. Naturally for most homeowners around Pheonix, patios are a big part of both backyard activities and the landscaping. The questoin is, where do you place this large hardscape element and what else do you want it to give you besides ambiance and warmth on a chilly evening?

As in the backyard pictured above, by adding flanking seat walls, this Phoenix outdoor fireplace’s function takes on two more assets. First, it separates the children’s play area from the patio, yet offers unobstructed vision for parents who need to keep a watchful eye. With such a design, depending on placement such a fireplace design can create the feeling of different rooms in outdoor living spaces without closing off one area from another.

Secondly, by adding expansive seating on each side of the fireplace itself, the patio is always equipped for large gatherings. Were you to place a similar design in the middle between the patio and pool deck and have it open on both sides, your outdoor fireplace’s appeal increases. It can also have a taller back on the seat wall and create more privacy and seclusion from adjoining neighbor’s backyards.

Naturally, where you place it and how much of a seat wall one can add to it is dependent on available space and how you envision using your outdoor living space. The backyard in the photo above is quite small, with most of it taken up by the patio and built in gas grill’s space. Both the children and adults have ample room for all their favorite activities and the stone and stucco fireplace structure keeps the view from the house elegant, though there are toys in the play area just beyond.

For some Phoenix patio designs, the fireplace is added after the patio is built. For others, both patio and fire feature are all one project. This too can dictate where you will place such a backyard element. Working with stucco and stone masonry, allows just about any combination of colors and textures, making it easy to coordinate outdoor fireplaces with the house and patio surface – no matter if you’re adding on or doing it all at once.  Additionally, custom fireplace designs give you so many options in shape, size and extra functions.

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It’s a pretty common thing for stone outdoor fire pits to be found on Phoenix patios. Usually, they are round as well. Coming up with a design like that to add the welcome warmth and light of fire to your patio design doesn’t take much creativity. Arizona homeowners today though, prefer that their outdoor living spaces be unique to their home and decorating taste. This makes perfect sense really, since patio designs are and extension of the rooms within the walls of any house.

There are also only so many types of natural stone available to work with in creating outdoor fire pits to compliment Arizona patio designs. You do have a choice of having your patio’s fire pit built with concrete masonry with a stone or pavers cap, as well as having the entire element built from paver blocks. Neither of these will be really different looking from everyone else’s fire pit either.

Sometimes, when working on Phoenix landscape design for a client, there are things that one must work with that guide us on what details must be made to flow really well together. This recent customer’s installation features light colored patio elements on a dark paver patio. While putting light against dark always works well, there are times when pulling them both into one piece can really have a great dramatic effect.

You see this in the outdoor fire pit’s design in the Phoenix outdoor living space pictured above. It is built of Arizona flagstone to match the top of the seat wall and built-in BBQ grill that was part of this new patio installation. The surprising part is the mosaic that was used to incorporate the flagstone in the round fire pit. Using masonry colored to match the rich brown Phoenix pavers makes this a dramatic element that pulls all the materials used in this patio design together. It also makes the beauty of flagstone very enhanced by making all the soft color variations running through the rock very apparent.

Even when using the same construction materials available to all Phoenix landscapers, Desert Crest can still come up with new and unusual ways to apply them. We’re always creative and deliver top quality craftsmanship in all areas of Scottsdale and Phoenix landscape design. A little artistic twist goes a long way in putting together remarkable Arizona landscaping for discerning clients like ours.

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Patio designs have come a long way from a clean, level surface for lounge chair and grills. While low voltage lighting allows comfort and safety after sundown, there is nothing quite like the added benefits gained from Arizona patio fireplaces.

Setting the mood for your family and friends, outdoor living rooms are not complete without the element of fire in an open flame. Outdoor fireplaces – Scottsdale to Phoenix can be designed to match, blend or accent your home and patio flooring.

The masonry craftsmanship skills of the contractor you select for this home improvement project have a lot to do with the finished look and beauty of Arizona patio fireplaces. Not all patio installers will be adept in creating any outdoor fireplace design or in your choice of materials.  The perfect design for your outdoor fireplace shouldn’t be limited by only being able to have a brick fireplace, when you could have one that is striking and unusual. The ability to craft stone patio fireplaces and adobe, or a combination of heat tolerant materials will be far more pleasing and timeless than just a standard brick outdoor fireplace.

Designing patio fireplaces to provide overflow seating is something those that entertain large groups find most useful. Building your outdoor fireplace into a privacy wall can assist you in gaining more seclusion in your backyard for homeowners in large developments. Outdoor fireplaces Scottsdale and Glendale homeowners seem to prefer will be accented in colors of stone or adobe that pick up the elements surrounding the structure.

Getting the right outdoor fireplace design to compliment your home, landscaping and patio should also enrich your lifestyle for many decades to come. Working with Desert Crest to create outdoor living rooms, outdoor fireplaces and all your landscaping needs gives you top quality and beautiful spaces to make your patio a welcome extension of your Arizona home.

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Firepits and landscape lighting adds a whole new look to Phoenix patio designs and outdoor living rooms.

Outdoor lighting for backyard patio designs is a lot more relaxing today than it once was. Illuminating the dark night with the glow from your firepit and well placed landscape lighting puts an entirely different view on your backyard. Harsh floodlight and spot light night lighting in the landscape with the innovations of low voltage lighting extends the use of your Phoenix patio a great deal.

Custom built firepits of three dimensional pavers and beautiful Arizona stone offer the benefit of warmth and illumination in one feature. Your firepit can be square, rectangular or round depending on the space available in your backyard patio design. Round gas firepits are very popular with Arizona homeowners.

When your firepit is custom designed you have many options to match the structure to different elements in your Phoenix landscaping. Some Arizona homeowners prefer to match the paving stones or flagstone of their patio designs, others choose to make their firepits an accent instead. Mixing flagstone coping with the right combination of wall stones can create a wonderful effect and a one of a kind design to firepits on your backyard patio.

Being able to have so many choices in the finished look of outdoor living room firepits is best accomplished by

Firepits add so much to patio designs but the addition of night lighting give your backyard new depth and beauty.

selecting Phoenix landscapers who are skilled at both pavers and masonry stone construction. This is also the best way to insure that that your new firepit will remain beautiful and functional for many years to come.

Soft, mood setting landscape lighting is an excellent addition to outdoor living rooms. Uplighting trees and down lighting paths or the edge of patio areas will be a valuable curb appeal investment. Enjoying the mild climate here in Arizona brings everyone to spend a great deal of time outdoors. Backyard patio designs that feature outdoor lighting in all the right places will enhance your home in so many ways.

Entertaining friends or relaxing in Phoenix is always much more welcoming and warm with dancing flames and low voltage night lighting. Your landscape plantings and gardens will add great depth and interest to your backyard living room setting outlined and accented in a bath of light. Many people feel much more secure with an illuminated outdoor living area than one that has many shadowed spaces. Whether you add landscape lighting as a valuable safety feature or just to light up you patio and pool in the night, it will provide you and your family with more enjoyment of home.

Custom firepits, like outdoor fireplaces, become a popular focal point in any Phoenix area yard. It’s an excellent way to spend quality time with children, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs over the open flames. Company will always gravitate toward the ambiance that firepits add to the patio too. When the kids are asleep and the neighbors have retreated, adding a little romance shared with a glass of wine next to the fire is a wonderful way to end day.

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Timeless beauty from native Arizona stone for patio water features and firepits work well with Phoenix homes.

Patio designs for Phoenix homes do not have to be large to make space for all the comforts of outdoor living. The beauty of our native Arizona stone adds great interest when the color selected for building water features and firepits echoes the tones of your pavers for patio. The overall effect when the paving stones flooring and the masonry features give off the appearance that they were all created with the same stone looks very sophisticated. While we sometimes prefer to make the elements of patio designs accent each other rather than look to be all made of the same material, such a choice changes the feeling of your outdoor living rooms completely.

These Phoenix homeowners have a rather small private space, so the patio designs for this yard were best to be built from lighter tones to give the feeling of a larger space. Instead of electing a solid color for the paving stones patio floor, a blend of desert landscape colors can easily be found in native Arizona stone. Sticking to stone masonry that flows with the pavers places the greater part of the weight on texture over colors. We made great use out of both weathered face stone against stucco walls in the background and smoother cut stone in both structures.

The difference in coloring and pattern found in cut stone of the same type used in the weathered edge form gives this patio water fountain wall and basin more interest. Contrasting smooth with rough surfaces is a great way to give a lot more personality than if everything looked exactly the same. Designing really artistic looking stone structures for your Phoenix home requires a keen eye for natural stone. The finished look of your Arizona water feature or firepit will always have a great deal more beauty when all six sides of the pieces used in the construction are considered.

Firepits burning wood and natural gas are both popular choices for evening light and warmth in outdoor rooms. The available space you have in the private areas of your yard, can limit where these lifestyle enhancements of fire and

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water are situated. Some homeowners in Phoenix elect to put them at opposite sides of the patio designs. Others choose the combination of being close to the cascading water for its cooling effect and soothing sound to be enjoyable along with the open flames of their patio firepit.

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Natural beauty in patio designs using Arizona flagstone and stucco elements.

Not everyone wants pavers for the surface of their sidewalks or courtyard and patio floors. Here in Arizona, the climate is perfect for long lasting flagstone paving. Complementing our adobe architecture is easily done with stucco as part of your outdoor living and patio designs. Combining both stucco and Arizona flagstone in your courtyard and patio design is an excellent enhancement to your home and lifestyle.

The elements of Phoenix landscape design that work well with stucco construction are items like your ramada pillars, patio seat walls, courtyard walls or outdoor fireplace and barbeques. The stucco can be made to match the color used in the walls of your adobe home or to accent it by echoing the colors in the Arizona flagstone paving. With barbeque islands, the counter top is formed with a capping of either smoothly honed natural stone tile or ceramic. Deciding with of the selections of built in barbeques capping works best will depend on your patio design and taste.

From beehives to barbeques, stucco and stone are perfect partners in Phoenix landscape design.

Using Arizona flagstone in your Phoenix landscape design blends so beautifully with the surrounding countryside blend of the available buff, oak, rose, Sedona red and gold tones that are found in the rock formations here can make patio designs very unique. Flagstone paving can be installed all on one level or in stepped designs for multi level patios that add wonderful dimension to outdoor living area designs. This also allows flagstone to lend itself quite nicely to impressive sidewalks and courtyard flooring that flows.

Stucco is a material that can be applied to many different shapes far easier than crafting them out of natural stone and brick. Using stucco in your Phoenix landscape design makes it very simple to have curved walls and seats, round pillars or square all according to the look you desire when the installation project is finished.

Applying light and dark values of Arizona flagstone colors can create some very beautiful effects in all the elements of your Phoenix patio designs. Working with our native stone also makes it possible to include more than just flagstone cuts of the same colored rock. Incorporating boulders as accents in the landscape design or walls of your home’s structure and stucco is a great way to pull everything together using different forms and textures.

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Relief from the sun by day, gourmet grilling barbeque and the element fire to warm the night.

The vast canopy of the unfettered Arizona sky is the most fabulous ceiling your life could have. Intensely blue by day and a star studded black velvet expanse by night, the uncluttered space leaves you with a sense of wonder. Forming the overhead view, the sky is a large part of the invitation your landscape design and patio provides.

Clean stone paving, both of the mortared and dry laid variety are both very well suited to the mild desert climate. Natural stone flagging can be stunning, but at times can be too costly of a material for large lifestyle patio flooring. Due to this fact, many people reserve natural stone flagging for their secluded courtyard areas. The more affordable cost per square foot of paver stones is most popular for patio designs today. The versatile variable sizes, shapes and wonderful color assortment that paver stones are now available in gives your patio landscape design the look and feel of cut stone paving.

Living in Phoenix affords you all season use of your patio living room. This makes adding the lifestyle enhancements of built in stone barbeques and an outdoor fireplace highly desirable. To best compliment the house architecture of the southwest, outdoor fireplace designs are best constructed from natural stone, desert hued brick or the perfect adobe partner known as the beehive. The rounded, traditional beehive fireplace is sometimes referred to as a kiva and is found in many of the older homes from Arizona history.

The element of fire provides us with increased ambiance beneath the starlit sky along with warmth on a chilly desert evening. For adding ambiance to an intimate evening for two to creating a memorable focal point of childhood events like roasting hotdogs on a stick and roasting marshmallows, you just can’t beat an outdoor fireplace on your patio. Many a gathering of friends in the Arizona backyard naturally gravitates to camaraderie shared in front of the dancing flames sharing a glass of wine and delicious food fresh grilled in the outdoor kitchen’s built in barbeques.

Simple outdoor kitchen areas on the Arizona lifestyle patio will be a gas grill built into a stone and stucco BBQ island. The smooth stone surface of built in barbeques provide at least a food preparation and serving counter. With homeowners nationwide embracing the outdoor living room landscape design, full outdoor kitchen features are available for convenience and food safety. An extended built in barbeques island can house an outdoor refrigerator, wine cooler, freezer and patio dishes and cooking utensils storage cabinets as well. The most popular feature for built in barbeques structures is having the design include bar space as well that accommodates patio bar stools for guests and the chef.

Just as when you are planning a new home or in the process of locating just the right pieces of furniture to fit your indoor rooms and allow traffic flow, space planning is also important with patio landscape design. You will want a less hectic air on your Arizona lifestyle patio, so planning traffic aisle space that doesn’t cause congestion and interruption for each activity area is important to your level of enjoyment on the patio.

The same can be said of placing your outdoor fireplace. You will want to be sure there is safe passage around adjacent seating areas and that the line of view of the dancing flames can be enjoyed from most spots on the patio as well as fireside. The more activities your patio will accommodate, the more valuable this key landscape design feature will provide to your family and your home’s real estate price points. A well-planned patio design will offer good flow from inside and out, along with beauty and space for larger gatherings to take place beneath the Phoenix, AZ sky.

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Handsome in rugged stone, this outdoor fireplace is at home in desert scenery.

The four main elements of life are important features of home as we reconnect with the natural world. The element of fire is magical and omnipotent. It can provide warmth and light in the cold dark night and the benefit of hot food, yet it can also be damaging and devastating if not minded with care. One of the beauties of living in Arizona is being able to get enjoyment from your patio and outdoor living rooms all year long. When the desert sun sinks in the cooler months of the year, a chill descends on Phoenix. With the addition of an outdoor fireplace to your outdoor living spaces provides warmth.

The added attraction of dancing flames draws people of all ages together, just as it has done through the history of mankind. Where there is contained fire, we instinctively know that food, shelter and camaraderie will also be found. A fire feature is great for boosting curb appeal and real estate value. It should be constructed using materials that will compliment your home’s architecture and patio paving materials. The outdoor fireplace is a highly sought after lifestyle amenity in homes from coast to coast. Many people in the greater Phoenix area have discovered just how wonderful the addition of fire is to their backyard getaway spaces.

Brick, stone and stucco are all well suited to the Arizona patio outdoor fireplace. They make handsome features when custom designed and engineered to go with your home’s styling and exterior colors. Patio fireplaces are many times located in close proximity to hot tubs or spas to be able to enjoy the colorful flames while soaking away the day’s worries.

There are several styles of outdoor fireplaces commonly seen on patios

Patio fireplaces in Phoenix are perfectly suited for the beehive or kiva style.

in the Phoenix area. The beehive is unique to the southwest culture, a design that has been in use here for hundreds of years. Many historic adobe homes have beehive fireplaces inside the house, so adding them to your desert landscaping patio creates an authentic looking home setting. Each person’s taste is unique and we design and build each of our customer’s patio fireplaces to fit their individual lifestyle.

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