tennant street studio
Outdoor Home Design
Live more life outside.
Outdoor Home Design is our comprehensive approach to creating a cohesive, functional extension of your home. We document your site and guide a design process around your values and lifestyle. The result is a thoughtful outdoor space designed for everyday use and prepared for a smooth transition into construction.
Outdoor home design
Project Process
1. Understanding Your Space
We start with an on-site consultation to understand your space, your style, and how you want to live outdoors. We’ll walk the property together, discuss goals and budget, and begin shaping a shared vision. We’ll then prepare a design agreement outlining the scope, timeline, and fees. Once approved, we move into design.
2. Organizing the Space
Next, we study the site in detail. We document measurements, existing conditions, and opportunities within the space. From there, we develop a function and circulation plan—a simple but powerful diagram that shows how different areas of your yard will be used and how they connect.
3. Design Development
With a clear direction in place, we create your Outdoor Home design. This includes a to-scale plan that defines outdoor “rooms,” along with recommendations for materials, planting, and key features. We also include visual references to help you understand the look and feel of each space.
4. Presenting the Final Design
We bring everything together in a final presentation—either in person or virtually—where we walk you through the design in detail. You’ll leave with a complete design package you can confidently use to move into construction or implementation.
5. Support During Installation
As your project comes to life, we remain involved to help guide the process. We meet with your contractor at the outset to review the design and answer questions, check in during installation to ensure things are on track, and walk the space with you at the end to fine-tune final details.
Project Example
Ruea Street
This project transformed a large, traditional lawn into a dynamic, multi-use backyard retreat.
While retaining a smaller lawn for the client, we defined it as a special, intentional space bordered on one side by architectural, right-angled forms near the house and on the other by organically shaped perennial and pollinator-friendly planting beds. The shift from monoculture lawn to diverse, wildlife-friendly plantings created a vibrant environment that supports pollinators, birds, and other local wildlife.
Informal gravel paths connect the outdoor kitchen to the farmstead area, while a central fire pit with comfortable seating anchors the yard. Additional features include a horseshoe court, swing, meditation deck, recycled concrete pads, and planning for a future tiny house—making this backyard both functional for daily life and flexible for a wide range of activities.
Project Highlights:
Biodiverse Planting:
Transforms monoculture lawn into pollinator- and wildlife-friendly beds.
Activity-Rich:
Supports daily living, play, and larger gatherings.
Diverse Outdoor Rooms:
Architectural near the house, flowing and organic farther out, with unique areas for different activities.
Outdoor home design
Presentation Examples
