Backyard Improvements for Entertaining

[elbenn]

We are thinking about adding some improvements to our backyard. I would like to make the backyard an easy place for entertaining since I find it so much easier to host get-togethers outside! We already have an outdoor kitchen area and dining area. I am trying to brainstorm for what types of things would be cool for the backyard. Here's my list (we would only be adding a few of these things!) but I am trying to brainstorm for all ideas to incorporate in a backyard plan.

1. Pool
2. Hot tub
3. Cabana with bathroom
4. Pool/Ping Pong table under a covered arbor
5. Basketball area
6. Pizza oven
7. Fire pit

I would love to hear other ideas for the backyard and also your input if you have these items and whether they are worth it to you. Thanks!

ETA: Another item is a putting green--I've seen a few putting greens in backyards but they don't seem like they get used much.

[gatorsmom]

We have a pool, outdoor pingpong table and firepit. Unlike our neighbors here in Wisconsin with pools who can only use them in the summer, we have an enclosure like a green house that we put over ours that allows us to swim all winter (and we move it out of the way in the summer). Www.aquashield.com. We use the pool all year long. People love to come over to use it. We don't use the pingpong table all that much. Dh has a friend who comes over to play occasionally and they are pretty much the only ones. The kids get frustrated with it and go straight for the pool. I find that we use the pool much more than we used the hot tub. There just is not a lot the kids can do in a hot tub.

Finally we love the firepit. Our summer nights get chilly so we have sofas that curve around it that we can snuggle together around the out. And Dh and the kids roasted hit dogs and made s'mores outside this winter over the firepit after they went sledding! R have rally been enjoying it. I recommend, though, a wood firepit with sand on the bottom instead of a gas firepit if you want the kids to be able to poke around in it and make hotdogs. The sand on the bottom provides a good way to put out the fire quickly and protects the bottom of the pit.

[Meatball Mommie]

Gatorsmom - can you post a picture of your pool? I'm curious about this aquashield product. Intriguing since we live in MA and DH's argument against a pool (well besides the cost!) is that we can only use it for such a short time each year.

[elbenn]

That aquashield thing is cool! Where do you store it? How much room does it take to store?

[Raidra]

Pool and a fire pit are my choices. We have both and they get used ALL the time.

[gatorsmom]

Gatorsmom - can you post a picture of your pool? I'm curious about this aquashield product. Intriguing since we live in MA and DH's argument against a pool (well besides the cost!) is that we can only use it for such a short time each year.

i will will try to take a picture but I've never been able to post a picture before. Our dome looks exactly like the main picture on their website. Once we had the pool in and we were pouring the cement pool deck, we measured for the metal rails that the aquashield would glide over. So, in the fall, we set the pieces of the aquashield on the rails which they slide on as they telescope out over the pool. The only drawbacks to the dome is that we couldn't have a pool more than 18' wide (because that was the widest dome they make), and we couldn't have anything permanently cemented next to the pool like handles to a ladder or a pool slide. The dome when it telescopes out over the pool would hit any objects sticking out of the pool.


That aquashield thing is cool! Where do you store it? How much room does it take to store?

There are a couple of ways to store it in the summer. Either we collapse the dome, push the pieces completely together and push them back to the end of the rails where we can just leave them for the summer. Or, we collapse the dome, pick up the pieces off the rails and move them behind the garage. It can be collapsed down to the width and length of one panel of the dome. And that depends what size you order for your pool.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Firepit, for sure! It has been wonderful! Sounds like I need some couches around ours now though! That sounds dreamy.