Luxury Patios
Luxury patios are constructed with the highest grade of materials and project an aesthetic that is both highly personal to the homeowner and customized to the location and purpose of their construction. Entertainment requirements often play a major role in determining the size, geometry, and design of many luxury patios. People who prefer to entertain at home need hardscapesthat provide both comfort and atmosphere for their guests. They also need these custom patios to blend harmoniously with surrounding organic elements such as trees, hedges, and gardens, and to appropriately compliment home and exterior building architecture.
Technically speaking, a luxury patio can constructed anywhere in a front or back yard. However, there is little point to building such an elaborate and expensive structure if it is not conjoined with a key area of interest. In most cases, custom hardscapes are constructed around focal points high-end entertainment, special amenities, and recreational areas that epitomize the Elite outdoor lifestyle.
The most popular location for a luxury patio in most Houston yards is the immediate perimeter surrounding a custom swimming pool. Custom swimming pools must be designed by a landscaping architect or designer who knows how to synthesize the aesthetics of the pool itself with that of the surrounding landscape and the architecture of the home. Without this conscious control of the design and planning phase of the pool construction process, there is little chance of the final result truly complimenting and working harmoniously with its surroundings. However, with the right designer at the helm of the project, a superior outcome consistently results that demands an equally customized and highly unique patio hardscape.
Another structure that tends to almost always require a luxury patio is an outdoor fireplace. Outdoor fireplaces are becoming increasingly popular throughout the Houston area in spite of our warm and humid climate. During the winter, of course, they work like any interior, wood burning fireplace that provides warmth, light, and comfort for outdoor gatherings on chilly nights. This is not to say, however, that their usefulness is limited only to the cold months of December-February. In the spring, summer, and fall, special lights can be placed in an outdoor fireplace that will mimic the firelight of burning wood. The natural warmth of the Houston climate can then interact silently with the light and provide a truly classic moment by the fireplace on a custom patio under the stars.
When people host parties at their home, however, they often want to do more than simply near a pool or fireplace. Most Houstonians have a passion for cooking on the grill (being Texans, this is innate to our local culture.) This passion can be expanded and magnified by constructing a luxury outdoor kitchen and surrounding custom patio. This will allow the tradition of grilling to maintain its timeless status side by side with the more sophisticated and traditionally indoor culinary arts. An outdoor kitchen and custom patio can lift the outdoor living experience to an entirely new level that makes the yard an extension of the home’s interior living space.
As important as activities and special occasions are to Houston homeowners, not every point of interest in a luxury landscape is need have a purely functional purpose in mind. Some parts of the yard play a purely aesthetic role in landscape design and draw attention to themselves on the basis of sheer beauty and symmetry. Custom patios can be constructed around any such area as a water fountain, hedgerow, or ivy-covered trellis so that guests can sit and comfortably enjoy the scenery and relax in special moments of quiet conversation.
Anyone who is seriously considering having one or more luxury patios built in their yard needs to take time to thoroughly research the company they choose to contract. The ideal company will have credentials in landscape architecture as well as botany and landscape design. Experience and knowledge in hardscape construction should be considered a mandatory qualifier. Custom patios have to be specifically planned phase to accommodate an expected number of guests, and they must be built with the best materials so they will maintain their aesthetic under the stress of constant foot traffic and human activity.
