A friend told me that she couldn’t find any small backyard design ideas online. Everyone is showing off farms, yards and luxurious

patios with pools, but nobody has any advice for those that barely have a herb garden, techniques for a shared yard in between flats

or at least a couple of small backyard design ideas.

I’ve broken down all my small backyard design ideas into categories according to the level we are talking about: macro, mid

and micro landscaping.

The zonal design is a form of large macro level segmentation. This adds complexity, utilitarian depth without clutter. When it comes to small backyard

ideas, this is probably the easiest to implement and have a strong effect.

ZONES

CORNER OF HEAVENIf you have two solid adjacent walls,

you can cover them in a light colored, solid material like rock, plaster

impressions or stones and then spread out from them.

ACTOR AND DIRECTORWhen in the scene, the view will give a feeling of space that will confirm the illusion of grandiosity set up by the

massive stone walls.

Middle ground segmentation in particular. In a large yard, borders define and delimitate larger tableaus, they are only accents serving a higher purpose.

SEGMENTATION

PATHS AND GRAVELSo because eyes stop at the border

between two zones the most defined of areas, gravel pits, become an essential feature. You have an excellent way to add volume to a rectangular table or

flower bed, without actually occupying a lot more space. Here’s a

few examples of landscaping rocks and designs in action.

Middle ground segmentation in particular. In a large yard, borders define and delimitate larger tableaus, they are only accents serving a higher purpose.

SEGMENTATION

LEVELSAnother way to differentiate and create complexity without wasting space is abusing verticality.

Whether you use steps, platforms or different sized bushes, use verticality to build interesting combos without taking up a lot of square footage in your garden.

All we’ve been talking about up to this point has been about making your yard more crowded, adding more elements. But here’s the kicker, all those layers and crowded design ideas, get balanced out at the micro level.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL

THE ZEN GARDENZen themed gardens. Due to the minimalist

surfaces, it’s very hard to pull off large zen theme gardens. Using more elements breaks the clean, minimalistic theme and keeping the sparsity will

make it seems ascetic, destitute and barren.

SIMPLE AND CLEANUse fewer elements, simple, tidy lines, and

functional design to keep the scene as clean as possible at the micro level so that the

layers on the macro level can do their magic.

Read full article for more small backyard design ideas

Small backyard design ideas might be to come up with on your own. But using our inspiration guide you can model your yard after a design you like whether that be the earthy feel of sophisticated textures, shadows, and mid-tones.