Transform Your Sarasota Backyard: 3 Outdoor Structures That Add Beauty and Function to Any Landscape
Do you feel like something’s missing in your backyard? Once you make sure the dog hasn’t run off, you might turn your thoughts to an outdoor structure.
What kind of outdoor structure? Maybe a pretty pergola, a fun tiki hut, or an elegant arbor.
How can a functional outdoor structure improve your backyard life? It can offer shade from the bright Sarasota sun. Structures instantly elevate your entertaining game. A structure can be the perfect focal point in your landscape. They make your outdoor space inviting. Sometimes you just need a place to hide.
Let’s learn more about Sarasota backyard ideas, including:
- First Up, A Pergola Might Be Perfect
- Next Up: How About a Tiki Hut?
- An Outdoor Structure Adds Value to Your Home
- Own a Rental Property? You Need an Outdoor Structure
First Up, A Pergola Might Be Perfect
How can a pergola transform your backyard? Just for fun, let’s compare your life without a pergola to your life with one:
Without a pergola: You stare sadly out into your backyard, which looks sort of empty and without purpose. Sigh.
With a pergola: You have an instant focal point, and a great excuse to take a break with a good book and an icy drink. Life seems instantly better.
Without a pergola: You’re having a great time entertaining friends in your fun outdoor kitchen, but then it gets too hot so everybody heads inside for the air conditioning. Rats, there goes the great vibe. (Note to self: get sturdier friends.)
With a pergola: Your handy pergola shade keeps the searing sun from wrecking the mood. Go ahead and grill those shrimp.
You get the idea. Life is better with a pergola.
Need a refresher on what exactly a pergola is?
These popular functional outdoor structures are made of vertical posts or pillars that support cross beams or lattice overhead.
The great news: They’re totally customizable. A pergola can be any size you like. Need a bit more shade than a typical pergola? Just ask your builder to add more cover overhead by spacing the slats closer together.
Or add even more shade with a sliding canvas cover that can shade your space during the afternoon and retract after the sun sinks lower.
A pergola is perfect just about anywhere in your Sarasota landscape design:
- Add a shady pergola right off your sliding patio doors. It will offer some shade from the hot sun and offer a welcoming spot to relax, just steps from inside.
- If you have a pool, a pergola adds an inviting area to relax after a swim or to welcome friends after a pool party. Plus, it makes your pool area look sort of fancy.
- If your outdoor kitchen could talk, it would ask for a pergola. It adds some shelter from the sun, and makes your outdoor kitchen feel more like a room — a destination. Add lighting and it becomes a magical entertaining hot spot.
- It’s nice to have a pergola close by and handy, but don’t underestimate the charm of setting it back from your house a bit. When it takes a leisurely stroll to get there, a pergola becomes a special destination. It’s a garden focal point and an escape. Add some pretty plants and comfy furniture and it might be your favorite new getaway, all while adding beauty to the landscape.
Next Up: How About a Tiki Hut?
Like a pergola, tiki huts are completely customizable, constructed mostly of wood, topped with a weather-resistant palm thatched roof.
Their tropical vacation vibe is perfect for sunny Sarasota, whether you enjoy it in your own backyard or add a tiki to a rental property to thrill your renters who just drove from 3-foot snowdrifts and could really use a drink, preferably with one of those little paper umbrellas.
The most popular sizes for tikis are 10 by 10 or 15 by 12 feet. But they’re custom built, so you choose, based on your needs and your Sarasota backyard ideas.
Why choose a tiki for your Sarasota landscape design?
1. That Thatched Roof Offers Cool Shade
Yes, you could stay inside if you want to escape the hot sun, but where’s the fun in that? You’ll just end up cleaning the bathroom or working on the grocery list.
Lounging in the shade of a tiki is much more fun, even if you’re just working on your grocery list. Bonus: no bathroom to clean.
2. Rain Won’t Spoil Your Outdoor Fun
Those same frail friends who abandoned you to duck inside for air conditioning would no doubt do the same thing if it starts to rain.
Tiki to the rescue! That handy thatched roof becomes an instant shelter so you can keep the party going until the rain stops.
3. A Tropical Vibe Adds Automatic Fun
You could add a shed for extra storage or a retaining wall for extra seating, but nobody would call those structures fun.
But a tropical tiki hut is fun without even trying. Everybody wants to be around one. It brightens the mood, sets the scene for a party and makes everybody feel like they’re on vacation, even if they only came over from next door.
Backyard Transformation Tip: Add an Elegant Arbor
What’s an arbor? Imagine a pergola after a successful diet.
These garden charmers are made of a sturdy framework with sides and a roof. They’re typically smaller than a pergola, designed to be a focal point rather than a hangout.
Why bother? How can something so simple pack a punch in your Sarasota landscape design?
Don’t be so skeptical. Take a look:
- An arbor can be an elegant entryway over a gate or walkway. They offer an instant welcome.
- More planting space! An arbor is the perfect home for pretty climbing plants like passion flower, bougainvillea or jasmine. Bonus: those leafy plants overhead add extra shade. You might want to add a built-in bench for lounging.
- Need a focal point in a bare-bones yard? An arbor automatically attracts attention and adds structure, acting as a centerpiece for your garden.
- An arbor helps define and separate different spaces in your yard. If you want to separate your rose garden from your kids’ play space, add an arbor.
- Need privacy? An arbor covered in leafy vines creates a secluded spot or screens an unsightly view, while adding beauty to the landscape.
An Outdoor Structure Adds Value to Your Home
Chances are, you’re considering adding an outdoor structure for you. You totally deserve it.
Meanwhile, while you’re watching TV or doing yoga, that hard-working pergola or tiki hut is adding value to your Sarasota property. Who wouldn’t love to discover the house they might buy has a charming pergola out back or a vacation-vibe tiki hut ready to roll?
Here in Florida, functional outdoor structures get year-round use, boosting their value even more.
Own a Rental Property? You Need an Outdoor Structure
When northerners escape the cruel grip of winter and head south for some much-needed sun, many want a property packed with amenities.
And they definitely want that tropical vacation vibe.
That means a tiki hut where they can sip fancy cocktails. It means a shady pergola where they can relax with some trashy novel they’d be too embarrassed to read where their back-home neighbors might see, or play Candy Crush all day because nobody knows them here so why not?
An outdoor structure lends your outdoor space a high-end, fancy feel. It gives renters a sense they’re getting something extra with their rental fee. Everybody loves that.
Ready for Great Backyard Transformation Tips? Talk to Us
Once you add a hard-working structure to your outdoor space, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.
Want to perch under a pergola? Pass time in a tiki? Elegantly arrive under an arbor?
Sounds like you need skilled Sarasota landscape design services. Chat with one of our landscape designers, who are happy to help you figure it all out.
Our design/build teams create custom pergolas, tiki huts and arbors built to match the style and needs of homeowners across Sarasota. And we handle everything from design to construction — no need to juggle contractors.
Give us a call today! Our team of Sarasota designers will help you create the perfect outdoor structure for your backyard or vacation rental property.
You’ll be relaxing in your new space in no time.
