Small Portland Backyard, Big Northwest Dreams: Designing a North Portland Outdoor Living Space
The Dream: Reimagining Outdoor Entertaining Spaces
I was about fifteen minutes into my first meeting with my North Portland (Arbor Lodge) backyard landscape design clients when I realized we had a problem — and an opportunity. Their backyard, at just 35 by 30 feet (not including the small garage and driveway), was far too small to hold everything on their wish list.
They wanted it all:
- A dining area for six, with room for extra guests now and then.
- A casual seating area that could double as a firepit space.
- A sunny spot for two lounge chairs.
- And, of course, a little lawn for their excellent dog, Kosmo.
- Modern styled hardscape that looks good with their old house
I said it straight out: “This backyard is too small to meet your goals — unless you’re open to something bold. What if we turn half your garage into a cabana?”
They paused for about ten seconds, looked at each other, and said, “You’re right. Let’s do it.”
Stop the clock at 11:15am — that’s when this design got interesting.
The Design Challenge
Cabana Basic – We knew we would use the south half of the garage for the cabana, and open up the long south wall and half of the north side (the front) of the garage. Knowing that, I could move on to create the landscape design that would fit with the Cabana so my clients could use their backyard without waiting til the cabana was completed.
So I got busy. With such limited square footage, every inch had to be intentional. We needed two or three outdoor living zones and a covered BBQ structure without making the yard feel cramped. I love these kinds of challenges — they push creativity and design clarity to the max.
Six months later, the new backyard was built, and my clients are already living outdoors every chance they get. The cabana design (Phase 2 of the project) is next — more on that in a future post. But next, we’ll talk about one of the smartest, most sustainable moves we made: saving and reusing their old patio pavers.
Get Started on Your “Big Dream” Portland Backyard Landscape Design
If you have a small Portland property that needs clever landscape design ideas like how to reuse existing materials — for economy and ecology, both — Landscape Design in a Day would love to help you bring it together. Get the process started today!
