How to Make Your Backyard Feel Like a Resort (Without Spending Resort Money)

Think about the last resort you loved.

Chances are, it wasn't one ridiculously expensive feature that made the place feel special. You probably remember the comfortable chair you didn't want to get out of, the landscaping around the pool, music playing somewhere in the background, the glow of the lights after dinner, or the fact that there always seemed to be a perfect place to sit.

Good resorts are very good at creating an atmosphere. That's useful to remember when you're designing a backyard, because you can borrow many of the same ideas without borrowing the resort's construction budget. If you want your backyard to feel more like somewhere you'd vacation, these are the details we'd pay attention to first.

1. Stop Trying to Make Everything the Star

Resorts tend to be surprisingly restrained.

They may have a beautiful pool, but you'll often notice the same stone repeated around the property, a limited group of plants, similar furniture finishes, and just a few colors carried throughout the space.

That's part of what makes everything feel calm. At home, it's easy to fall in love with a paver, then a completely different stone for the fireplace, colorful outdoor furniture, patterned cushions, six varieties of flowering plants and a tile you saw online. Individually, they're all beautiful. Together, the backyard can get very busy. Choose a few materials and colors you love and repeat them. A smaller palette can make a moderately priced backyard look considerably more polished.

2. Spend Some of the Lighting Budget Away From the Pool

Underwater pool lights are beautiful, but they shouldn't be responsible for lighting the entire backyard.

Resorts layer light.

They illuminate trees from below. They put soft light along paths and steps. They tuck lighting into landscaping. They create a warm glow around dining and seating areas. The result is that you notice the space, not the light fixtures. If your budget is limited, a handful of thoughtfully placed landscape lights can sometimes change the atmosphere more dramatically than another expensive feature on the pool. There's also a practical benefit: you'll enjoy the backyard after dark instead of looking out at a brightly lit pool surrounded by a black yard.

3. Repeat Plants Instead of Buying One of Everything

Here's a landscaping trick that's easy to steal from hotels and resorts: repetition. Rather than buying one pretty plant from every row at the garden center, choose a smaller number of varieties and plant them in groups. Three ornamental grasses here. The same grasses again near the pool. A row of the same evergreen shrub along the property line. The same flowering perennial repeated near the patio. Repetition gives the eye somewhere to rest and makes landscaping look intentional. It's often easier to maintain, too, because you aren't trying to remember the needs of 27 different plants.

4. Put Your Money Where People Sit

You can have a spectacular backyard and still not want to spend much time in it if there's nowhere comfortable to sit. This is an area homeowners sometimes underestimate when budgeting for a new outdoor space. The pool gets built, the patio looks fantastic, and then everyone realizes six dining chairs and two old loungers aren't quite enough. You don't need expensive furniture everywhere. You need comfortable furniture in the places people will use. Before deciding how much patio you need, think about the furniture that will go on it. Measure a dining table with the chairs pulled out. Allow room to walk behind a sofa. Leave space beside loungers for drinks, towels and bags. Designing the patio around real furniture dimensions can prevent both an undersized patio and unnecessary square footage.

5. Create Privacy Where You Need It, Not Everywhere

Privacy changes how relaxing a backyard feels, but that doesn't necessarily mean surrounding the entire property with a giant wall of landscaping. Stand where your primary seating areas will be and look around. Can you see directly into a neighbor's window? Does a road become visible from one particular chair? Is the outdoor dining area exposed while the rest of the yard feels completely private? Solve those views specifically. A strategically placed tree, evergreen screen, pergola, privacy panel or group of shrubs can sometimes do more than planting an expensive hedge around the entire property.

6. Give the Backyard a Soundtrack

There's a reason resorts use water features even when nobody is swimming in them. Moving water changes the atmosphere. A small spillover, bubbler, fountain or waterfall can soften neighborhood noise and add something to the backyard even when you're sitting beside the pool instead of in it. It doesn't have to be enormous. In fact, subtle water sounds are often more relaxing than a giant waterfall running at full force. Outdoor speakers can accomplish something similar. Plan their placement early and you can create even sound throughout the space without needing one speaker loud enough for the entire neighborhood to enjoy your playlist.

7. Create More Than One Place to Be

This may be the biggest difference between a pool in a backyard and a backyard that feels like a destination.

At a resort, you aren't given one enormous patio and told to figure it out. There's somewhere to swim, somewhere to lounge, somewhere shady to read, somewhere to eat and usually somewhere to gather in the evening. You can create that same feeling at home. A pair of chairs tucked near the landscaping can become the morning coffee spot. Four Adirondack chairs around a fire pit create somewhere completely different to gather at night. A dining table near the outdoor kitchen handles dinner while loungers stay closer to the pool. The spaces don't have to be large. They just need a purpose.

8. Hide the Stuff That Doesn't Feel Like Vacation

Nothing kills the resort vibe quite like three pool floats, a tangled hose, six pairs of goggles and a bag of charcoal leaning against the house. Real life requires stuff. Plan somewhere for it. A storage bench, outdoor cabinet, dedicated pool storage area or small structure integrated into the landscape can keep everyday necessities close without leaving them scattered around the backyard. This is particularly important to think about before construction. A little planned storage is far easier to incorporate than trying to find somewhere for everything later.

The Resort Feeling Is Mostly Good Design

You can spend an enormous amount of money on a backyard and still end up with a collection of beautiful things that don't quite work together. You can also make thoughtful decisions about materials, lighting, landscaping, seating, privacy and flow and create something that feels far more expensive than it was. That's the part of resort design worth stealing. At Cool Breeze Pools, we design pools, hardscapes, landscaping and outdoor living spaces together because the way all those pieces interact ultimately determines how the backyard feels. The goal isn't to make your home look like a hotel. It's to make going home feel a little more like vacation.