Heavenly Backyard Havens
After the summer vacations and holiday celebrations, you might find some time to add water features, fire pits and hedges to your backyard to turn that space behind your home into a heavenly summer haven!
The Soothing Sound of Water
Dressing up your backyard for super summer enjoyment can include a water feature that provides soothing sounds and mesmerizing visual interest – morning and evening. For the type of structure with the kind of massive stones, waterfalls and streams you see at home and garden shows, you’ll want a contractor like Reflections Water Features. They service the Denver metro area from north to south and offer consultation services based on your budget and needs.
For something simpler and more economical but still beautiful and relaxing, Wayfair showcases two and three-tier fountains made of resin and fiberglass. Or you can opt for one of the vertical fountain walls with lights and faux stacked stone and cascading rivulets of water. You’ll find similar offerings from Lowe’s, Home Depot, Amazon and Overstock, including table-top options, some with “carved” or sculpted-looking figurines – like birds, children, and smiling Buddhas. 
For simple DIY ideas, Country Living curated 20 different looks, some of them easier than others like this 15-minute ceramic pot water fountain from The Interior Frugalista. Blogger Marie made hers for less than $50 – the two pots for $35, a plastic pail and pot saucer, river rocks and a solar-powered fountain pump. Check out her DIY outdoor privacy screen/wall of water, too! It’s enviably beautiful and bigger than you can buy practically ANYWHERE!
Bob Vila offers plenty more ideas for water features — from simple pond-in-a-pot set-ups in decorative bowls to birdbaths that operate by solar power and limestone-finish fountains to hang on a wall.
For Chilly Nights
For amazing nighttime ambience on a chilly night, the ubiquitous fire pit is almost a necessity in Colorado where temperatures can dip to sweater weather in the evening. We’ve talked about building firepits before, and for the handy DIYer, those not only provide nighttime warmth but the satisfaction of achievement. But for those of us who’d rather buy than build, the best backyard fire pits are the ones delivered to our front door!
The Fireplace Lab recently rated 12 different fire pits, along with advice about which might be best for you – from wood to propane. Top honors went to the Landmann 28347, AKA the Big Sky Fire Pit. The black finish makes for easy (read less frequent) cleanups and has wildlife cutouts (wolves, moose and bears) that glow and offer a window to the flames. This wood-burning fire pit is available from Walmart, retails for $109 and comes with a porcelain grate for cooking.
The best fire pit table, according to the Fireplace Lab (and 1800+ consumers who gave it five stars), is the 44-inch propane-powered Outland Living 401 Series. It has garnered design awards and is housed in weatherproof resin wicker with a black tempered tabletop. This bigger 100 percent smoke-free fire pit retails for $729 on Amazon.
Bob Vila praises the look of this hand-hammered copper fire pit, and he’s not wrong. It’s simple and stylish and burns wood for a long-lasting fire under a mesh screen to protect against flyaway ash and embers. The copper will weather with age and use, developing a rustic patina and will last for years. Available at The Home Depot — 10 minutes from Colliers Hill — for $230.
For a propane-powered table, the “cosiest outdoor propane fire pit/coffee table/patio heater” by Oriflamme has an ultramodern dark bronze finish with red lava pieces in the burner bowl. Made of Clean burning propane stays lit with no stoking and has large enough surface to set your coffee or nightcap on. And the even more upscale Ixtapa Fire Bowl, topped with decorate lava rocks and made from heat-resistant fibercast concrete, is a Restoration Hardware beauty retailing for a mere $4046 – if you become a member!
Hedging Your Bets
Moving into a brand-new home means brand-new landscaping and of course, minimal backyard privacy since shrubs and trees haven’t had time to grow. For the fastest-growing hedges you can buy, check out Evergreen Hedging recommendations. The Leland Cypress and the Laurel (Cherry, Portugal) are fast growing and the evergreens keep their leaves/color all year round, don’tcha know.
Now all you need is a good backyard grill plus a cooler filled with cold drinks to celebrate summer!
Heavenly Backyard Havens in Colliers Hill
The backyards in the master-planned community of Colliers Hill can be whatever your imagination can conceive as a refuge during warm weather. If you don’t live here yet, check out the stunning model homes from KB Home, Richmond American Homes – and now open, Boulder Creek. Priced from the $600s, this fast-growing new home community in Northern Colorado has lots of exciting amenities to offer new home buyers, too!
