A backyard gazebo can provide an interesting architectural focal point to your backyard while also serving any number of functions. Whether you’re just thinking about installing a gazebo, or are working to reimagine an existing structure, there are plenty of backyard gazebo ideas out there.
Read on for a broad selection of backyard gazebo ideas, all designed to provide you with some focus on what you’d like in that special space. Whether elegant or casual, rustic or formal, your gazebo should reflect your most creative dreams for backyard living.
Backyard Gazebo: Build or Buy?
As you’re thinking about a backyard gazebo, the first question will be whether to build one from scratch or buy a ready-made unit.
Whatever you choose, you’ll want to consider the same questions as you decide. First, what will the gazebo’s purpose be? Will it be an informal family gathering place, a place for entertaining, or a place for relaxing or reading in the shade?
You’ll also need to figure out what size your gazebo should be, where it should be located, and what construction material you prefer. Gazebos can be made of various materials, from wood to wrought iron to concrete. They can also be as simple as a fabric-covered frame.
If you’re a skilled do-it-yourselfer, building your own gazebo will be cheaper than buying a ready-made one. If you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, the cost of the gazebo will be augmented by the cost of having it professionally installed.
Now that you’re armed with the basics of gazebo installation, read on for some inspiration on what a gazebo can bring to your home landscape.
1. Living and Dining in an Open-Air Backyard Gazebo
Certainly, one of your hopes for a backyard gazebo is that it will become a favorite fair-weather gathering place for family and friends. Outfitted with comfortable outdoor-friendly chairs, and maybe a hammock, your gazebo can become exactly that kind of space.
But there are other backyard gazebo ideas for using that space for gathering family and friends together. For one, sharing a meal under your gazebo can be as simple as setting up some folding tables and carrying food out from your kitchen.
Or, with proper ventilation, you can wheel a barbecue grill out to your gazebo and use the space as the focal point for a cookout. Later, if you decide to make dining a full-time possibility for your gazebo, there are plenty of built-in kitchen equipment options to consider.
2. Using Your Gazebo as a Backyard Bar
Speaking of using your gazebo as an outdoor gathering space, is there a better way to do that than turning it into an open-air bar? Pursuing backyard gazebo ideas for a bar can be as simple as repurposing a potting bench for storing alcohol, mixers, and ice, and mixing drinks.
Add a couple of tubs of ice to keep the beer cold, and you’re set to go. Or, just as with turning your gazebo into a full-time dining space, you can equip your gazebo with an outdoor bar. If your gazebo has electrical service, consider an outdoor refrigerator as a permanent addition to the structure.
3. Your Backyard Gazebo Can Be a Home Workspace
It’s certainly fun to imagine your gazebo as an outdoor space for relaxed living, dining, and entertaining. But there are also easy backyard gazebo ideas to make it part of daily home life. Consider, for instance, using your gazebo as a home-based workspace.
The coronavirus pandemic created an affinity for working from home, and your gazebo can be a perfect place for working. As long as you can keep your phone and laptop charged elsewhere, developing backyard gazebo ideas for a workspace is not hard.
One thing to do before trying to work from your gazebo is to study how it is affected as the sun moves through the sky. Once you learn that, one of your backyard gazebo ideas should be installing shades along your gazebo frame to control the sun’s impact.
Beyond that, setting up a gazebo office need not take much more than repurposing a piece of older furniture from your home as a desk. Or, you could scour flea markets for an old desk to freshen up.
Making an old desk into an attractive piece of outdoor furniture can be done with chalk paint or whatever other paint you prefer.
4. Backyard Gazebo as a Garden Centerpiece
In many home landscapes, the backyard gazebo is used as the focal centerpiece for a garden. There are many backyard gazebo ideas for attractively integrating the structure into your floral landscape.
You can do something as simple as installing hanging baskets in the gazebo. Or, you can train vining plants and flowers to climb its columns. Great candidates for perennial vining plants with flowers for your gazebo include wisteria, star jasmine, and honeysuckle.
Other ideas for integrating your gazebo into a backyard garden include using potted trees and shrubs along the interior edges of the gazebo. Great options for this approach include dwarf varieties of cypress, yew, and juniper trees.
Other interesting backyard gazebo ideas for this approach include planting dwarf varieties of lemon, orange, apple, and peach trees.
There are, however, some pitfalls to avoid when planting in or around your garden gazebo. For plants installed around the edges of your gazebo, overwatering may be a problem. Your gazebo’s sloped roof will drain along its edges and may direct too much water to edge-planted plants.
Some plants in your gazebo might get too little light as the sun moves across the sky, while others might get too much.
As you develop garden-related backyard gazebo ideas, know how much — or how little — light a particular plant will require before choosing it.
5. Add a Fire Pit to Your Backyard Gazebo
Once there’s a gazebo in your backyard, you’ll certainly want to take advantage of its relaxation and socializing opportunities as frequently as possible. One of the best backyard gazebo ideas for adding to the number of days it can be used is to install a fire pit.
Of course, there are a number of things to consider before adding a fire pit to your gazebo. First is to check with your local building code enforcement office to find out if fire pits are allowed for use in gazebos.
Next, check the manufacturer’s recommendations if you’re installing a commercially available fire pit. Obviously, if the manufacturer recommends against installing their fire pit in your gazebo, don’t pursue it as one of your backyard gazebo ideas.
On a related note, if your gazebo is a commercially available model, check with its manufacturer for guidance on whether fire pit installation is acceptable.
Gazebo Fire Pit Safety
If you can install a fire pit in your gazebo, make sure the gazebo is adequately ventilated. That may not be a problem for open-air gazebos, but even then, installing ventilation in the gazebo roof would be a good idea.
When deciding where to locate your fire pit, make sure it isn’t located near any flammable part of the structure. Keep flames from your fire pit at least 8 feet below the structure’s roof. As an added precaution, ensure you have a fire extinguisher nearby in case of an accidental blaze.
The first step in installing a fire pit in a gazebo is placing a fire pit mat or heat shield where the pit will be located. Make sure your mat or shield is designed for the type of fire pit you have, whether wood-burning, propane, or natural gas.
6. Dressing Up Your Backyard Gazebo
A gazebo is certainly enough by itself to add a distinctive touch to your backyard landscape. But adding decorative touches suited to your and your family’s personalities can make a great space even better.
For instance, why not try adding some breezy, semi-transparent curtains to your gazebo? Tied back, they can add a touch of elegance to your open outdoor space. Drawn closed, they can create an intimate space shielded from neighbors.
Or how about integrating your gazebo into your holiday decorating plans? Gazebos are tailor-made for adding swaths of greenery and lights during Christmas, or draping with patriotic bunting for the Fourth of July, as just two examples.
In short, treat your gazebo as an integral part of your home. Use your imagination to come up with backyard gazebo ideas to use the space to its fullest potential.
Wrapping up Backyard Gazebo Ideas
Whether you’re just thinking about a backyard gazebo, or reimagining an existing one, these backyard gazebo ideas should provide you with plenty of inspiration.
In the meantime, check out Minneopa Orchards for much more on ways to enhance backyard living.
- About the Author
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As a longtime homeowner, Jim Thompson has tried over the years, with varying degrees of success, to enhance his residential landscapes.
As a reporter and editor for newspapers in rural Georgia, Jim interacted frequently with agricultural experts from the University of Georgia Extension Service, learning about soils and other aspects of growing things for both commercial and residential purposes.
A graduate of the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Jim covered a variety of beats before retiring and embarking on writing for Minneopa Orchards.
Jim can be reached at jimt3rd@yahoo.com