It’s a constant battle for those of us forwarding the definition of luxury outdoor living spaces. How do we fight mediocrity? How do we behave differently so that your back yard living space is not “knock off” of the rest of the neighborhood? How do we NOT be average (without busting the budget), because there are no trophies for average.

Here are four proven strategies to escape the vanilla of average:

• Hire a proven designer or Landscape Architect with a styled history of success, and a few failures mixed in for gumption. And then follow their lead. Challenge them when your gut tells you to.
• Don’t be afraid. Be bold and benign at the same time. You will likely understand that when the time is appropriate.
• Personality … yours, must show itself in the deck / patio / landscape / grill station / lanais, etc. … that finally gets installed. After all, it’s your space and you are writing the check.
• Anticipate. The most compelling of the lessons is to anticipate how you hope to use the space. What moments to do hope to create? And it’s more than “I need a four-top table and an umbrella for shade”. It sounds more like “I see myself and my significant other relaxing most evenings with a book and a glass of wine. Ideally we could accommodate a few friends / neighbors / kids for cookouts. And I want it to feel very urban.”

Frankly, it’s pretty simple for us to build a space that looks like page 14 of your favorite supplier catalog. And, it will look incredible. Just like the hundreds of others that look like page 14 in the city. Or whatever page, of whatever catalog…

But we can do better. We must.