09/04/2026
Across our projects this year, we are seeing homeowners think differently about what a backyard is supposed to do. The question is no longer how the space looks from the kitchen window. It is how many days of the year the space actually gets used.
Mike Volpe, the designer on this project, walks the site before construction and explains the approach. The existing patio came out to make room for a covered structure with low voltage lighting in the ceiling and ceiling fans overhead. Two kitchen zones follow. A prep kitchen with barstool seating on one side, and a main kitchen with the grill and egg on the other, so the space functions as a true work zone rather than a grill pushed against a wall. Granite countertops, veneer around the structure, and a television and fireplace combination built into the same room.
What makes this work is not any single feature. It is the structure over the top of it. A patio performs in spring and summer. A covered patio performs into fall and past it, which is what allows a space like this to hold a quiet morning coffee, a full evening with guests, and a Saturday afternoon of fall sports without changing anything but the furniture.
Comfort, flow, and durability across seasons. That is the standard we design to.
If you are looking at your own backyard and are not sure how to approach it, reach out and let’s talk it through.
Make coming home a vacation.
