Home Renovation

The Draw of a Front Courtyard

Perhaps like me, you try not to mention our glorious ‘winter’ weather when chatting with your friends and family battling snow and rain ‘back East,’ and you keep to yourself the fact that you just sipped your morning coffee on your patio while listening to the birds chirp, or enjoyed dinner al fresco. We live in Mirador, and the majority of homes here have a covered patio in the back of the house that provides a convenient setting for outdoor entertaining, meditative moments, or “working from home.”

Despite having our back yard sanctuary, sometimes activities within earshot made us wish we had an alternative to our back yard patio. It is for this reason that we decided to create an enclosed courtyard in the front of our house.

You may be thinking that a front yard is an odd place to seek privacy – along the street? – but in fact, there are fewer neighbors within close proximity out front, and therefore less potential noise sources. Sure, an occasional car drives by, but that’s hardly “noisy” and so brief, and much less disturbing than being within earshot of a cell phone conversation that’s too loud and too long, or listening to a barking dog in distress, being kept outside longer than it would like.

Our front courtyard is truly lovely, inside and out, but it didn’t happen via a magic wand, and I do believe that thoughtful planning contributed to our positive outcome. Here are some of my suggestions.

Consider how you want to use the space. Function first! Do you want dining for 8, or seating for 4 around a fire pit? Or both?! We wanted dining for 6 people and a conversation area for 4, so I took the measurements of the actual furniture I would be using and arranged it to scale on graph paper. That helped me explore my vision with accuracy and determine the overall dimensions needed for the courtyard. (The actual square footage was larger than I would have “guessed.”) Many builders will create drawings for you; you still need to provide them with your requirements, so the finished environment meets your needs.

Gather ideas and inspiration. Similar to an interior renovation, the creation of a courtyard offers an opportunity to incorporate your own style into the design. It isn’t simply a “box.” I wanted specific planters and pots incorporated into the design, some favorite plants climbing the walls, and also wanted “windows” with a custom iron design, so I drew my own elevations and landscape plan as well. There are many sources of inspiration: magazines, online sites and actual courtyards; combine all the elements you like from all different sources to create your own unique design. This will result in a courtyard you love, vs. a builder’s generic plan. Keep in mind that contractors are not usually designers or mind-readers, and may not share your particular style regarding details, like light fixtures. Without direction from you, they may make assumptions and decisions based on the last job they did for someone else. Include the SRCA Architectural Committee and the City. A courtyard requires the approval of the Architectural Committee, based on your submission of proper forms and drawings, and possibly samples of hardscape (artificial turf or pavers, for instance). Your contractor should be able to assist with this. In addition, your contractor should coordinate with the City of Scottsdale. Initially the City told us the project did not require a permit (because the walls were “decorative garden walls,” not “retaining walls”), but a City inspector working in our neighborhood during our construction begged to differ, and hand-delivered a “stop work order.” So be prepared to greet the unexpected with patience. As with any large project, be available for questions during construction, and keep a supervisory eye on the project’s progression.

In the end, our front courtyard is a new sanctuary setting, suitable for multiple uses, and a delightful alternative to the back yard patio.