Spa Retreat

This small hillside yard needs a makeover that includes a spa and privacy from the neighbors.

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Filed under: Outdoor Spaces, Backyard, Tropical Theme, Design Style

Homeowners Jim Tyson and Mike Perona would like to make room in their small hillside yard for a spa. Designer Dennis Murray finds the space for the spa and comes up with a creative way to make the area level and private.

The spa is now in a garden room with a view. Two arbors help with privacy, and plants — such as a red-leaf banana — will fill in and add to the tropical feel.

Once an overgrown hillside with zero privacy from the neighbors, this backyard is now a garden room with a beautiful view.

The spa was leveled on the sloping lot by using a framed-in bed of pea gravel. The back fence is painted to match the house, and wire is strung between eye-hooks to form a trellis for the vines.