7 Amazing Patios We Love

Sun shining, cool beverage in hand€”there’s no better place we’d rather be than sipping and sunning on one of these gorgeous patios.

(Photo: Martin Tessler.)Open Season. Homeowner Shannon Dawe first fell for this home in Vancouver’s Mackenzie Heights neighbourhood when she was in her teens, but it wasn’t until decades later—with help from architect Cedric Burgers—that the 1972 gem (first designed by architect Johnathan Keith-King) become an amazing home for Dawe and her family. (Photo: Martin Tessler.)Reflection Time. This is another patio from Dawe’s mid-century modern home in Vancouver. The reflecting pond outside the master bedroom also features a waterfall that masks any traffic noise when the sliding glass doors are open. See the full home transformation here. (Photo: Martin Tessler.)Epic View. Thanks to this West Vancouver home’s concrete canopy, suspended 40 feet above the property’s base, the deck and adjacent plunge pool are both viewing platform and meditative space. Designer Matt McLeod of McLeod Bovell Modern Houses compares this area to a cave, because you get that solitude and containment from a space that’s been hollowed out for you, yet you’re still connected to the outdoors. It’s just you and the Burrard Inlet! The whole house (on the cover of our May 2016 issue) is an absolute stunner, take a look at the photo gallery here. (Photo: Ema Peter.)Urban Oasis. The designer duo behind Falken Reynolds Interiors outfitted this massive downtown Vancouver patio with all the creature comforts of the indoors, including Bend chairs, and white cushioned seats that don’t look anything like the patio furniture of yore. The two-storey, automated sliding garage door came standard with the apartment and designer Chad Falkenberg said it really made it possible to connect the inside space with the outside. (Photo: Ema Peter.)Double Take. Here’s another view of the Vancouver loft’s patio (that reaches far out of the frame!). This New York-style redesign is one of our favourites—check out the whole space here. (Ema Peter.)Open Up. The twin goals of filling this house with natural light and connecting indoors and out were paramount for both client and architect. Homeowner Elana Cossever enlisted award-winning firm Carscadden Stokes McDonald Architects to transform a cramped 1920s bungalow into the modern family home for four it is now in East Vancouver. (Photo: Ema Peter.)Complete Transformation. Cossever’s formerly cramped kitchen is now a thing of beauty with its Kalebodur White Cube mosaic tile and a disappearing glass wall that opens up onto the back deck. See the whole Scandinavian-cabin-style home renovation here. (Photo: Robert Lemermeyer.)Second Chance. Architect and Calgarian Jeremy Sturgess had the chance to redesign this Kootenay Lake home for his relatives after the original was destroyed in a fire. Situated almost on the water and facing toward the south and west, the old home and its outdoor areas were blasted by relentless sun. This new design, almost a Z-shape, took this exposure into account and provided an amazing deck (roomier than some Vancouver one-bedroom apartments) with options for sun and shade. Tour the full home here. (Photo: Martin Tessler.)Pool Party. Here’s homeowner Asaph Fipke, with sons Zane and Elias, playing around the pool of his Arthur Erickson home in Vancouver that was newly lined and updated by architectural firm Battersby Howat. A new membrane on the top terrace addressed the leaks that had plagued the original design. See more photos of the epic restoration project here.MORE: 10 Swoon-Worthy Modern PatiosMORE: Arthu Erickson’s Eppich House Gets Another ChanceMORE: 4 Dishes to Bring to a Summer Barbecue