Photo by CC user Chun Kit To on Flickr

While the front yard of your house may get some use from friends and family, your backyard is where you can truly relax in the outdoors without having to leave your property. As such, many new homeowners seek to make this space into a room like any other in their home.

Whether you are about to hire a landscaping company like Stonemakers to make major adjustments to your backyard, or you are dead set on doing it yourself, it’s best to know what would work best before you disturb a single blade of grass.

With that in mind, here are the best additions that you can make to your outdoor spaces.

1) A fire pit

If you are on a tight budget, adding a fire pit is an easy improvement to your backyard. For minimal cost or an afternoon of labor, you can have a spot behind your house where friends and family can gather around flames with drinks or marshmallows/hotdog wieners impaled on sticks.

There’s something primal about the heat of a good fire that makes it an unforgettable focal point of any outdoor gathering.

No matter your budget, adding this improvement will make your home much more appealing to potential guests.

2) A master BBQ

Whenever you and your loved ones are gathered outside at your place, it only makes sense to prepare food for them. Do it in style with a master BBQ.

The small ones you can get at your local hardware store are fine if you are only cooking for a few people, but if you are going to entertain neighbors and friends, you’re going to want to think bigger.

With a mid-range model, not only will you have extra range space for all those surplus burgers, hotdogs, steaks, and chicken breasts, but you’ll likely also have a convenient gas-fired side burner that you can use to saute onions and other vegetables.

3) An artificial waterfall

Looking for make a big splash with guests? There is no better way to elicit gasps of disbelief than by installing an artificial waterfall in your backyard.

This task is made easier if you have a natural slope on your property, but if you don’t, one can easily be constructed by using excavated earth.

So long as you have an electrical hookup located close by to where the motor (which will channel water back up towards the top of the feature) will be situated, putting in this feature will involve plotting out the degree of the slope, and then paying your contractor for this impressive but pricey backyard centerpiece.

4) An in-ground pool

Live in a hot climate, and want to win allies quickly? Put in an attention-grabbing pool behind your house, and you’ll have people making friends with you in a hurry.

While there will be many that will have this feature in their backyard in warmer climates, the majority will have unoriginal above-ground monstrosities, thereby making your tasteful installation a more desirable place for friends and neighbors to gather.

So long as you take care to cure your concrete pool deck properly so that it doesn’t crack prematurely, you’ll have a very attractive focal point that will keep you cool on the hottest of days.

5) A hot tub

Having a pool in your backyard sounds nice, but if you live further north, it is only useful for half the year. As soon as cool weather moves in, it won’t be the draw that it is during the summer.

Hot tubs don’t have this problem, as their piping hot waters and massaging jets make them a great place to be in summer or winter.

They also take up less real estate than a pool, which makes them a suitable stand-in for those that live in a townhouse instead of a conventional home.