Man reading on a white outdoor sofa beside a concrete fire table in a Garnet Valley PA backyard landscape design, with a striped umbrella, a reclaimed timber bench with a striped throw, purple verbena in the foreground, and open lawn beyond

After Work Retreat

The clients wanted a place to truly decompress at the end of the day, somewhere that makes it easy to step outside, slow down, and leave the pace of work behind. GreenRoots designed a layered outdoor retreat that fits both family time and quieter moments.

A fireside area gives everyone a natural place to gather, share conversation, and spend an evening together. Just beyond it, a chaise lounge area offers a more personal way to unwind. Its connection to the main space keeps everyone close without asking everyone to do the same thing.

Location

Garnet Valley,
Pennsylvania

Design/Install

GreenRoots
Design Firm

Photography

Mark Rutt
Creative

Overhead view of a Garnet Valley PA backyard landscape design with a square concrete fire table, timber benches, and sofa on a poured concrete patio, a chaise lounge pad under an umbrella, a composite deck with outdoor kitchen and dining, and mulched planting beds
Sunset aerial of a Garnet Valley PA home with a backyard landscape design featuring a composite deck with outdoor kitchen and dining, a concrete fire table patio, a chaise lounge area under an umbrella, small trees, ornamental grasses, and mulched planting beds

The Project Brief

  • A backyard retreat built around the daily ritual of winding down
  • A fireside gathering area for family time and long conversations
  • A connected chaise lounge area for quieter, more personal moments
  • Furniture placement, sightlines, scale, and circulation planned to feel intuitive
  • A place to come home to, where time outside becomes part of everyday life
A woman and her daughter talking on gray wicker chaise lounges under an umbrella in a Garnet Valley PA backyard landscape design, with a concrete patio, purple verbena, hydrangeas, ornamental grasses, and a small ginkgo tree

The Experience

Step off the deck and the day starts to fall away. A few steps lead down to the fireside patio, where a sculptural concrete fire table anchors the space and reclaimed timber benches and a deep sofa pull everyone in close. Slabs of poured concrete are set apart by black river stone, and layered plantings of grasses and verbena sway at the edges, lit from below after dark.

Beyond the fire, a pair of chaise lounges sits under an umbrella, tucked into the garden and just far enough away to feel like a retreat of its own. Hydrangeas, grasses, and small trees surround it, so the space stays connected to the gathering area while offering a quiet spot to read, rest, or simply be still.

For GreenRoots, designing around a daily ritual means thinking about how a space feels to live in as much as how it looks. Furniture placement, sightlines, scale, circulation, and the balance between gathering and retreat were considered together, so every space feels intuitive and inviting.

The result is a place to come home to, where the day can slow down, conversations can linger, and time outside becomes part of the rhythm of everyday life.

Dusk view of a Garnet Valley PA backyard landscape design with a lit concrete fire table, reclaimed timber bench, and outdoor sofa on a poured concrete patio, a striped umbrella, potted yellow mums, and a composite deck with steps and outdoor dining above
Poured concrete walkway with black river stone joints leading past a variegated hakone grass planting bed, a boulder, a path light, and a columnar tree to a composite deck with white railings and black balusters in a Garnet Valley PA landscape design

A place to come home to.

Glowing concrete fire table with two reclaimed timber benches and a white outdoor sofa on a poured concrete patio in a Garnet Valley PA backyard landscape design, with a potted yellow mum, uplit ornamental grasses, a striped umbrella, and a composite deck beyond