Sonoma County backyards built for play

Forget the dingy man cave with the poker table, lighted beer signs and threadbare La-Z-Boy. That trend of the early aughts has given way to the lure of the great outdoors.

Guys want to be outside, glamping in their own backyards with outdoor kitchens, lounges with TV and music and spaces for active play, from putting greens to bocce courts. Rather than just retreating to their own dark hideouts, a lot of men now want to spend time in the sunshine or under the stars with their families and friends.

“What we’re seeing now is more families leaning toward building an area where the entire family can participate in outdoor fun,” said Guy Aranda of Guy’s Yard Design in Sonoma County. “They’re creating their own parks in the backyards.”

Men are taking an active role in deciding what’s going to be in their playground. And flames are a key component. They want fire pits, more elaborate gas grills, pizza ovens and smokers. But desires have gone beyond just the appliance. Chefs de cuisine of the outdoor kitchen want to up their game with adequate counter space, places to store their barbecue equipment, mini-fridges and pergola-style roofs to offer shade while they barbecue.

Anthony Westergard spent part of his extra time at home during the pandemic fulfilling a long-held dream. He installed a pizza oven in his backyard in Santa Rosa.

Long a luxury item only for the well-heeled, pizza ovens have come down in price and are available as small appliances starting at several hundred dollars.

Westergard, a Santa Rosa firefighter, paid $500 for a stainless steel pizza oven online that can be powered by gas or wood.

As a teen, he worked at the old Gina’s Pizzeria on Highway 12, where he learned not just how to roll dough but toss it in the air. He never lost his touch.

“I used to do it when I worked, and I’ve wanted a pizza oven every since,” said Westergard, who claims he can throw a pizza pie 8 feet in the air.

He dressed up a simple metal fire pit by building a base surrounding it with curved retaining wall bricks. Having a heat source is essential for outdoor entertaining in Santa Rosa, even in the summer, he said.

“I just like hanging out there,” he said of his suburban, backyard domain, where he is the master of the grill. It’s Dad’s Kitchen.

“I do the cooking and the barbecuing and the pizza,” he said. “My wife does the good cooking. I do the barbecuing. Barbecue steaks are my specialty.

But thanks to the pizza oven, he can customize pies for everyone’s tastes, including his vegetarian daughter.

For Father’s Day on Sunday, he will happily be on duty feeding his family, which includes four adult kids and nine grandkids ages 6 months to 7 years old. For the bigger tykes, the backyard playground includes a trampoline.

Comfort is important for outdoor cooking, and a lot of families are adding wooden pergolas to cut down on the rays. Hanz Enz, a retired San Francisco firefighter, built a shed-style wooden awning over his outdoor kitchen.

“We don’t have air conditioning. On days when it’s really hot I’m cooking outside,” he said. Enz found the idea online for a 16-by-12 foot pergola over his smoker, gas grill and sink. With a cement patio he had nowhere to put four posts so he built one with two posts put 3 feet into the ground at the fence. He used pressure treated wood but clad it in redwood to dress it up. It has cut down on the tiny leaves that were constantly dropping into his workstation.

“I’m outside practically every evening. If I can be outside, I’m outside. I live in my backyard,” said Enz, who also built an outdoor lounge with TV. It gets more use, he said, than the indoor living room.

Snug space and outdoor games

Landscape designer and installer Scott Vice has slowly been converting his backyard in Santa Rosa’s Grace Tract to his own idea of backyard heaven, a place that is flexible for adult entertaining, family fun or for his three daughters to hang out with friends.

The pandemic only fueled the trend toward high intensity outdoor living, with many people undertaking long delayed projects out of necessity since it wasn’t safe to entertain inside.

“People are home a lot more, and they want their backyards to be more like a resort,” he said.

That is exactly what he is doing in his own backyard. He has an outdoor cabana-style living room outfitted with all the creature comforts, from plush couches and chairs to a large 55-inch TV for watching the Giants.

Tongue-and-groove siding give it the look of a finished room. Roll down curtain shades available through Redwood Awning (figure about $1,000 per side for a hand-crank model) provide protection from sun, bugs and cold on the two open sides.

When they are down, Vice, his wife Amy and three daughters ages 15 to 23, can be warm and toasty, even in winter, thanks to a fire pit that also serves as a coffee table and an overhead gas heater. The heater is one of his favorite things, he said, far superior to a propane heated lamp that needs refueling. An overhead fan provides cool circulation on warm nights and brings hot air down from the heater when it’s cold.

During the pandemic, the Vices were able to host a safe, socially distanced Super Bowl party and a birthday party for one of the girls, Amy said.

Vice’s pandemic project and gift to self was a better outdoor kitchen setup, with counter space, storage for tools and garbage, and an upgraded grill with rotisserie.

His specialties are butterflied leg of lamb and New York steak.

They’re going to expect a lot from me now,” he grinned. “Hot dog and hamburger now? No way. It’s all rib-eyes and ribs. And duck.”

The newest addition will be a long patch of artificial lawn for their two dogs to romp and for the family to play lawn games like croquet and cornhole.

Amy said the new artificial turfs are permeable and can be treated with pellets to neutralize any odor from pets. They offer the soft comfort of lawn without the maintenance and water.

Fun and games

Artificial turf is also used with putting greens, which are an increasingly popular fixture, even in smaller yards Aranda said they’ve become more affordable thanks to new financing options specific to yards.

“It definitely changes the game. A lot of times these backyards are dream yards. A lot of people thought they would never be able to do it. But financing options open the doors for so many people who were unable to afford it,” he said. “You can create an amazing outdoor living space for $150 a month.”

Putting greens vary widely in cost depending on size and materials and how many holes. But Aranda said they can be as simple as 10 by 10 feet with two to three holes, slipped into a side yard. One might figure $5,000 for a typical home putting green.

“The majority of putting greens we’ve been doing have been in tract homes,” he said.

The same is true for bocce courts. Once found only at estates high in the hills or at wineries, they’re now showing up in more modest yards. Like a pool or spa, it is an investment people make in their home lifestyle.

If you’re an avid player, and it brings years of togetherness with family and friends, a $10,000 investment in an average bocce court may feel like it’s worth it, Aranda said.

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com. OnTwitter @megmcconahey.