I Tried Yardzen’s Premium Design Service: Here Are My Honest Thoughts

When I moved into my house three years ago, I knew very well it was going to be an uphill battle getting it to look the way I wanted — especially the backyard. In addition to unkempt gardens, there was a disheveled wooden ramp where a riding lawn mower had been stored, a hand-built deck that had definitely seen better days, and a ton of mismatched furniture that the previous owners left behind. As I turned my attention to more pressing things inside the house, I lived with my subpar yard but fantasized about it being a gathering space for friends and family that I didn’t feel embarrassed about. 

This summer, however, I was absolutely determined to make my outdoor fantasy become reality. But even though I look at more than my fair share of beautiful outdoor spaces in my work at Apartment Therapy, I still had no idea where to begin. Luckily, I got the opportunity to test out the premium design plan from Yardzen, a service platform that connects you with a real landscape designer to help you visualize and create your ideal outdoor space. Spoiler alert: I very much enjoyed my experience, and would recommend purchasing a design service with Yardzen. It helped me immediately implement changes in my yard and plan for the longer-term future. 

Yardzen is an online landscape design-and-build company that helps homeowners turn their yard into their dream outdoor space. The Yardzen team is comprised of exterior designers, horticulturalists, and landscape architects (most of whom have practices outside of their work with Yardzen). Every bit of the design process is done online, using satellite imagery in connection to your address, 3D rendering software, and plant and data science to help you craft your dream yard space. At the end of the design process, the goal is to connect you with vetted local contractors who can help the vision come to life.

Once you purchase your design package (there are a few different options depending on your price point and the size of your space), you’ll have to do some upfront work to get the design process started. 

This is the fun, dreamy part of the process where you get to answer questions about your design style, what you’re hoping to accomplish with your yard makeover, and specific challenges that your space has (i.e., slopes, obstacles). Overall the interface is really user-friendly and easy to navigate.

This is the most intensive part of the process, but it helps you get a realistic rendering at the end. You upload photos of your yard from six different angles, take slow-pan videos, and a video where you’re discussing your yard’s specific challenges and goals for the space. If you have a slope in your yard you’ll also need to take a photo so the designer can map for that (I live in Cincinnati where most of the yards are hilly, so I had to do this step.) As you can see, my yard needs a bit of help. While it’s not a complete disaster, it’s lacking major interest.

After you upload, your designer will get to work. In the package I tested, I first received a house model I needed to review to ensure the details of my yard were correct. Then, the designs were delivered in my Yardzen portal to review. 

Depending on the package you select, you can get up to a few revisions. I went through one revision of my yard project. I left notes in little comments on the screen about what I needed changing, and then the second set of designs were delivered about a week later. The process was extremely simple! 

Lastly, you’ll receive your finalized design. With my design package, I received daytime and nighttime renderings of the yard. I also will have a list of contractors in my area I can reach out to to start the work when I’m ready. 

As another added perk, you’ll also get a list of products that the designer recommends. (Bonus: you get a custom discount code at their retail partners if you want to purchase their recommended items.)

I was envisioning a relaxed-yet-regal English cottage garden design that would provide visual interest as well as a physical divider to give the yard distinct zones. I really do feel icky saying this (especially as so many of my colleagues are New Yorkers with zero yard space), but my yard often feels too large because it’s full of so much grass. And in its current state, it’s quite tired and boring — not to mention entirely too much maintenance. 

Here is what I loved most about my yard design:

• They accounted for the slope: My backyard has a steep slope that breaks it essentially into two spaces.
• It included an area for my kids to play.
• The furnishings they chose weren’t outrageous or unrealistic.
• The layout was ingenious.
• The plants they chose were romantic, but not too fussy.

Even now, going through the renderings again as I write this, I’m absolutely thrilled with the way that my designs turned out. I do feel like the designer got into my head and pulled out what I wanted to see but couldn’t visualize on my own. 

The premium design package comes with both front/side yard designs as well as the backyard. I’ve done so much work on my front yard in the last three years, but I really wanted some inspiration for taking it to the next level.

I had requested a checkerboard path that led up to the house in the design revision. I’m not sure how I feel about the terracotta color, but it definitely makes a statement. Plants like meadow sage and maroon daylily fill in the front, which is currently just an endless mound of grass.

One thing that I forgot to mention (that’s such a small thing!) is that my shutters disappeared in the rendering. Not a huge deal, but it sometimes throws me off when I revisit these designs.

In its current state, I do have plants like hydrangeas and lavender near the front door, but this plan expands on this footprint, and includes coneflowers and allium (one of my absolute favorites that I certainly plan on planting this fall).

In the garage area, the designer suggested some panicle hydrangeas with a bit of a carved out gravel border. It certainly brings more interest than the current view (again, just a ton of grass). In the retaining wall next to the house, the designer suggested to add some astilbe. It’s an unfortunate situation, but my air conditioning unit sits right there and as ugly as it is, I think we’ll leave it be because we don’t want any vegetation growing into it.

On the side yard that leads to our backyard door, the designer implemented some black-eyed Susans and some more whimsical-looking allium.

As much fun as it was to envision how beautiful the front and side yards could be, the real showstopper here was the plan for the backyard. Although I could have gone the unrealistic route where I added a pool, a hot tub, and tore down my existing deck, I wanted the plan to be something my husband and I could actually tackle (and hopefully much of it on our own).

The designer kept our deck fully intact (and gave me so much inspiration for how to make it better). I also loved the gravel path with the raised beds right near our very creepy shed that we won’t be able to tear down anytime soon — unless of course I win the lottery.

One thing I’ve really struggled through was how to “zone” my deck because it’s an oblong shape and I never felt like I could fit the furniture correctly. The deck has built-in benches, which is great for hosting, but has been tricky for figuring out a layout.

The Yardzen designer solved for this brilliantly by placing the dining table by the door and then shaping the built-in bench areas into specific conversational areas.

Of course my backyard is not just for me, and so I loved the play area they sketched in. What I loved about these were that they fit the landscaping very naturally — and also when my kids outgrow them they won’t be a complete pain to take down and make space for other things.

The nighttime renderings have got to be my favorite. I love looking at what our space could potentially look like at night. I love the Solo Stove in the corner as well as the little twinkles of outdoor lighting. It’s so, so magical.

Looking back at this Yardzen project, I think I would probably go in for another round of revisions where I asked the designer to take out the plants by the air conditioner and maybe change the color of the checkerboard path in the front. But honestly, these are just minor nitpicky things that are easy to say in hindsight.

Overall, though, this has already given me so much inspiration to get started. My husband and I have spent the last couple of weeks putting in a gravel path by our back gate — and as soon as I can safely move a clematis plant this fall I’ll be extending the path out further. I’m also planning to figure out a way to bribe my dad to put in that pergola when he comes to visit next month.

Although I still have a long way to go, my backyard is really starting to take shape. I put a fresh coat of stain on the deck, bought a dining table and patio chairs from Facebook Marketplace (vintage ’90s Frontgate, which was an absolute score), and we’ve installed a gravel pathway between the gate and the deck.

I can say without uncertainty that this service has transformed the way that I feel about my backyard. I would have never thought to arrange the deck like this, and I have so many future plans for planting bulbs this fall. We are also trying to budget putting in the pergola that the designer recommended from Lowe’s — and hopefully my dad can help us install it so we can save a bit of money.

Although I haven’t started on the work yet for the front and side yards, I’ll be working hard this fall to plant bulbs like allium and digging some garden beds on my side walkway. I am beyond thrilled to have a game plan for next spring’s plantings.

Yes, I would fully recommend the Yardzen Premium Design package to anyone who is feeling as lost as I was about their outdoor space. Even though my backyard isn’t fully transformed to match the beautiful renderings the designers created, I am feeling so much more confident in the way that it looks. And I have so many plans for the future — especially that gorgeous pergola. My deck in particular has always puzzled me as far as layout went because it’s long and a bit oddly shaped with the built-in benches. I don’t think I ever would have envisioned placing a dining table where they did, and I’m so incredibly impressed with how the space flows. 

Our family has spent significantly more time outside this year than we did last year after we implemented some of the changes the designer recommended. We just hosted an outdoor movie night with friends this past weekend, and I am excited to have many more gatherings this summer and beyond. 

Buy: Yardzen Premium Design Package, $3,495