Everyone living in Spokane knows it's a beautiful region for enjoying the outdoors whether it's hiking through pine forests or relaxing on a beautifully landscaped deck in the morning sun with a fresh brewed cup of coffee. With such an unusually mild climate for northern latitudes, homes with outdoor living spaces lure you into the open air every day. At the end of a long work week, it's a treat to sip wine in your own spa, or hang out around the fire pit roasting marshmallows with the kids.

To the south and also on the state border is Pullman, a smaller college community that shares all the beauty of Spokane with a fraction of the population. Those living here are tech savvy and this means greater interest in modern landscape design and sustainable green materials. To achieve these qualities in your design, look for a landscape architect with one foot in the tech scene and the other in a trout stream.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is perched on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene and a National Forest of the same name that makes this a center for outdoor wilderness sports. Local folks will enjoy high decks to enhance the view of the surrounding forests and lakes. Add an outdoor fireplace to make your homesite as appealing in cooler weather at is in the depths of summer. Using natural materials such as stone and local cedar, landscaping is decidedly wild here by using a raft of native shrubs and perennials for well adapted, low maintenance beauty.

Homes in small communities like Lewiston tend to be larger rural residences tied to estates and ranches. Creating an up to date outdoor living area allows for a fireplace or fire pit to keep everyone warm on nippy evenings as they watch the sun set and town lighting come up to twinkle in the dark. This is a perfect area for naturalistic landscaping, taking advantage of an abundant boulder supply as well as large prairie grasses and arid zone sagebrush. Here as with all of this inland Washington - Idaho boundary area, nature is paramount and you deserve to take in the incomparable views from well designed comfortable spaces in your own backyard.