Right now, as the Northwest’s days and nights seem to get ever cooler, it’s hard not to mourn the loss of summer, especially in a year when there was so little of it.

But at the rural Silvana home of Jeremy Swearengin and Edy Zelinka, it’s a bit as if summer just got started.

That’s because the couple recently completed a backyard oasis ready for the ultimate in outdoor living, including a large outdoor kitchen with an extra-large barbecue and a retractable awning, a dining room for six and an outdoor living room complete with an area rug.

They also created — just to keep things cozy for fall — a sitting area that surrounds an outdoor fireplace.

Its teardrop shape, crafted with double-sided, textured stack stones, is a modern take on the round kivas found in American Indian ruins within the Four Corners region of the United States.

“We wanted the stones to radiate heat back from the fire,” said Swearengin, who is a landscaper by trade.

Though the built-in benches that curve around the fireplace are made of stone, they’re soft and comfortable thanks to 10 cushy seats upholstered with water- and sun-resistant fabrics.

“You can see how the water beads on it,” Swearengin said of the fabric used on the cushions in the rest of their living space, including many pieces of furniture purchased through Costco online.

Swearengin and Zelinka wanted their outdoor living space, crafted in three tiers in their backyard, to be an extension of their indoor life, including their dining room as well as their new kitchen, featured earlier this year in Home &Garden.

“I love the space,” said Zelinka, who helped lay and grout Dakota Mahogany granite tiles for the outdoor kitchen countertops, which echo the slab granite of the indoor kitchen.

“I love to barbecue and work out here,” Zelinka said. “It’s just perfect.”

Swearengin and Zelinka’s new space worked especially well for a party they hosted in celebration of its completion. The menu included baby back ribs cooked on their shiny new Weber grill.

More than 100 people attended.

“We love to entertain,” Zelinka said. “There were all these great little social areas out here. It was really nice.”

Swearengin, whose business is Hidden Springs Landscape and Design, said it was fun to do a large project at his own home. The design includes a 45-foot water fall that flows down their steep backyard slope to a 10,000-gallon koi pond.

“I enjoy taking people’s ideas and bringing them to fruition,” he said, adding that he and his wife get a bit obsessed about improving their own home. “I love it.”