On a whim, I browsed through a magazine at my folks' house that promised on its front cover to give tips on how to make your backyard like an outdoor room.

I flipped the magazine's pages, fished around for the table of contents, and finally found the article. As near as I could tell, their approach was to take a $600,000 plot of land and spend $50,000 in landscaping, granite, a fountain, and a giant matte black stainless steel globe.