Creating Outdoor Rooms
TYPES OF OUTDOOR ROOMS
- Sleeping, Reclining, Reading Areas: On a beautiful day, haven’t you ever just felt like lying down to relax and feel the breeze and hear the birds and squirrels chatter? You can when you have an outdoor bed or sofa. Much like the appeal of sleeping inside a screened porch when the day or night weather feels so comfortable, you can create an outdoor space to fully relax by placing a weather-proof sleeping structure like a bed or Indian-style blanket in an appropriate spot outside. You may also want to hang a “mosquito-net” from a tree or other structure to keep away the pests. Cushions and other materials are now more available for outdoor use in many wonderful colors and patterns.
- Living Rooms for conversations: Although living rooms inside homes have been losing their appeal for “visiting” with friends and kitchens have now become the “visiting” area, a living room outdoors for relaxing and inviting conversation can be a wonderful addition to your landscaping. Gorgeous new designs for outdoor furniture have exploded on the scene and even beautiful outdoor rugs are available. So consider adding an outdoor living room and discover the enjoyment of tea time outdoors with your friends while your kids also have fun running around outdoors.
- Outdoor showers: Yes, outdoor showers are becoming popular – especially if you have a pool and don’t want to go dripping inside to get to the bathroom to shower. And you feel even more in communion with Nature while showering outdoors. I have seen wonderful examples of showers artfully created with natural stone that simulates showering under an outdoor waterfall. And other natural materials such as stone, wood or tin can be used to create privacy “walls”.
- Dens with fireplaces or firepits: Outdoor fireplaces, along with outdoor kitchens, has been the fastest growing element for bringing the indoors outside. Or if you don’t have the budget for an outdoor fireplace, there are many portable outdoor firepits available on the market. So there is no excuse now for not getting out and enjoying the comfort of a warm fire and toasting marshmallows for s’mores on a nice cool evening.
CREATING THE “WALLS”
Some ways to create the “walls” for outdoor rooms are:
- Actual walls or retaining walls created from stone, decorative concrete blocks, brick, wood, poured concrete, stucco, glass block.
- Any form of planting.
- Outdoor curtains or drapes.
- Placement of outdoor furniture.
