Design The Perfect Outdoor Space
By Cynthia Aiken
Whether it’s a place at the beach, a city loft with a roof top French Country garden, or a mountain top getaway overlooking a woodland garden beside a mountain brook… we need our own private outdoor sanctuaries. By planning and designing your outdoor rooms; you will be able to enjoy the fresh air and beauty of being outside. So let talk about how to design an outdoor room.
It’s that time of year when we move our lifestyles outside to enjoy our wonderful southern climate. But with the mild winters we experience, the use of outdoor rooms has become fairly commonplace year around. For example, porches have become an integral part of our homes. Many of them are covered in such a way that we can enjoy fireplaces, decks and terraces most of the year.
By creating our own private outdoor spaces, places we can unwind from the busy lifestyles so common today, and find a place to grab a moment of relaxation. One can easily grasp the romantic concept of an Italian country home soaking up the sun by incorporating a Loggia to the back of your home. It’s the perfect outdoor living room and space for outdoor dining. It’s also fun to plan an outdoor room, whether we put a fresh coat of paint on grandmother’s antique wicker or give a fresh new look to a treasure found at a local flea market; whatever creates a cozy unique space, a room of our own. Adding a touch of the French County Interior Design to your outdoor room can also really make a warming statement.
So many outdoor sanctuaries now have soothing water features so why not plan to create an outdoor room that really captures this natural form of relaxation. A water feature will draw you out into the yard. It just makes wonderful sense to have a place at home where we can go to enjoy our own private retreat and with all the durable fabrics that are now designed to withstand any kind of weather, we can be as comfortable outside as much as we can inside. Our outdoor gardens and living spaces have become just as essential as the spaces inside our homes. So we should always look for inventive ways of expressing our Outside Decorating Ideas in a functional but pleasant manner.
It is always interesting to visit the High Point furniture market in the spring to get a feel for what’s hot for the coming year. This year the influence was on outdoor living. We now have so many wonderful choices for outdoor furnishings that look great and continue the comfort we love so much. Weather resistant and UV stabilized fabrics made of 100% polypropylene make outdoor entertaining easier than ever. There are so many beautiful worry-free performance fabrics; our outdoor rooms can now be as beautiful and comfortable as our indoor rooms. This is welcoming news for us Southern Interior Designers.
Create outdoor spaces that beckon you to come and sit. Create more comfortable and inviting porches, patios, and yards. As a designer, I encourage my clients to always have places in the home that make you feel good, places you will use; because, if you do, you’ll love your home even more.. Extend indoor comforts outside to increase your home’s living and entertaining space. Adding outdoor rooms will increase the square footage of your home, and bring a much higher resale value. Finish a porch, deck, or patio like a living room, using fabrics and finishes that can withstand the elements. It means so much when you find a place where you can feel that sense of solitude, whether it’s a small table in the garden or a shady setting for summer lunches, or a special place to start a busy day with your morning coffee, or an area for hosting a large dinner party… Outside entertaining is not only special, it can be magical. You’ll feel like you’re being transported to another place by using simple outside decorating techniques.
But an outdoor room doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can be as simple as a pair of Adirondack chairs positioned under the canopy of a vine covered trellis, just a simple haven where one can enjoy the outdoors. It’s not necessary to travel to the beach or the mountains to find a sanctuary. For many of us it can be a room in our home or a secluded shade-covered edge of our garden. A porch also brings back the home-sweet-home feelings and memories of childhood.
I’m dedicated to designing rooms that function. If a room is friendly and comfortable, people will use it. Whenever you feel you need more living space, look just outside your door, you’ll find the perfect space for outdoor living by adding the magic of the outdoors to your home.
For more information and more outside decorating ideas; please visit my Interior Designer Catalog at http://www.cynthiaaikeninteriors.com . Together we can create something great.
Email me at caiken1@windstream.net if you would like to discuss a decorating idea or dilemma. This is another in my series of home INTERIOR DESIGN IDEAS from your Atlanta Interior Designer; I hope that you use them to help you create an outdoor room for your home.