Transform a Pation into an Outdoor Living Room

Patios these days are becoming so much more than just a place to barbeque on the weekend... They're becoming more like outdoor living rooms. Now is the perfect time to convert your tired old concrete slab patio into a place where you can truly appreciate outdoor living at its finest.

Start by putting some effort into decorating and furnishing your patio using the latest décor and furniture. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter patio furniture. Patio furniture really has morphed to fit the needs of the consumer.

Now days, you'll find plenty of styles beyond the basic table and chairs. Available in many stores are bars and bar stools, low chairs with cushions that are designed to be placed around an outdoor coffee table. Benches, luxurious loungers, and pillows made of special fabric that is made specifically to hold up to outdoor weather are popular additions to many patios.

Add to the atmosphere of your patio by applying some of the same decorating ideas you'd use inside your home. For example, you can purchase outdoor curtains made from weather friendly materials to provide privacy and create the perfect mood. Make your new outdoor living room even cozier by using a nice outdoor rug that'll allow you to kick off your shoes and relax.

Lighting makes a great impact on the overall feel of your patio. Companies are now making outdoor lamps that can be plugged in to an outdoor outlet making guests wonder if they are in your living room or on your patio. It's hard to beat the ambiance of candle light, but if you don't want to mess with the hassle of candles blowing or burning out, then these outdoor lamps might be perfect for you.

Designs for Outdoor Living Rooms

1) Be realistic.

There are many possible options: pool areas, Zen gardens, outdoor lounge areas, playground areas, outdoor hot tubs, etc. It depends not only on your space and investment, also on the needs of inhabitants of your home. For instance, if you have a dog will be difficult to maintain a Zen garden. If there are small kids, you probably will think in them providing safety areas to play

2) Choose proximity.

Locate your outdoor living room area in direct connection with your living room. In that way, it will be an extension of it, you will improve the views from indoors, and it will have an easier flow of traffic between spaces. The same if you are installing a barbecue or a picnic area, it should be close to the kitchen. Pool areas should have access to a bathroom without crossing the entire house.

3) Define the dimensions.

Being in an outdoor living room doesn't mean it have to take the entire space of your backyard or terrace. As in any other space, define "walls" and "floors", and even "ceilings". The floor should be easy to clean and low maintenance, a good choice is colored concrete or stone tiles. A teak deck outstands for its elegance, durability and low maintenance.

For the "walls", consider lower vertical elements that may be more attractive/functional, as raised beds, container gardens, or hedges. If you don't want to wait for hedges to get tall enough to afford privacy, install lattice screens, instead. To satisfy your requirement for plants and provide further privacy, train vine plants to grow up the lattice.

The "ceiling" is very important to provide shade and shelter from rain. A vine-covered arbor may be more inspiring to gaze up at than a lawn umbrella, but the latter will keep you, and the books you may be reading, dry. If you'd like something more solid than an umbrella, consider installing a pergola and covering it with fiberglass.

Modern Outdoor Rooms

Have you ever seen pictures of outdoor living rooms in magazines? They have utilized outdoor space for additional recreation, eating, and living opportunities and added a beautiful amenity to the garden. The move outside can be used to its fullest in mild to moderate climates, but taken advantage of several seasons during the year everywhere else.  Paving materials should complement the house and existing landscaping styles. Bluestone or travertine pavers are an attractive choice for outdoor living spaces, as are concrete pavers.

An outdoor fireplace or fire pit offers function and a place around which family and friends can gather as the weather turns cooler. Fireplaces can be stand alone or be built in to the kitchen island. Fire pits are often a focal point within the living space. These can be wood-burning or run on gas. There are even some that incorporate a water feature into the fire pit!

Do you want your outdoor living room to be open-air or covered? That will depend on your region and climate, but options for either are nearly limitless. Pergolas offer a more open roof. Solid roof coverings can also be created.  Depending on the layout and size of your yard, an outdoor living room may contain water features such as fountains or ponds. Think about creating shade. If it is hot and uncomfortable, there is less likeliness that you will use the space.  Outdoor living spaces can can utilize kitchen islands, outdoor gas grills, and even such things as outdoor rugs. Weather resistant outdoor furniture should be used, but there are many comfortable choices available.

Why be satisfied with that cracked patio when you can create a truly unique and enjoyable outdoor living space in the same area?

Creating Your Outdoor Living Room

Once you have decided on where to site your new outdoor living room, and those with those tiny yards may not have a choice, you can work on how to create the "walls", "floor", and even a "ceiling". Your project has now become landscape design! You may need the advice of a garden designer at this point, or some great books on the subject to understand the materials that are used in building landscapes and how to use them to create enclosure, privacy and beauty.

Once you have supplied the "floor;" normally a wooden deck or a stone, brick or even concrete patio or terrace, and some "walls;" typically a formal hedge, loose hedgerow, wall, or fence, and maybe a "ceiling"; a sloping roof or retractable awning or parasol attached to the house, you can go crazy furnishing your new outdoor living room. Consider some sort of heating element such as a wood burning or gas fireplace, fire pit, chimney, or portable patio heater to enable to use your new "room" all year round.

Furnishings like benches and tabletops can be made out of say, cast concrete for a real permanent feel, or obtained from a myriad of sources. Manufacturers are offering many new choices for furniture and lighting designed specifically for the outdoors as well as much better selections than ever for tough but nice fabrics for outdoor furniture, cushions, pillows, rugs and shades. Almost anything you can dream up as a way of making your outdoor living room more comfortable is now available for purchase online and off.

Outdoor Licing Rooms Explained

Considering a garden as an outdoor room is nothing new to garden designers. The concept is just now making its way into the public consciousness. But just what are outdoor living rooms? Are they places where you try to recreate your indoor living room outdoors? No, not exactly. Are they places like your deck, patio or terrace where you just plop down a set of furniture and hope that you'll feel like spending time out there? No, that won't do either. An outdoor living room is a space outside of your house, built with materials suitable to the outdoors, where you will actually want to spend time! It's also a state of mind, the idea of living life outdoors.

Now for your frame of mind: stop separating the outside of your house from the inside of your house, try to think of your property as all one place. Look at your outdoor space, look at your yard and take inventory of what you have naturally in that space. What has mother nature already provided for you? Hopefully you have some kind of natural elements that can be the focal point of your new outdoor living room such as a large tree, a hedgerow, a nice slope, or a beautiful view. In urban locations, your yard could be a barren rectangle, with nothing in it but some dirt and weeds, but there may be other qualities you could start with, such as a lovely angle of morning sun, maybe a nice brick wall on one side creating a microclimate, or even an interesting urban view of some kind.

Spend some time out there and identify just what are feels the best to you. Bring a chair outside and just sit in it in different spots until you get a feeling of being in the right spot. Then you must ask yourself, can this spot be turned into an outdoor living room? How will you connect it to visually to your house? Are there interior elements of your home that you can repeat outside? How will you connect your new outdoor living room physically to your house? How will get there from inside your house? There must be an easy way to go from inside to outside and back inside.  Smooth transition between inside and out is how you start feeling like your outdoor living room is really just another room of your house; an extension of your home.

Getting the Right Design for Your Home

The right design is among the prime ingredients to achieving home improvement project success. A crucial product of the planning stage, failing to realize its importance would surely bring great frustrations and a waste of resources by the time the project takes shape.

Inject Your Personality into the Design

No matter the yearly trends when it comes to remodeling project designs, one thing has strongly influenced the trends throughout the recent decades and this is tending towards personalization of space. More and more homeowners are finding comfort in going home to a place that they can truly call theirs. The ambiance, the mood and the design in general can tell so much about the personality of the homeowner.

Complement

The right design makes your remodeling project complement the overall look and boost the appeal of your home. Though every room should have an interesting personality on its own that emanates with a sense of creativity and its true purpose, the homeowner still should be able to maintain that thread of harmony to make the home improvement finish feel like a part of the home.

Match Lifestyle

The right design will result to a home remodeling project finish that is ideal for the homeowner as well as the rest of the household. Childproofing measures should be implemented if there are small children in the house. Make the rooms and your entire home handicap-friendly for easy navigation if one of the family members has a disability. Finish the basement into a recreational area or home theatre for your young teens to enjoy with you and their group of friends.

Want to Add a Wine Cellar to Your Home?

If you're running out of space to store your wine, you may have considered building a wine cellar in your home. However, wine cellar design involves many steps and you'll have to work closely with your contractor and builder to find a solution that works best for your space. Here are a few things you'll want to think about.

The wine cellar should have the right temperature and environment to house the wines that are part of your collection. This means that the cellar will be considerably colder than the rest of your home, and should be built in a basement area. You will have to figure out your wine cellar design based on the amount of space you have to work with, so do your best to plan accordingly even before you meet with your contractor. Take a look at the wine racks that will fit into your space, you can do research online for more ideas and then draw up your plans accordingly.

Your wine cellar design will also need to include seating if you plan on having guests use the cellar for a wine tasting. The right flooring, as well as door plans should also be considered since want to make the space as inviting as possible. You will also have to include certain electrical features if people will be in the cellar for more than a few minutes at a time, so your electrician and plumber will have to come out and give you an estimate based on the size of the property and complexity of the job. You may also want to talk to your contractor about cooling units that you can purchase to keep your wine at the right temperature.