Creating Outdoor Rooms

Extend your living space by adding outdoor rooms to your backyard or courtyard. A well-placed and comfortable seating area can serve as a quiet place to refresh from a hard day or a gathering place to share a laugh and a glass of wine with a friend.  Here, an outdoor eating area doubles as an extension of the dining room and a cozy place to visit.  Potted trees and plants extend the garden into the room and tie the indoors and outdoors together.  The addition of lights creates and calm and romantic mood. 

Seven Ideas for Creating Your Outdoor Sanctuary:

1. Start with your furniture. It doesn’t have to be expensive or new, but remember the elements. If you want it to last choose pieces that will withstand your seasons or be prepared to move them into a protected area when the weather turns bad. Arrange your furniture into comfortable seating arrangements that make sense for with a nice blanket on chilly days. Or is your dog your best friend? Don’t forget a nice seat or bed for Fido. He’ll want to spend time out there with you. If you’re an entertainer, a set of table and chairs is a must. Even if you don’t cook outside ( that will be another post) you can still dine alfresco.
2. Speaking of enjoying your outdoor spaces, adding lights will extend the hours you can enjoy them. But the other benefit is that outdoor light can be beautiful and romantic. There is a huge variety of outdoor lights to choose from including solar lights that are easy to install and cost nothing to operate as long as you have sunlight during the day. These beautiful electric lights are weatherproof and dimmable. https://amzn.to/49JyWMg
3. Potted plants will bring the garden into your rooms. Trees that are cold-sensitive in your area, such as citrus or figs are happy in large pots and can be moved outdoors in the warm weather and inside or under a patio cover in the cold.
4. Furniture that doubles as storage are great for outdoor rooms. You can choose coffee tables or stools that have storage in them. Some beautiful benches have extra storage under the seats. Or take large baskets or pots and cover them with a hard surface for an end table. Voila, storage inside the basket.
5. If you do have a larger outdoor space, use room dividers to make more than one room. These can be anything from metal or wooden structures to vines or espaliered fruit trees.
6. Take advantage of nature. If you have a beautiful view or a beloved garden space, make it a focal point in your room design, Spending time in nature is pretty underrated in my view. Even a small herb garden or a climbing rose on the fence can be a happy place.
7. And speaking of climbing roses, don’t forget to bring fragrance into your room. Scented roses are great but there are lots of other fragrant plants that will delight. Jasmine, lavender, rosemary, mints, citrus blossoms and scented geraniums are just a few. And many scented plants are good repellents for mosquitos too.