There is no better way to extend your home’s footprint than by creating outdoor spaces. Small homes can take on an expended new meaning when patios and terraces are introduced into the landscaping design. Gardens become magical places when cozy, inviting outdoor rooms are planned. If you have a garden, don’t just look at it, live in it!
I call them outdoor rooms, as they blur the line between indoor design and outdoor living. Outdoor rooms need not be large in size, their impact comes from scale. Any carved out small patio, deck or patch of grass can do the trick. And it’s not just for suburban living—even city dwellers can do it, should they be fortunate enough to have private terrace. (Truth be told, whereas suburban homes overlook opportunities to live in their gardens, often city folk overlook adding Mother Nature in and around the patio furnishings!)
The key to designing any outdoor room is identifying the function, the amount of light it receives and the strategic pieces of furniture that will make the oasis complete. I’m all about usable entertaining spaces that offer an extension of your home for others to enjoy. (I’m not taking about a barbeque area in this blog, as they’re excused from being places you’d design for lingering.) Rosebrook Gardens is loaded with outdoor rooms.
I can choose to entertain guests under the pergola, have cocktails in the back living room, or even take a cat nap on a perfectly place hammock under the Hemlock trees. Truthfully, even two simple teak chairs can help a corner of the yard multitask into a morning retreat, sun bathing central, and cocktail area at sunset. If you build it they will come, as they say. The absolute key to your success is to never create these spaces with one person in mind—unless of course you hate people and choose to be single for the rest of your life. My exception? My hammock, where I love to zone out.
Up the ante with outdoor lighting and you’re good to go not only by day. These spaces transform themselves at night into delightful, welcoming, romantic retreats. Don’t forget about outdoor architectural detail lighting to highlight trees, home details, and walkways. This week, I added a new spotlight to the font of my home and I was beyond thrilled to see it come to life. My neighbors took notice and called it Mar’s light show. Rosebrook Gardens has one more great design detail that shows off her beauty, and now more than ever at night too. Did you see it? Click here to see the social media post and photo.
Well, my MARtians, the outdoor room craze is not going away anytime soon. Take to the yard and add the endless opportunities that await you. Your friends, family & neighbors will take notice for sure but most importantly Mother Nature, too, will be at your side. So get out!
