Outdoor spaces grow with every season, as homeowners create alfresco dining spaces with picnic tables and outdoor napping spots with swing beds.  However, the greatest opportunities can sometimes serve the greatest challenges.  I love the limitless prospects of decorating without walls or ceilings, but creating distinct spaces can be difficult without these go-to dividers.

Many people want a space for dinner parties as well as space for casual socializing.  Using creative barriers can help define spaces and communicate an open, yet structured outdoor space design.

Pathways: Often, space can be the best friend to the outdoor decorator.  If you’re lucky enough to take advantage of an expansive backyard, don’t feel pressured to pile your outdoor rooms on top of each other.  Housing your living space in a gazebo and your dining area under your porch (near the kitchen!) will clearly delineate your outdoor rooms.

To propel guests toward different outdoor rooms, use inviting pathways.  Paver stones and brick walkways work well, but treated pine roll-up walkways are an economical and portable option. Laying out pathways and walkways clearly tells guests where to explore!

Structures:  Using backyard structures like gazebos, pergolas and pool houses is another easy way to clearly separate outdoor spaces.  If you’re back deck is lined with patio chairs and chaise lounges, make your backyard gazebo a destination spot for dining.  Using structures not only adds dynamic architectural elements to your landscape, it creates more covered areas for relaxing and entertaining.

Flora: Using vertical gardening techniques can also create private spaces and living walls between outdoor rooms.  Growing wisteria or trumpet vines up a trellis or garden arbor will develop colorful, living and growing walls that will make guests feel at home in a secret garden.  Using garden arbors with gates and softening the latticed edges with growing morning glories will let beautiful color spill over into every available outdoor space.

Separating living, dining and lounging spaces within your outdoor rooms will make your backyard areas seem larger and more encompassing.  Group your outdoor furniture and patio furniture into outdoor rooms and make entertaining easy by cuing your guests around your outdoor living spaces.

Have Fun!

Hazel.

Highlight the beauty of your wildflowers or spacious grassy knolls with a backyard gazebo that can redefine the space you call home. When considering the design of an outdoor area, less is often much more. We’ve all seen the one-too many look of holiday decorations or fake deer, and the point is to not replicate this image ever again. Thought it may be hard to believe, the wrong gazebo for the shape and scale of your backyard space is easy to mess up if you ignore the helpful hints of scale, weather protection, and interiors.

Less Gazebo is More Grace: Since size is not everything, focus on a small retreat that can hold a small get-together should you want to take your cocktail hour outdoors. The backyard structure should be built to last. With a cedar gazebo or pine gazebo that comes in many different shapes – octagonal, hexagonal, circular, rectangular, etc. – you can create the perfect getaway area for just you and your book too.

A Deeper Sense of Screening: If living in an area of sharp weather patterns changes, screens are a must. You’ll achieve the most use out of a gazebo that is prepared to keep out biting mosquitoes and rainfall alike, not to mention its resistance to strong winds and roaming birds or twigs. That said, keep screens intact and floorboards healthy with a gazebo that contains both of the above instead of wasting your energy on a wind or rainfall that hardly seems worth the trouble.

Keep the Austere Interiors:  The last step to making your backyard structure shine is the comfortable and functional interior design that belongs inside. Rather than trying to duplicate similar themes as your interiors, set it apart by using weather-resistant materials such as high quality teak furniture sets or pine and cedar shelving to match the façade.

Without trying to recreate your living room in the middle of your backyard, think of the cozy gazebo as a place for relaxation and contemplation that has the potential to completely redesign the way you and your guests interact with the surrounding design space.

Gardeners nationwide are truly living in their gardens.  Gardening is not just your grandmother’s pastime anymore; it’s one of the most popular hobbies sweeping the interests of men and women of all ages.  Whether people are trying their hand at backyard organic vegetables or creating beautiful bouquet gardens, the art of gardening is definitely on the rise.

But, gardening is no longer just a chore or a place to work.  Gardens have become chic entertaining venues, dining spaces and living areas.

Garden designer Jenny Peterson, of J Peterson Garden Design, has seen this trend grow with every season.  “My clients are now seeing their gardens as gathering areas for their families and friends, so we have whole areas dedicated to seating and outdoor furniture,” she said.  Peterson has worked on designing gardens to hold everything from meditation areas to patio furniture collections in recent years.

“The things you would normally do inside, they are now doing outside, and want a good space to do it,” Peterson said.  And many gardeners are asking themselves if there’s any better space than a garden.

“Gardens are both peaceful and celebratory,” said Cassie Phillips, an avid gardener who enjoys cultivating her garden room along with her plants and flowers.  “Nothing puts me more at ease than being surrounded by nature and nothing livens up a party like the growing joy of a blooming lily.”

The versatility of the garden, paired with the eagerness gardeners take to showing off their handiwork, creates a flawless platform for living spaces.  Whether lazily flipping through a favorite novel on a porch swing, or hosting a garden soiree with champagne and teak patio furniture, a well planted garden can do nothing but enhance your experience.

Recently, more and more people are looking for outdoor furniture for their garden, instead of just their porches and gazebos.  People are moving their living spaces to be an integral part of their garden in increasingly interesting ways each season.  It’s more than just arranging patio furniture, using arbors and pergolas helps define spaces while letting flowering vines grow vertically to create living walls and spacers.

What’s your favorite way to bring living spaces out into the garden?

Have you ever been to a backyard soiree – whether it’s a grad party, neighborhood barbeque or a simply garden tour – only to realize there’s no place to sit? Although a decorated gazebo is a great way to offer semi-enclosed seating, it demands a bit of creativity to design whereas a garden bench is the easiest way to offer guests, and yourself once they’ve gone home, the perfect perch to relax.

Including a patio bench on your lawn that accompanies your garden or a beautiful little bird bath, makes your coddled outdoor space a more livable one. Your family and guests alike feel more welcome knowing they can sit down comfortably within the arms of a wooden or metal seating unit. Getting to survey the grass, much,  and garden is much more appealing when you’re not forced to remain standing or soil your clothes.

Speaking generally here, garden benches are made of durable materials that can withstand harsh climates and daily changes in precipitation. They’re made knowing of these fluctuations, and have been treated accordingly. That said, if you have already have wooden patio furniture, one option is matching their stain to your Red Cedar bench, Pine bench, or Cypress bench.

Another great idea is to add a vibrant color or a design to the bench by painting it a deep shade of purple or marigold. By changing it from the wood’s natural state, you spark creativity in both your garden scene and into the conversations of those who enjoy it. Take it even one step further and plant your annuals accordingly by drawing in the shade you’ve chosen for your garden bench with the flowers and bushes situated nearby.

Aside from its ability to enlighten your backyard space and those who enjoy its presence, you’ve got to adore it too. After all, it is a bench to others, but might end up being your favorite place to read, enjoy your morning coffee, and the solace you’ll take mid-day to escape from the hustle of your daily routine.

Instead of throwing together a room in our homes with random items, we typically spend days considering the options. From there, we analyze, debate, ask opinions, and finally, come up with what we think best represents us. The same amount of thought should go into designing the interior of our outdoor gazebo. Often times with outdoor spaces however, it’s hard to know where to start.

In most cases, there are a few ideas to try on for size in order to best direct your attention. The first begins with the type of space you’d like to create based on the size of your backyard gazebo.

To get the feel of an austere, rustic style of a gazebo, you may want to outfit it in light, natural wood tones that appear untreated. An example of this might be opting for whole log White Pine or White Cedar outdoor furniture collections. Typically, you’ll find these styles in matching patio chairs, garden benches, and porch  swings that can be purchased individually, based on the size of your gazebo.

If you value the old-fashioned feel of a log cabin with a slightly polished finish, the Red Cedar Adirondack chair or Cypress Adirondack chairs and garden benches offer a traditional approach. Their vertical, slatted backrests come in a variety of finishes from light and natural to shades as dark as night. A quintessential choice for gazebo and patio arrangements, Red Cedar and Cypress Adirondack designs are as recognizable to the world of outdoor seating as Abe Lincoln is to American history.

For a less rustic or traditional spin on wood furnishings, set your sights on a modern set of Teak wood chairs or an Outdoor Dining Set. Each of these lend themselves to a more luxurious feel while still retaining the forest vernacular. Since Teak is known for being hearty and self-reliant, complete your modern gazebo with a deep seating collection and coordinating cushions. Maybe even finish it with set of outdoor lamps to perfect the ambiance. Besides using Teak, the other way to create a modern outdoor gazebo is by creating a dining room. The use of an outdoor dining set or cedar picnic table in various shapes and sizes is another way to make your normal meal a beautiful, outdoor experience.

Gazebos should be designed the way you feel most comfortable enjoying the great outdoors. With that, live vicariously through the rustic or traditional designs inspired by the past, or bring the present into your outdoor space with modern comforts and dining.

Whether you’re a hopeless romantic or a realist, choosing the right backyard gazebo to fit your
lifestyle is a key to unlocking the magic of an outdoor space. Before diving into the hunt -
deciding on which roof, size, material, location, and shape – there are a few guiding
characteristics that you should know about the various backyard structures on the market.

Recognized as a classic shape for roofed outdoor spaces far and wide, the Octagon gazebo is
tradtional and romantic. Seen in residential gardens, community spaces and public parks all
around the world, they can often be accessed at more than just one of its eight angles.

Creating a completely different perspective is the Rectangular gazebo. Without as many turns as
the many-sided gazebos, the solid quadrilateral architecture of a rectangle offers a standard space
design ideal for those who want to recreate an indoor space outdoors. In addition to the wall area
simulating a large picture window, the rectangular shape is recommendable for those who
entertain more often since it fits a large dining room table or lengthy seating arrangements with
ease.

The Belle Roof gazebo – also known as a Hexagon Gazebo – demonstrates a similar, yet distinct
appearance when compared with the other outdoor spaces. Similar in plentiful sides to the
Octagon and Dodecagon gazebos but without the typical roof style, the Belle Roof of this sixsided structure sets it apart with a more fluid descent that resembles a large bell. Often described as unique and eye-catching, this option is ideal for those interested in creating a more luxurious or upscale effect.

No need to feel overwhelmed with structural decision-making once you’re informed of these
three popular shapes of gazebos. Consider the space you have as offering a relaxing room away
from home with the decorating scheme you’re shooting for. After that, let the Octagon, the
Rectangle, and the Belle Roof gazebos take the reins and show you that creating your perfect
outdoor area is as easy as counting to four, six, and eight.

Looking out on your backyard, you’ve decided to take the plunge into fabulous outdoor living with the addition of a gazebo.  Fantastic. But, the dreaming is the easy part.  Planning for size, style, material, and customizations can require a lot of thought.

Determining the approximate size of your gazebo is a great first step.  Even if you haven’t fully decided on an octagon gazebo or a rectangle gazebo, you can still get an idea of what kind of parameters you’re working with.

Most people determine the best gazebo size for them in a three-step process.

How Much Space Do You Have?: If you have acres and acres of land, this doesn’t affect you as much.  But, for those with smaller areas, it’s important to measure your space.  I’ve seen Belle Roof gazebos fit into tiny DC courtyards, so never think you simply don’t have enough room! Knowing your square footage and perimeters is the best first step to choosing the right size gazebo.

How Much Space Are You Comfortable Filling?: If you have the majority of your backyard dedicated to a gorgeous flower and vegetable garden, installing a gazebo may mean rearranging some plots.  Be realistic about how much space you need for outdoor living and how much space you need for other outdoor activities.  But, if you’re someone who cringes at the site of a lawnmower, replacing much of your landscape with a maintenance-free gazebo might be the perfect solution!

How Much Can You Afford:  This is the true reality-check! If you have 10 acres that you hate to maintain and want a 50 ft gazebo, budgeting may be an important step to take.  On the flip side, don’t skimp on size just to save a few bucks.  Having a large enough space to accommodate outdoor entertaining and family get-togethers will be well worth it in the end.  Many manufacturers offer layaway plans and extended payment options, so you can get what you really need.

Planning for the size of your gazebo will help you make the rest of your design decisions with confidence.  There’s no need to be overwhelmed with the addition of a fabulous outdoor living space.  You can’t fit a 20 ft gazebo on a 10 ft patio, so take your time and choose a size that works for your space, your needs, and your budget!

Have Fun!

Hazel.

These days, when you’re shopping, you’ll notice that there are tons more choices, for pretty much everything, than there used to be.  Sometimes, this is good; but other times, it’s just overkill.

For instance, the spectacular improvements in outdoor furniture that have occurred over the past several years, are wonderful, and long overdue.  No matter what you’re looking for – porch swings, patio chairs, or picnic tables – in addition to the classic wood types, you’ll also find polywood, vinyl, and aluminum pieces that are nearly indestructible, and available in dozens of colors.  So, it’s great to have a huge selection of patio furniture.

On the other hand, the constant expansions of some product lines can reach ridiculous proportions.  One example, which is truly monstrous, is in the world of Halloween decorations.  It wasn’t that long ago that most people would simply have a few cardboard witches, skeletons, cats, and jack-o-lanterns in their front windows.  Moreover, among the store-bought items were many things that were made by the kids who lived in the homes, including those tissue-and-pipe cleaner ghosts (of course, that was when it was strictly a kids’ day); and nothing went up until deep into October.

Well, things are different now – and how!  First of all, many people treat Halloween like a major holiday, and begin decorating for it two months early, as elaborately as they do for Christmas.  There are also enormous Halloween “superstores,” filled with costumes, outdoor lights, full-sized mummies, zombies, skeletons, and vampires that actually rise from their coffins.  Then, there are those ghastly, gigantic inflatable decorations, which feature ghosts popping out of pumpkins, skeletons riding motorcycles, and witches on broomsticks.  Sheesh!

Okay, sure, it’s fine to have more Halloween decorations to pick from; but the true, uh, spirit, of the day calls for more of the homemade touch.  After all, kids still love to make Halloween decorations; and, in fact, because they have help from their computers, they can produce things that look as good as any that you can buy.  Of course, it’s even more fun when you go to a craft store and get them some supplies, or even dig up things around the house, that they can use to create their decorations by hand.

Don’t worry, though; there are many larger things that adults can tackle, like, say, making corpses, monsters, scarecrows, and giant spiders.  Heck, with all of the phony blood, stick-on scars, and severed body parts that are available at those Halloween stores, it’ll be a cinch.  You can sit them in your porch glider, pose them in a lounge chair, stretch them out in a hammock, or even hang them from the roof of a gazebo or garden shed.  You can also make fake spider webs for your handmade arachnids, and wrap them around arbors, pergolas, and trellises.

Naturally, the kids can help with these projects, too.  It’ll be a great way to spend more quality time together as a family, teach them the lost art of Old World craftspersonship, and let them feel the pride of creating things, such as authentic-looking monsters and spiders.  At the same time, they’ll be learning how to use porch furniture to its fullest potential, as well as the proper techniques for applying fake blood.  You know – all of those good, old-fashioned family values.

That is, if you’re the Addams family.

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

We’re quickly approaching the darkest time of the season.  After all, the Winter Solstice, or the darkest day of the year, is only two months away. Coming home to a dark landscape or waking up to a gloomy porch can be disheartening.  But, adding outdoor lamps can brighten up the area outside your home.

The options for outdoor lighting don’t need to be concentrated in fancy outdoor chandeliers and porch lamps.  Using post cap lights and other landscape lighting will laminate walkways, as well as your senses.  Outdoor lighting can be inserted into the ground along a walk way, installed along a garden bridge, or along the railings of your porch, gazebo, or pergola.  Outdoor lighting that attaches to the side of the house is also available. Not requiring posts or walkways, it allows anyone to illuminate the outside of their home.

A lot of outdoor lighting is also solar-powered.  Doing your part for the environment and your wallet, you can add cheerful lighting without using any electricity.  Many of these options also turn on automatically once it gets dark, so you won’t need to worry about setting it.

Not only does outdoor lighting make your mornings and evenings a little less dreary, it also adds valuable curb appeal.  Especially if you’re planning to open your front door to trick or treaters, having outdoor lighting to help guide them will keep little ones safer and the whole evening more fun!

Autumn is the perfect time to consider outdoor lighting for your home.  Whether it is for your own views, the joys of passersby, or the ghosts and goblins trotting up your walkway, outdoor lighting is an affordable way to add cheerful curb appeal to your home and garden.

Have Fun!

Hazel

For much of the country, the outdoor living season is coming to an end.  But, for the millions of people enjoying warm weather all year long, it is prime time to get started on a fantastic outdoor living area.  Plus, for those that are already hankering for the dawn of spring… now is the time to begin planning large scale outdoor structure projects.  Saving your logistics and design considerations for spring will mean that projects may not be completed until the season is already well underway.

When looking to create a vacation at home, great inspiration can be drawn from hotels, resorts, and destination spots.  After all, they’re the experts in crafting spaces that exude the luxury of a summer holiday.  Whether or not you live in the tropics, you can design an outdoor space fit for relaxation retreats.

Recently, a Bermuda resort created a combined pool structure using a gazebo and two pergolas. The 14x 18 treated pine rectangular double roof gazebo was simplified by removing the floor and railings while larger custom posts were added to create drama.  Two attached treated pine pergolas expand the space while adding a dynamic architectural element to the gazebo. The perfect blend of shade and style, a similar structure would do very well poolside in a residential home as well.  The resort created a small grilling and cooking area, but it could easily be expanded to a full outdoor kitchen.

The resort decked out their structure with an outdoor dining set, two chaise lounges, and some extra patio chairs.  However, adding a swingbed, porch swing, and a deep seating collection would add another level of relaxation for entertaining.

If you’re interested in creating an at-home oasis, don’t be afraid to take tips from the professionals.  Plus, start planning, designing, and thinking now when many outdoor furniture retailers are running discounts and sales so you can start the first warm day of spring in your retreat!

Have Fun!

Hazel