Outdoor Furniture, Patio Furniture and more!

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.

Tags: backyard gazebo, backyard structures, chaise lounges, garden arbor, garden arbors with gates, gazebo, Gazebos, Outdoor Furniture, patio chairs, patio furniture, Pergolas, picnic tables, pool houses, swing beds, treated pine roll-up walkways, trellis

Certainly, the more you investigate the assortment of outdoor furniture that is available, the more you realize just how many options you have for decorating your outdoor (or indoor/ outdoor) living spaces.  When you get right down to it, you probably have just about as many as you do when you’re selecting indoor furniture.

Yesterday, in comparing the two types of furniture, I mentioned the huge variety of patio chairs, outdoor sofas, loveseats, settees, porch swings and gliders, garden benches, and outdoor rocking chairs, which can be used to create spectacular outdoor living rooms.  Of course, there are also millions of outdoor kitchens and bedrooms to be furnished as well; and, luckily, porch furniture, once again, stacks up favorably against its indoor counterparts.

Naturally, there are several pieces that can cross over from room to room, just as daybeds, pull-out sofas, and chaise lounges do in our homes.  In fact, the outdoor chaise lounge is a good example, as it can be used for sitting, reclining, or sleeping.  Undoubtedly, lounge chairs are as important to outdoor furniture collections as they are to living room suites; and they are just as comfortable, as they have adjustable backs, wide armrests, and seats that are raised in the middle, to keep knees elevated.

When it’s time to lie down and take a snooze, truly, hammocks rival the comfort of even the softest beds.  Among the most popular pieces of outdoor furniture, they come in all colors, and can be made of canvas, rope, or mesh; and many of them have attached pillows.  They can be used anywhere, because, if you don’t have a place to hang one, you can always get a hammock stand; and the same goes for hammock chairs.  Swingbeds are also great for sitting, swinging, or napping.

As in indoor rooms, end tables are integral to the décor of all outdoor rooms; and they’re available in choices that are nearly, well, endless.  You’ll find an array of accent tables, such as outdoor coffee tables, terrace tables, and conversation tables, in cedar, pine, oak, cherry, teak, and polywood, in all colors and styles.

As for the eating arrangements, there’s no denying that, in most homes, picnic tables have always ranked right up there with kitchen tables.  Furthermore, because they have undergone such impressive changes over the past several years, they feature more styles, sizes, colors, and shapes than ever.  Along with the traditional rectangular picnic tables with attached benches, you’ll find hexagonal, octagonal, trestle, and extra-wide picnic tables with backed benches.  If you want something a bit more contemporary, you can get an outdoor dining table or a bistro set.

Indeed, whether in an open area, or an enclosed porch, patio, or gazebo, you can create any motif imaginable, as today’s patio furniture comes in such a wide range of materials, styles, and colors.  Moreover, the countless colors, color combinations, and patterns available for outdoor furniture cushions, patio umbrellas, and outdoor throw pillows, give you even more artistic opportunities for your outdoor décor.

It’s no wonder that we’re so crazy about outdoor living!

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

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Tags: accent tables, bistro set, chaise lounges, garden benches, gazebo, gliders, hammock chairs, hammock stand, Hammocks, outdoor chaise lounge, outdoor coffee tables, outdoor decor, outdoor dining table, Outdoor Furniture, outdoor furniture collections, outdoor furniture cushions, outdoor rocking chairs, outdoor sofas, patio chairs, picnic tables, porch furniture, porch swings, swing beds

As I swept heaps of snow from my car this morning, I admit, it was difficult to think what kind of new years resolutions I should be putting in for my backyard, patio, and garden.  It seems like the days of crowding around picnic tables and lounging across Adirondack chairs to take in landscapes and gardens will never be upon us again.

But, isn’t that one of the wonderful things about gardening?  A new beginning stumbles to our feet every spring so we can try the flowers again that failed us last year, and even improve upon our vegetables that were so delicious last summer.  Gardening is a great reoccurring experiment; endlessly forgiving and always beckoning for more.

While many gardeners are vowing to pick their squash before they get too large, to keep up with weeding, or to stake their peonies and lilies to ensure they stay upright through rainstorms… my resolution is a bit more simplistic.  I want to spend more time outside, and to enjoy my time there.

It would seem that we spend all winter waiting for a day that doesn’t chill or shock us as we walk out our front door… but then we spend all summer inside our houses. Instead of spending my free time as the weather gets warmer on airplanes taking me far from home, I plan to stay in my own back yard.  Whether it’s the economy encouraging people to stay closer to home, or more environmentally conscious minds are realizing their ecological footprint grows with cross-country travel—the draw to your very own patio oasis is cost effective, family centered, sustainable, and… well… worthy of your New Years Resolution. Take more time for you and your family.

Instead of spending hours and hours (and dollars and dollars!) scheduling trips to spend time with my family, I want to have a place to casually gather without notice, without traveling, and without planning.  Though many are committing to weight loss, I’m committing to fire-fly blinking summer nights rich with the smell of bug spray and dinner on the grill.  The best table in the house will be my very own, and always open for picnic lunches and raucous dinners.  With a croquet or quoits game set up, some patio chairs, and maybe even a porch swing, I’ll be on vacation all season with plenty of activities and fun for my friends.  Let’s be honest: summer television is never worth it anyway, and the gentle breeze blowing through a gazebo or cabana is absolutely irreplaceable.  Who needs the traffic on the way to the shore, when I can just string my hammock between the posts on a pergola, and read a beach romance novel all afternoon?

a moment to treasure

Of course… I’ll also be spending plenty of days digging up vegetables, tending flowers, weeding with dedication, and creating the perfect scenery for my backyard oasis.  I’ll always mow the grass before it gets unruly and never forget to…

….I’ll never forget to have the garden hose ready when my puppy needs a bath on a sweltering day or a baby pool is looking dry, to keep the grill clean for perfect dinners “out,” keep my patio groups pulled close for get-togethers where no one has to worry about talking too loud, and always remember that my swing bed is waiting for me on the porch when I just need some time to relax.  If my flowers droop and weeds grow… my garden will always forgive me and wait until next year.  If I miss enjoying a beautiful season… that’s one thing I’ll never get back!

See you Outside!

Hazel

Tags: adirondack chairs, cabana, Croquet, gazebo, hammock, new years resolutions, outdoor living, patio chairs, patio groups, pergola, picnic tables, porch swing, Quoits, swing beds, tables