An outdoor room is so much more than just a patio, porch, or deck. It’s an addition to your lifestyle that improves the time you spend with friends and family. It’s an opportunity to add special events to your life and make memories with the people you love.
If you’re building an outdoor room, take time to consider how the design of the space will impact your life. Here are some tips from landscape construction experts who have decades of experience building outdoor rooms.
Plan for Special Events
When you have a fully functioning outdoor room, you can plan in advance to host special events that are unlike anything your loved ones have seen before. View your outdoor room the same way an event planner would, creating magical experiences for event attendees.
Have you considered hosting events like these for your friends and family?
- Dinner parties and after-dinner soirees
- Birthday parties
- Graduation parties
- Anniversary celebrations
- Retirement celebrations
- Weddings, receptions, or wedding dinners
- Holiday parties at Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and more
- Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve blowouts
- Family barbeques and reunions
Advance planning is the key to pulling off successful events. This planning starts from the moment you begin to design the outdoor room itself. Consider adding built-in features that maximize event enjoyment, including:
Cooking
Add outdoor kitchen features like a built-in grill, smoker, pizza oven, and/or rotisserie. Leave plenty of room for countertops, a sink, and a refrigerator. Don’t forget cabinets, shelves, and stainless steel tools that make it a pleasure to cook outdoors.
Lighting
Include built-in low-voltage lighting options at various angles and locations. You’ll need bright task lighting for cooking zones and walking areas, and softer glowing lights in seating areas where people gather to talk. If electrical wiring is a concern, consider new options in solar lighting, which can be quite beautiful and earth-friendly.
Seating
Give extra care to creating your seating areas and adding proper landscaping. Done right, seating areas will charm your guests and encourage them to linger and chat, truly getting the most out of the outdoor room experience. Don’t forget about including a dining table, and offering seating options for those with limited mobility or other special needs.
Decor
Design your outdoor room just like you would any room inside your home. Include weather-resistant decor, throw pillows, blankets, candles, artwork, rugs, and more. This includes adding complementary landscape design, with plants that enhance the look and feel of the environment.
Use Safety Precautions
It’s extremely important to consider safety when designing an outdoor room. After all, this room will likely incorporate a mix of activities like gas cooking, open fire, outdoor sports and games, pets, children, and perhaps even a pool or spa.
Create clear zones for each of these activities and ensure each guest who visits your home understands the rules. List out what’s allowed and not allowed in each area so nobody inadvertently creates a hazard.
For example, if you have smokers in your family, create a pleasant landscaped area for them at the back of the property away from gas cooking, children, and the dining area. This allows them to feel welcome but limits potential risks.
Also, work with a professional landscape design-build company for recommendations about pet and child-safe plants and landscaping materials. Pets and kids are often down on their knees scrambling through the room, and you want to keep them 100% safe.
Take a Guest’s Point of View
The most successful events are designed with the guests’ needs in mind. Before each event, consider what your guests will be seeing, thinking, smelling, doing, and feeling. What do you want them to experience?
Here’s something to keep in mind: People love taking photos and sharing them on social media. Make your outdoor room photogenic with beautiful decor that includes pops of color, architectural interest, and naturally eye-catching landscape design.
When you take care of all the details, your outdoor room is always a true joy to visit. Here are some ideas both you and your guests will appreciate:
- Offer a basket with bottles of bug spray and sunscreen
- Near seating areas, a landscape with plants that repel mosquitos, ticks, and other bugs
- Provide dishes of water for visiting dogs and other pets
- Include a play area with child-safe toys
- If children will be present, lock up dangerous objects, like lighters, fluids, and knives
- For colder months, include an outdoor heater
- For warm months, include fans and sprayers
- Remember to incorporate music with strategically-placed speakers
Planning an Outdoor Room
Are you ready to add an outdoor room that will enhance your lifestyle? Turn to Architectural Landscape Design, Inc., a residential design-build company serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
We design gorgeous outdoor rooms that increase the square footage of your home, improve your enjoyment of your outdoor space, and help you make a lifetime of memories with your loved ones. Contact us today to talk about outdoor room design.