Our homes have had a revolution in the past five years with the popularity of creating an ‘outdoor room’.  New homes and renovations are including large bi-fold and café doors to make our outdoors an extension of our living and entertaining at home. 

Our fast paced lives and a need for more harmony and relaxation are also big influences in this transformation of home design.   But with all these large expanses of glass and openings it comes with its extra problems

Wear and tear

Traffic flow will be increased with this area so look at your flooring and how this will be affected.  More grit from shoes will be brought in and is damaging to timber floors by scratching the polished surface and carpets will become more grimy and dirty while holding grains of dirt and sand. 

Having only a small outdoor mat is not going to stop it all (not everyone is going to stop and scape their shoes).  Choose a patterned runner or large rug at the edge of the entry point is a good option to hide these marks and pick up extra dirt.

Battling nature

Large expanses of open doors also means large areas for bugs and flies to make their way into your home in the summer months.  Look at retractable screens that slide away in a small cavity so you don’t have to constantly look at the screens when the doors are closed. 

Place small bowls of citronella oil and citronella candles away form the door opening to guide the bugs away from the entry.

Storage

Creating storage means you don’t have to rush into the house constantly when you are entertaining.  Building in your barbeque means extra storage. 

Store your matches and BBQ utensils under bench and make an area for all your outdoor entertaining such as extra drinking glasses, plates, cutlery and even your serviettes.   Building in bench seats is an opportunity for storing cushions when they are not in use.  Just make sure the bench is waterproof as with time the cushions will be affected by the weather.

The look

It is important to be aware of the colours of your decking, flowers and the colour and style of your outdoor furniture.  Look at your existing decoration and use this as a guide of how to ‘extend’.  It sounds like common sense but I have seen a full Balinese style courtyard compete for attention with a home interior with a French provincial theme. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t use these two styles but be aware of how you can make the transition not such a jolt.  With two differing styles bring it all together by balancing with colour.  If the couches are white based you can flow this to the outdoor area with white pebbles and cushions on the seating.  Find some colours in the paintings, such as red or orange, and use red flowers and terracotta pots or statues.

Lighting

In the evening we need the practicality of the lighting to see what we are eating or who we are talking to but accent lighting can change the look of your garden and outdoor area from its daytime feeling to something more dramatic. 

 

Highlighting features such as a small water bowl or just the shape of the wall brings out different features than just the plants and the colour of the area that dominate during the day.

 

 

Pictures supplied by Garden Lighting SA
www.gardenlightingsa.com.au

 

Planning

Employing a garden designer or horticulturist to do the plans and suggest the types of plants that will best suit your soil and sun direction will help you lessen the costly mistake of dead plants.  With our water restrictions going into almost certain Stage 3 this summer you need to know what plants will survive with the least amount of watering. The type of building materials will also have an effect on these decisions such as, will your paving create too much sun reflection or is it best to have tiles to retain the heat for later in the day.  Don’t just rely on the pictures in magazines to guide your selection and get as much advice as possible to create an area that will give you the peace and harmony you have been craving.

Shaynna Blaze-Vaughan
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