Stop what you’re doing and step outside of your outdoor living space. Walk around and look at it from various angles. Better yet, take a photo of the area from different angles. Do this a couple times a day when the sun is at different heights in the sky and when the moon comes up and the sun goes down.
Now sit in different areas of the outdoor living space and look at the rest of the yard and your home and gauge the aesthetics from those angles. Take photos, too.
Look at the photos you’ve taken. Ponder them and ponder the view. Do you love it? Are you meh about it? Are there parts you love and parts you’re ambivalent about? Don’t you want to LOVE it? Of course you do. This is especially true because it’s summer and you want to be out of doors instead of in the house and to enhance that feeling, you need to have an outdoor living space that you can’t wait to spend time in.
How exactly do you get that? What can you do do amp up the aesthetic appeal and comfort of your existing outdoor living space? Do you need to construct an outdoor living space to surround your pool so you have a beautiful oasis in which to relax when you’re not swimming?
Remember to give some thought to ways in which you can extend the time spent in the outdoor living space even when summer starts to fade into autumn and even winter.
Your swimming pool is the focal point of the backyard, but when you truly think about it we will bet you spend more time around the pool than you do in the pool, don’t you? Because of this you need to make the outdoor living space is as comfortable and welcoming as you can.
Look for ways to turn your pool patio area into the outdoor “home away from home” during the summer. Hint: Doing this will also enhance your staycation time!
Tips For A Beautiful & Relaxing Outdoor Living Space
How can you move indoor living to the out of doors?
Shade it.
Enjoy the sun, but have a way to escape from it. It’s not healthy to sit in full sun all day long. What can you do to enjoy the sun, but escape from it when you want to? Shade it.
- Create shade when you build the outdoor living area.
- Take advantage of natural shade.
- Create shade by adding a pool house or gazebo
- Awnings, especially retractable ones, offer myriad shade/sun options
- Place umbrellas around the area that you can move with the sun
Bring indoor comfort outdoors. What do you love, and perhaps miss about indoor living, when you’re outdoors? Are there items in the house that you’d love to have outside?
- A television
- Radio
- Comfortable, overstuffed furniture
Bring them out! Invest in items that can stay outside all summer long. When you buy furniture for outside, make sure it can stand up to the weather. Comfy, overstuffed, able to be easily washed, quick to dry, and won’t fade when sat on with a wet bathing suit. Look for furniture that has easy to remove covers so you can toss them in the wash.
Don’t forget to look for weatherproof storage units that can do double duty as a side table or an end table in front of an outdoor couch.
Light up the night.
Don’t forget to sit in the outdoor space when the sun has gone down so you can decide what kind of lighting you want and where you want it.
Consider LED lights or hanging strings of solar powered lights. They will add not only ambiance, but will add to the safety of the outdoor space.
If you swim after the sun goes down, have your pool contractor install in-pool lighting to keep the pool as safe and well lit as possible.
Extend the outdoor time.
Summer will be gone before you know it — we know you don’t want to think about it, but it will happen! We know we simply can’t bear it when summer fades and we have to pack up and move indoors. You can extend the time you spend outside if you invest in a fire feature or fire pit.
Fireplaces add heat and beauty. Your fireplace can be pre-fabricated or constructed on site.
Fire pits are one of the most common fire features. If you want a structure that ranges from at least three feet wide to six feet or larger. These pre-fabricated items can be easily installed by a homeowner.
Firepits and fireplaces can burn wood, be powered by natural gas or propane. Wood firepits are more “natural” but require cleanup and planning to get the fire started.
There are many other types of fire features including bar and table fire pits or fire walls. A pool firewall illuminates the pool and the adjacent outdoor living space and can also have water fountains as part of the design.