A beautiful, well-designed outdoor living space is a relaxing place to entertain friends, enjoy a summer night by the fire, or sip your coffee in the fresh morning air.
Perhaps you’ve been dreaming of your perfect outdoor living space design for years. Or maybe you’re just getting started. Either way, these ideas are sure to spark your creativity as you begin the process of discovering your own personal oasis.
Bring the Inside Outdoors
Are you the first person to run outside when the weather is nice? You’ll be able to bask in the outdoors all you want (and convince others to join you) when you create a space that includes all the comforts of your home’s interior. A well-planned outdoor living space design can double as a kitchen, dining room, and living room.
Fireplaces
You might decide to add a cozy fireplace. There are nearly endless outdoor fireplace options for every style, including both wood-burning and gas-burning varieties.
Outdoor Kitchens
Outdoor kitchen options range from a small grilling area to a fully designed, fully functional second kitchen for your home. A piece of advice: arrange your space with a seating area near the kitchen so you can socialize while you cook.
Furniture
Outdoor furniture can be so much more than just plastic chairs. Bring the inside out by furnishing with plush armchairs, a full sofa, or a hammock that you’ll love to lounge and even nap on.
Use Nature to Your Advantage
At first glance, trees, bushes, flowers, and other natural elements can appear to present a challenge when planning your layout. Instead, you can use them to your advantage by turning them into beautiful focal points for your design. A great interior designer can help you figure out how to create a space you love around what’s already there.
You can also embrace nature by choosing to:
- Use container plants and shrubs to create privacy
- Provide shade on sunny days with a few well-placed tall plants
- Utilize color that plays off or accents the natural elements in your yard
Incorporate Design and Function
Discovering your ideal outdoor living space means finding a harmonious blend of your individual style, your functional needs, and your personal or family values. From an interior design perspective, the best way to bring that perfect harmony to life is to incorporate the outdoor living space trends that speak to you in a purposeful way. Here’s how:
Establish traffic patterns. Think about how people will move in the space in order to create a layout that is comfortable, logical, and easy to navigate.
Zone spaces. Zoning is how designers break up large spaces into defined, cohesive sections based on function. For example, your fire pit may constitute a different zone than your dining area.
Provide ample seating. Incorporating plenty of seating creates a cozy feel and offers more options for how to use your space. It also makes it easy to host both small and large gatherings.
When design and function are woven together in the right way, your new space will be a joy to spend time in, and will even add value to your home.
Let Karen Linder Design Your Outdoor Area
When you work with Karen Linder Interior Design, you will be able to discover, dream, and imagine your space into a reality with the guidance of a professional designer. We would love to help you bring your vision to life.
Call us today at (503) 515-4745 or contact us online to get started!