An outdoor entertaining area is a fantastic addition to any home and one that can be used all year round. When it comes to creating your own outdoor area, you are limited only by your imagination.
What You Need To Do First
Before you go about creating your entertaining area, there are some things that you need to consider first. The most important is how you are going to marry the new outdoor area with the style of your existing home. The last thing that you want is to have an area that looks “tacked on” or disparate.
Once you have an idea of the style that you want, then you can start thinking about the things that you wish to include in your outdoor area, such as flooring, plant life, furniture, lighting and so forth. This can be a complicated process, so hiring an architect landscape to help you with this part of the process can prove to be very useful.
Outdoor Flooring
These are the most basic elements of your outdoor entertaining area and the elements that you most need to get right as it can be very difficult or costly to change these once they are in place. There are a myriad of options available for your outdoor flooring – you could opt for a stylish deck, paving natural stone, concrete, brick, or even tile. When selecting your flooring, look to the style of your home, so that you are able to choose something complementary. The goal of the outdoor area is to have it flow on from the indoor areas in your home.
Outdoor Lighting
Lighting is an important consideration when creating your outdoor entertaining area, as it is likely that a good percentage of your entertaining will be done during the night time hours. Not only will you need outdoor lighting so that people are able to safely find their way around your garden, it can also be used to create atmosphere.
The cheapest lighting option is to use candles or garden torches. A scattering of these will provide light but also give the garden a fantastic ambience. You could also use up lights or down lights to highlight features in your garden such as water features, swimming pools plants, and trees. One place where lights need to be used is along pathways and also around the entertaining area itself. This is particularly important if you are planning on cooking outdoors.
Outdoor Heating
To make sure that your outdoor entertaining area can be used all year round, it is a good idea to add some outdoor heating. You could opt for a patio heater, which are great as they warm people and objects, rather than just the surrounding air. It may be well worth investing in cafe blinds to help keep the warmth in on those winter months.
Outdoor Furniture The furniture you choose for your outdoor entertaining area will depend on factors such as the number of people that you choose to entertain, what budget you have, and how much maintenance you are prepared to undertake to keep it looking its best. The most popular materials for outdoor furniture are timber, metal, glass and plastic. At a minimum, you will need a dining table, enough chairs to seat all your guests, and some smaller folding tables that you can use to place food or drinks upon. Other outdoor furniture options include daybeds, chaise lounges, hammocks and comfortable couches in durable fabrics.
Cooking Outdoors
If you are planning on using your outdoor entertaining area for cooking, it is worth taking the time to research and buy a decent barbecue. A barbecue that comes with side burners is a great option as you will have greater versatility in the types of food that you can cook, and you can cover these side burners when they are not being used in order to create more bench space.
If you will be barbecuing a lot, it is worthwhile installing some shelving as well as cabinetry in order to store the basic items as well as crockery and dinnerware. If you feel that it is worthwhile, a small outdoor refrigerator as well as a sink can prove to be very valuable. Make sure you place the barbecue in a position where the heat and fumes won`t damage you new patio.
