Have you been thinking about enhancing your home with an outdoor entertaining space? Create more room to enjoy your home and host guests outdoors. With these five steps, you can have the ideal outdoor entertaining space for your home.
- Start with a Patio or Deck
Your outdoor entertainment space needs a home base. Consider your style and entertaining preferences when choosing the center of your entertaining space.
Some homes are well suited to an elevated wood deck. This allows for different levels, which feels spacious and creates multiple spaces for people to gather. Surround your deck with fencing or a rail for safety.
If your home is better suited to a patio, you have scads of sizes, layouts and materials to choose from. You can use multiple types of stone, brick, pavers, or tile in different colors to create a pattern or design. Walls and steps can be arranged to mark out multiple seating areas. Stone, paver, or concrete patios are long-lasting and require very little maintenance.
- Add in Comfortable Seating
Your space will not be very welcoming without ample comfortable seating. As you design your deck or patio space, include some built in seating with benches. You want to plan ‘gathering spaces’ that your guests will naturally be drawn to. A dining table and chairs are an obvious option, but think about comfortable outdoor couch nooks, hammock chairs, or seating around a fire pit as well. There are many options ranging from wrought-iron dining sets to wooden Adirondack chairs, adding outdoor cushions and pillows for comfort.
- Consider a Cozy Firepit
Built-in firepits add a dynamic and cozy element to your entertainment space. A firepit makes a comfortable, and for many people nostalgic, centerpiece for any outdoor seating area. Adding warmth, it extends the usability of your outdoor living space into the fall and early spring seasons.
- Incorporate a Grill and Kitchen
Most people equate entertainment with food. People enjoy gathering over a shared meal. Improve your cook-outs and BBQs by including an outdoor kitchen in your design. Your outdoor kitchen can include all the amenities of an indoor kitchen, making cooking prep and clean-up a breeze.
Integrated, built-in grills look much nicer than free-standing options. With counters for prep, a functioning sink for clean-up, a mini-fridge and even a wine cooler to make food and beverages more accessible, an outdoor kitchen can have all the amenities you need for top class entertaining. A stainless steel cooking surface is ideal to stand up to outdoor use and the elements. Go even more upscale with an outdoor pizza oven and a beer tap. This can be your home outside of home!
- Remember Flowers and Greenery
An outdoor entertaining space is different from an indoor one because it allows you to be in nature. As you design your space, do not forget to incorporate softscape elements, such as flowers, bushes, shrubs, and small trees which can add visual appeal. You can also add in more natural elements with a small pond, rock wall waterfall, or other water feature.
If designing your outdoor entertaining space seems daunting, consider recruiting a professional landscape architect. A landscape architect can perfectly blend your preferences as well as the demands of your house and yard to design the ideal outdoor entertaining space for your home.