Creative Ways to Expand Your Outdoor Living Space

We’re all familiar with the living room being the go-to place to stretch out on a comfy sofa, read books or enjoy company. But, don’t limit yourself! Let’s talk about some creative ways to expand your outdoor living space.

So, what are a few fun and versatile ways to upgrade your home and expand its living spaces?

Adding more rooms or bathrooms is not the solution. Even though these expansions offer additional space, they are two-dimensional and merely provide you with more of what you already have.

However, when you improve your outdoor space you’ll find a multitude of ways to enjoy your home. Furthermore, when done right, the lines between inside and outside living will let you blur the boundaries between your indoor and outdoor areas, or winter and summer.

An outdoor space is not just another indoor area. Although it functions as part of the interior of your home, it retains its distinctive character of being outdoors. This aspect removes restrictions of being indoors by removing walls, hallways, rooms, and everything else.

Outdoor living is amazing and puts you in touch with nature.

Creating an inviting and functional outdoor space space with these capabilities will increase your enjoyment of your home and improve its value, according to WRents.com. Here are some solid ideas on how we can help your do it.

Creative Ways to Expand Your Outdoor Living Space in Annapolis, MD

There are four fundamental elements to think about when designing an outdoor living space. Download our worksheet to get your creative ideas churning! This will help you to seamlessly integrate these four elements in your space! This plan is how you create an outdoor living area that beautifully extends your home and is highly adaptable and immensely enjoyable. These four elements are.

• Natural earth and greenery existing on your property
• Water and water features to incorporate or improve
• Lighting and heat sources to modify or create
• Comfortable seating to upgrade to add on

The end result of this process should be a space that is entirely integrated, blending these four elements together so well that it can be used for a wide range of activities.

Bringing in a little H2O

Let’s add a water feature to your home in Annapolis, MD. While you might have this element in the forefront of your concept, water features are usually the final installation element that will help to complete the outdoor living area. A koi pond, for example, may be added. This creates a calming zen experience. Maybe you are thinking about decorative features such as a fountain, waterfall, or water wall. Other choices for water features include a water garden, outdoor hot tub, and course swimming pool. The options are endless, and determined by budget and logistics and use.

But, ultimately, including a water feature adds serenity and class to your outdoor area.

Enclosing outdoor rooms

Make the location more restful by shielding it from the elements. Adding a roof and wall to an outdoor space, even a single privacy wall, can turn it into an outdoor room if you have a lengthy patio. The walls and roofs might be permanent or fully retractable. A garden trellis may also be included to this mix.

The outdoor space does not have to be connected to the main part of the house. You’re probably thinking “aren’t attached rooms more readily available?” Well, yes and no. For as available and they might be, they can hinder the overall flow of the space. Building a separate structure outside might be your best option if you have the space. There are many ways to enclose or partition outdoor areas. Some of the options to help accomplish this are a pergola, yurt, shed, or summer space for outdoor areas.

Furniture and seating

So now that you have the concept created, do you have the appropriate furniture to pull it all together? If people don’t have comfortable seating to hang on, the outdoor living space is almost useless. Outdoor living space furniture needs to be adaptable, ultra-comfortable, weatherproof, and ideally multipurpose.

Your furniture additions need to be small enough to fit into the area without crowding it. Make your chairs facing each other. This way people can look at one another. Arrange the furniture with the option of creating a focal point in the space. Flexible outdoor furniture includes ottomans that double as coffee tables or footstools that convert to side tables.

Karaoke anyone?

Entertaining is sure to be a goal when thinking about creative ways to expand your outdoor living space. Making the outdoor space into a destination for entertainment isn’t difficult! Entertainment systems are available to meet your specific needs, depending on your usage. Watching sports or movies with an outdoor TV or projector system is a no-brainer. Do you need to get your kids outside with those virtual reality video games? We hear you.

Outdoors speakers can boost the sound of your TV or projector system. One important aspect to remember when choosing outdoor entertainment systems is to go for options that let you preserve the authentic outdoor look of your space.

Paradise Landscape and Hardscapes can help you find the best entertainment solutions to meet your needs.

Eat, drink and be merry in Annapolis!

Just as with your indoor space, an outdoor kitchen can be the heart of your outdoor living area. A simple backyard barbecue and a small refrigerator are all you need. Or, if you have the budget and need a fully equipped kitchen for your outdoor living addition, we’ve got you covered.

There are an infinite number of ways to create an outdoor kitchen; the only limitations are space and money. If your outside room is connected to the house, a simple kitchen will suffice since food may easily be moved from the main kitchen to the outdoors area. A full-fledged kitchen, on the other hand, is the way to go when you have a standalone structure or are far removed from your main house.

Baby, it’s cold outside.

Annapolis has four seasons. We aren’t southern California or Florida or Arizona. Weather is a beautiful problem to have. Heat sources serve two purposes:

1) They create a central focus and provide warmth. People will gather around a fire and having a fire pit in the space is a great way to make it cozy and get people chatting. In Annapolis, we call that “fire pit season”.

Paradise Landscape and Hardscapes makes awesome fire pits.

2) Lighting fixtures are key. They let you use the room at night and during the darker fall and winter months. However, you should also consider lighting the surrounding spaces as well. We call this ambient lighting in Annapolis. Subtle light placement in shrubs or around your perimeter make it easier to walk around at night. Plus, these features just add the curb appeal that make you say “wow!”

So that’s about it. Simple yet creative ways to expand your outdoor living space.

Paradise Landscape and Hardscapes builds gorgeous outdoor living spaces in Annapolis, MD. Click below to fill out our short form to get started on your home improvement project and start adding value to your home! We’ll come out and give you a free estimate!