As a design and architecture firm located in the Rocky Mountain region it has become almost a standard feature with our new home designs to extend and connect interior living with outdoor living spaces. It has also become a very popular project in remodels and re-design work for existing homes.
For most people it has become a natural and inexpensive way to extend the livable portions of their property. It is certainly not difficult to build outdoor living spaces, in most cases it as simple an option of flooring and maybe adding a roof overhead. For our northern climate there are many accessories that can extend your enjoyment of the outdoors into other seasons. Outdoor fireplaces, gas and electric heaters that keep you warm through the fall and starting early in the spring.
We now provide a total room environment with these outdoor spaces as most of our clients want comfortable outdoor seating i.e. sofa and chairs similar to what is in their inside living areas. Typically these are combined with an outside grill or more elaborate outdoor kitchens in many situations. We are then able enhance the feeling and the appeal by integrating a great lighting scheme balanced with color to set the mood.
It is now very fortunate that we have available a plethora of materials for patio and deck surfaces. Many very durable wood like products for deck surfaces are now very popular. We are able to utilize natural stone floor surfaces for these outdoor spaces and concrete products with great color and pattern choices. This gives the consumer a much wider variety of products that can easily join with their existing home surfaces, but offer great durability for outdoor uses.
So the more conscious we become of outdoor living areas, the more we can design them to suit our needs.