Expand Your Home With an Outdoor Room!

Feeling a bit cramped in your home, but not sure you’re prepared to add on? Consider adding an outdoor room. Depending on your site, you may want an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor sleeping space, an outdoor dining area or just an outdoor gathering space. Here are some things to consider.

• Take an inventory of your outdoor space. Spend time observing where the best views are, how the sun travels through the yard in each season, where hot/cold spots are, where you might need more shade or a windbreak, and of course where doors to your [city] home are located.
• Cover the deck.  If you already have a deck, consider putting some kind of roof over it. Many people find they don’t use their outdoor deck because it’s just too hot and sunny there. Turn it into a porch with ceiling fans, and you may enjoy it more.
• Screen in that porch. If you have a porch on your home but don’t use it at night because of bugs, why not turn it into a screened-in porch? You may even want to sleep out there.
• Turn the porch into a sunroom. Have your cake and eat it too. This way you have a sunroom in the winter; and, when you open the windows, it becomes a screened-in porch for the summer.
• Build a pavilion or gazebo. These are a charming, romantic option, which come in many different styles. They provide a roof overhead to protect from rain or sun, a floor underfoot, and no walls, for a view in every direction. Add drapes or shades on some sides, if you want privacy or to block a view.

Links

Outdoor room

http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/multimedia/image-gallery.aspx?id=2508&seq=0

Pavilion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavilion_%28structure%29

Gazebo

http://www.bluegrassgardens.com/garden-gazebo-plans-build.htm