Guide To Outdoor Rooms

How To Transform Your Life And Your Yard

   

7 Tips for Easy Outdoor Living

 

• Don't expect everything to be perfect
• Easy outdoor decor is an ever-evolving process -- a lifestyle journey
• Execute flawlessly by sticking to one style. When in doubt, be consistent
• You only go around once -- so find your ideal outdoor sofa
• Not everything has to be new 
• Find inspiration at garage and estate sales, and in garden art from trash
• Use neutrals -- colors and natural fibers. They always feel clean and they ooze calm
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Want a Glam outdoor living room that's also Green?

Just partner with nature by using these 11 Green, easy-to-integrate tips.

• Use recycled metals and plastics to furnish your outdoor rooms green.
• Solar lights, candles, and hurricane lamps are stylish, reliable, and energy efficient.
• Organic fabrics like natural-hued cottons have warm inviting tones. Use them on tablecloths and pillows.
• Olefin is a synthetic fabric that begins life as post-industrial waste. It takes on the rain, sun and stains like magic.
• Use reusable utensils. Bamboo and terra cotta pieces set an elegant tone with less waste than paper and plastic.
• Display your unique style with garden art from trash, old bricks, old fencing, and such that you rescue from salvage stores and estate sales.
• Re-purpose broken pots. Use large pieces to decorate garden beds. And use smaller pieces to line the bottom of other pots to help with drainage.
• Transform old wine and water bottles into vases and candleholders.
• Re-assign tired, old furniture for extra seating and table space in your outdoor room.
• CowPots are biodegradable plant pots that are odor free, made from nutrient-rich cow manure, and transplant directly in to the soil. freundsfarmmarket.com and CowPots.com are two great sources.
• Low maintenance plants make outdoor living rooms low maintenance. Use native species and succulents because they use less water.

 

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9 Things I Know For Sure

 

9 design facts guaranteed to slip your outdoor room into something more comfortable. Glam garden rooms can have high end design on a low end design budget Form never trumps function Lighting counts Architecture is only part of the work -- let accents do the rest Well-chosen accents convey richness without costing a lot Sisal makes a fabulous outdoor room floor Playfulness has universal appeal How you arrange your outdoor living room furniture changes interaction Good design is available to everyone whatever your budget   Top of page       9 Steps To Outdoor Rooms In Under An Hour

Relax! Get an outdoor room in an instant with these 9 simple and easy steps. Choose a secluded corner of the backyard with level ground. 4 people can assemble a portable gazebo in 30 minutes. Upgrade the ground with an all-weather rug. Why not try something in sisal? Get comfortable, water-resistant seating for chairs and sofas. And use canvas for overhead cover, throw pillows, and floor cushions for extra guests and little ones. Use lightweight metal tables for drinks. Hang lots of small birdcages from the posts. Light them with battery-powered candles. Add posh finishing touches like side tables and art painted on all-weather canvas. Dress the entrance with spiral juniper topiaries on both sides. Shake, stir, and admire! How easy was that? Top of page