Deck and rail design trends Blurring the boundary between indoors and out

Today's consumer sees little difference between indoor and outdoor living. In fact, manufacturers of popular indoor furniture brands are rapidly move to launch outdoor collections. Outdoor dining furniture accounts for 527o of all outdoor furniture sales and is slated to grow 0.57o this year, topping $2 billion in sales. As 70% of consumers own outdoor dining sets, it seems natural that easy access to these areas dominates the focus of consumers as they create the perfect deck configurations.

Y EARLv MEMoRTES of outdoor living are eating at a wood picnic table and setting up folding aluminum chairs in the yard. Our backyard was where outdoor activities resided, but we had no idea that it was a lifestyle. When we went to summer gatherings, there rarely were specific outdoor living areas-except maybe a concrete slab.

Then the deck became a popular feature in new construction, creating the footprint for today's outdoor room. Even though pools and patios had a certain appeal, the deck was a new private backyard space distinctly different from the front porch. This privacy element has a similar appeal and function as indoor spaces. As the Boomer generation became more mature and their indoor spaces were furnished, renovated and completed, there came an urge to create more functional and aesthetic outdoor spaces.

As the home opens up into one great room indoors and out, the transitions in materials and styles become more obvious. Selecting flooring or decking, banisters or railings, furnishings, appliances, accessories, colors and materials all blend into one narrative for the consumer. Color and design are the first and possibly the most important criteria for a consumer in selecting an outdoor living product. And since the hipness factor in outdoor living constantly evolves, retailers need to keep pace with the changing style requirements consumers expect.

Sliding doors, full swing French doors, and transom doors are very common as a transition from in to out. These wider openings bring both the look of the inside out and the outside in. Most consumers prefer seamless styles from room to room, and this preference carries over to the outdoors. As the requirement for more seamless fashion continues, manufacturers of outdoor building products will be faced with adapting to new desires. For deck and railing as well as siding, this means tracking the trends in flooring, banisters, and wall treatments. Recently, we observed a new development in wallpaper for outdoor applications. Regional environments and weather patterns greatly influence indoor/out lifestyles. As in interior styling, the use of wood and stone is preferred, as they tend to be what the consumers are familiar with. Decking and railing, like other interior materials, must duplicate natural materials as realistically as possible. This has been an ongoing trend in flooring that is projected to continue.

Landscape/Deck Integration

Deck designs are ever evolving and becoming more than just a platform offthe back of a house. They are integrating into the landscape or conversely integrating landscaping into the deck. Decked paths lead to living spaces and cooking areas. Foundation plantings are moved to foundation planters, bringing plants closer to the house for shade without plant roots affecting the house foundation.

Mixing materials creates hardscape and softscape areas, which better integrate landscaping into the living area. It also can support water features more effectively, which provides areas for relaxation, and can hide water recovery systems, storage and utilities.

Gardening

We all are familiar with window planter boxes, especial- urban environments. As the locavore movement continues to expand, there is a greater desire to grow what we can and buy from local sources as often as possible. In addition to utilizing spaces more efficiently, these new garden wall systems can act as railings, create privacy, improve climate control, and provide elements of shade.

Rooftop gardening and landscaping are solving heating and cooling problems by providing a new element of insulation. These systems run the gambit from sophisticated multi-layered installations that integrate irrigation and rainfall controls, to modular boxes for ease of installation and use. The obvious use of these spaces did not come to mind until restaurants began to harvest their own rooftop herb gardens. The hospitality industry is also transforming rooftops into bar, dining and lounge areas. However, as energy efficiency becomes a driver in energy independence and cost control, there are many opportunities to integrate decking systems into these rooftop options.

Water Features

There are many forms of water features in today's outdoor lifestyles. We all probably have experienced outdoor showers while at the beach or lake. These connections to nature are being extended to both everyday living and in higher-end applications, as well as more exclusive hospitality settings such as hotels and spas.

Water recovery is not a new idea. However, we expect it to grow in importance as climactic conditions become more unpredictable. As we all know, there have been severe regional droughts over the past few years, as well as record rainfalls in other regions, overwhelming storm drains and sewers. As with UV resistance and freeze-thaw conditions, the need to tackle water recovery and system integration opens up new opportunities for industry.

Fixed Furniture

Built-in is not a new idea, but generally it has been left to the contractor or builder to come up with customized solutions. However, we live in an age of systems, where Ikea provides the components and the consumer constructs the furniture. This is also true in our d-i-y world of mass retailers. Customized kits for furnishings, storage, shade, gardening and privacy are solutions consumers seek. They look to building product manufacturers to provide not only material solutions, but lifestyle enhancements.

Shade & Light Gontrol

Shade and light control are a big opportunity for builr ins and add-ons. Shade structures, including pergolas, gazebos and pavilions, comprise a $400-million-a-year industry. By integrating materials such as fabrics, mesh and panels, new systems can be created to extend the outdoor seasons.

Golor Trends

Over the past two years, we have experienced the successful launch of a whole variety of gray and gray-influenced colors. Currently we are seeing the emergence of a variety of lighter woods and stones in interior flooring, as well as new beige and tan combinations in indoor and outdoor applications. They allow for a graceful transition with the browns that have dominated the market.

We see two directions for light color woods. The first is a duplication of spalted woods like maple and pecan. The darker brown, gray and caramel streaks add contrast and variation, making for a more natural looking material. The second look will be in soft wavy multi-color that blends almost to a monochromatic appearance. Off-whites, pale warm green influenced grays and a soft hint of red create a striking look is transformed in different lights and shadows. The neutral quality of these light wood and stone colors are the perfect transition colors from in to out.

Rustic wood has been a staple of the interior flooring market for the past 10 years. Reclaimed woods have been popular for their re-purpose/re-use/recycle characteristics.

Textures not only help replicate the grain structure of wood, they can also be used as a way to change the profile image as well. Sweeping cross grain textures in soft undulating waves give the appearance of hand-finished boards, but also provide a new character in traditional settings. Rougher hand-scraped textures need random variations to produce a more one of a kind look. Different plank widths in combination can help to increase this random heirloom appearance.

Since 2003. our studio has tracked the colors of interior building products and d6cor. In 2008, we began to track exterior colors using the same process. Exterior building products like vinyl and pre-cast concrete siding, decking, railing, pavers, planters, fabric, metals, woods and plastics samples were evaluated against our interior data, revealing vast similarities between indoor and outdoor colors.

Currently we are preparing our 2013-2015 forecast. Grays, gray-influenced colors, and browns continue to be strong as current colors. Greens also continue and will be mixed with grays and browns to produce new multi-colored effects. Blues begin to emerge as a cooler option to the warm colors in the palette. Beige, tan and caramel in various tones and shade are emerging in greater quantity.

- George Gehringer is co-owner and creative director fttr design consultancy studio Metaphor LLC, Exton, Pa., and former creative director for Armstrong World Industries. Reach him at (6 I0) 363-0376 or geogehringer@ comcast.net.

Composite Decking

By Brent Gwatney, MoistureShield