4 minute read
Room to Grow
Room to Grow
IN SOUTH LOUISIANA, we are lucky to have outdoor spaces that are usable all year long. How defined you make those spaces can add value to your property and immense benefits to your family. Consider the areas in your outdoor space as if they were rooms to be defined, designed and decorated to fill a purpose. Casual, sophisticated, friendly or nurturing; large or small; public spaces or intimate ones? Are they to be used by the couple, the family or when gathering with friends? Having an understanding of what you will use most often sets the direction. Here are some helpful ideas to pull the concept together.
If your backyard is a floor plan, how many rooms can it include? By dividing the space, you can offer the rooms a purpose and prepare them to fill it. These rooms will have floors, walls, sometimes even ceilings. They can be styled using color, texture, lighting and fixtures.
One advantage of imagining outdoor spaces as unique rooms is that you can apply different design priorities to each, with less concern for the overall. For instance, using stone surfaces in your kitchen doesn’t preclude you from using warm woods in the living room. This is true for outdoor rooms, as well. A formal parterre garden in the courtyard doesn’t mean that the intimate space accessed from the master bedroom can’t have cushy seating and soft, warm lighting.
Defining the Space
Just as the rug establishes the boundaries of the den, use the floor of your outdoor room to outline the space. A deck or patio in some areas can be in contrast to sod or ground cover in another. If this is a space that will be used by children, make it yielding to play but rugged enough for active use.
Creating the Walls
Keep your overall look from becoming jumbled by establishing visual separation of the individual rooms. This can be done in several ways.
Fences and screens can give your outdoor room an edge, which can be solid or soft, depending on the material used and the structure you choose. Privacy fences have long made good neighbors, but sometimes the airy result of an iron fence gives definition without making the area completely blocked off.
Living walls are amazing, but they require you to know the growth patterns of plant choices when installed in your area. If it is a bush that grows to 4 feet, don’t use it in a border that needs the privacy created by a 6-foot hedge. Ask for recommendations from the professionals!
Reigning in the Sky
Creating a ceiling isn’t always necessary or practical in outdoor rooms, but it can lend a space intimacy and make the outdoor room usable in all kinds of weather. Many Louisiana homes use cypress and pine beadboard over outdoor dens and kitchens. For added elegance, the patina of softly weathered copper can elevate the space. It is just one of the options available for awnings, as well.
If an actual roof isn’t in your plan, lighting can often fill in this design request. Creating a space under the canopy of a perfectly lit oak tree is one example, but without one you can have bistro lights tent the space or employ well-placed spotlights and downlights. Supporting the lights or in lieu of them, pergolas and arbors can stand alone or be draped in wisteria or jasmine. One consideration for climbing perennials is the upkeep required to enjoy them long-term. Many options can go quickly from perfect to overgrown and even invasive, so choose carefully. For a lighter look, perhaps a canvas canopy or beautiful umbrella is the finishing touch.
The Color Wheel
Everything we need to know about color we learned in grade school. The color wheel that taught us primary and secondary color interaction set the basic principles in garden planning as well. Using complementary colors enhances the effect, i.e., blue and purple or red and orange. Garden plantings of annuals or perennials are decorative flourishes that bounce off the base colors in the design put forth by the hard surfaces and large-scale plants and trees. The mood of an intimate space in soft blues is in contrast to the brights used in an active or play area. Another benefit of adding color to your garden can be the butterflies it attracts!
These elements of design are building blocks you can use to create rooms your family and friends will enjoy for years to come. Mix and match the choices to bring your outdoor rooms to life.