Turn your garden into an outdoor living room

Today, when construction costs make large homes prohibitive, one way to expand your home is to make the most of your outdoor space. And many contemporary homes make many rooms appear larger by visually extending them onto the lawn or garden.

Tricks like glass walls, using the same interior wall material as for a continuous deck wall, and using the same interior roof material as for extended terrace eaves, help to achieve this.

Your living room or dining room and even your bedroom or your children's bedrooms can flow outdoors onto "floating" wooden decks, brick decks, or lattice-roofed loggias.

Regardless of how you do it, with the help of vines, fences, shrubs, shade trees and flowers you can make your terrace a delightful place to entertain, sunbathe and relax.

barbecue in garden

A barbecue adds another dimension, since with its own fireplace or barbecue any terrace, lawn or garden area can offer the joyful charms of dining under the sun and stars.

When planning your deck, consider installing an electrical outlet for lighting, portable radio, electric grill for your barbecue, etc.

Use vines for a lattice roof (vines, for example, open late when shade is desired and are dropped early at the onset of cold weather, yielding delicious fruit as a bonus). Choose a fast-growing vine such as grape, hyacinth, or pumpkin vine.

Relate your terrace to the rest of your grounds with flowers and vines grown in pots, baskets and tubs. If the wall of the house next to your deck appears bare or the profile of your concrete or asphalt pavement seems too sharp against the grass, smooth the line with potted plants.

Have dwarf trees on your deck and flowering shrubs on deck retaining walls. Create interest with level changes; build flower beds around trees, steps, and walls.

garden pool

For a deck where all the family members gather, have a play space for young children, a litter box that can later be filled with plants, or a small square pool for sailing in small boats (this can create a sensation fancy long after the kids are growing up).

You don't have to rely solely on trees for shade. Build a freestanding deck roof in an egg crate design, using the side of your house and pillars made of wood, masonry, or metal. Corrugated plastic and reinforced glass are frequently used today because they are waterproof, but allow sunlight to pass through.

With increasing architectural use, particularly in hot climates, is the "sunshade" roof, which extends from the walls of the house about 4 feet and even more to provide pleasant shade to the surrounding area.

Since the glare reflected off the bare floor is a source of heat, a grass mat under the shade of the roof helps keep the house cool.

Often times, an outdoor living space has twice the use if it is made more accessible. A window in a living room can be turned into a French door, making it more natural to step out onto the deck rather than walk around the house to get to it.

extension of porch

A deck that is an extension of a narrow porch to a paved area adjacent to the porch will make the porch much more livable. A flagstone path, or any other path, that leads to a terrace away from the house, will increase the usefulness of the terrace.

Some type of hard floor is of prime importance, whether it be brick, crushed rock, concrete, wood block or slab, as it makes it easy to move furniture and eliminates worries about trampled grass. In fact, it is a good idea to have a deck in a place where you have problems with the lawn.

The outdoor living space is also successful when it is protected, away from the noise of the street and traffic, from the neighbors, from the wind. An unused corner of the house or garage, with the help of fences and walls, can become a sun trap that will lengthen the outdoor living season in both spring and fall.

A shutter board fence, a basket weave fence, asbestos placed in cement to form a modern wall, or the traditional brick wall are all nice ba