Outdoor living rooms: expanding your home without the construction bill

Brisbane’s warm climate presents both challenges and opportunities to our living spaces: our winters are warm enough that we don’t have to be confined indoors, but our summers are hot enough that we sometimes are. Creating outdoor living areas is the perfect solution for combating the extremes of our weather patterns—as well as giving you the extra space that you couldn’t otherwise get without paying a hefty construction bill.

It’s surprisingly easy to make the most of your outdoor areas, and to create irresistibly comfortable rooms perfect for family living and entertaining. With just a few inexpensive additions—whether it’s a single soft floor covering, or some timber outdoor furniture—Brisbane’s smallest homes can be transformed into enviably attractive and versatile living spaces.

Alfresco dining

One of the easiest ways to expand your home’s interior is by creating outdoor dining spaces. The dining experience is often the heart of the family’s lifestyle—as well as the heart of any holiday event—and the simple addition of fresh air could be instrumental in bringing freshness to these experiences without the need for structural alterations in the home.

Whether you have just a small area of decking or large garden space, it’s never too difficult to create an inviting and refreshing alfresco dining area, all you really need is the furniture.  If you were to choose steel or timber outdoor tables with ample seating you’ve added another useful room to your home.  Style it to flow from your home’s interior, with table dressings, umbrellas, and soft furnishings that are consistent with the colours and patterns of your design aesthetic. For a more epicurean look, You could consider screening your outdoor dining area with a vertical garden for a more epicurean look, which could  incorporate herbs and other edible plants, which can be picked straight from the wall and put onto your plate.  Plants suck as these will emit fragrant aromas to complement your meals.

Fresh-air lounging

The living room is a pivotal element in your family’s home, but it’s often the most overlooked. Taking the living room outdoors can have a huge impact on your home’s appeal, as well as on the enjoyment and well being of your family and friends.

If you have the space, there’s really no limit to what you can take outside to form your outdoor lounge area. If you choose furniture that’s designed to be hard wearing, there’s no need to sacrifice comfort either: high-quality garden seats will withstand the weather and maintain a smooth, glossy texture throughout the year and with acrylic canvas, you can enjoy the luxury of a soft daybed, or a beachy squatter’s chair, to turn your home into a holiday house without worrying about the elements. A lick of paint cam be added to pop against your greenery and some durable floor coverings and soft furnishings to contrast with pavers or decking and you’ll have created a dynamic space perfect for entertaining—or just lazing around with the family enjoying the fresh air.

Outdoor walls

While your outdoor living areas should be open enough to bring some nature into your home, creating outdoor ceilings and walls can help to promote a better flow between your interior and exterior spaces, making it easier to extend your home’s interior towards the garden.

Transforming your eaves into ceilings is a great way to beat both the heat and the frost, helping you to enjoy outdoor living no matter what the weather throws at you. But whether you just don’t have the budget for it or you don’t want to end up creating a space that’s too ‘indoorsy’, you could consider exposed-beam ceilings. They could be decorated with drapes to give a whimsical and romantic feel to the space, or with creeping vines for a rustic, country living style.

Privacy screens are always a great idea, both for giving you privacy from your neighbours and for making your outdoor spaces seem more like actual rooms. You can make a contemporary design statement with painted wooden slats or creepers, but you could also consider a vertical garden—they’re an effective and unobtrusive way to achieve privacy, but they also offer shade and greenery and that gives your garden its appeal.

Creature comforts

While it’s easy to expand your living areas with simple wooden outdoor furniture, Brisbane’s more discerning home owners are taking their outdoor spaces to the next level with creature comforts—making outdoor living luxurious all year round.

Ceiling fans are a great addition to outdoor living areas in Brisbane, combating the still humidity of breezeless Brisbane summer days. But if the expense and permanence isn’t appealing, try free-standing and mobile outdoor fan options, which are great for supporting a retro design style. Strip heaters will take the edge off the cooler winter nights to keep your family and guests outdoors for longer; but there are plenty of options that offer better portability, like bio-ethanol fireplaces, free-standing gas patio heaters, and fire pits. If you choose the right models, they can add both functionality and an attractive design element to your outdoor spaces, helping your outdoor living areas to operate as an extension of your home’s interior.

But it’s easy to create comfortable and attractive outdoor living areas even without creature comforts: by investing in high-quality timber outdoor furniture. Brisbane based and passionate about good design, Australian Garden Furniture Company uses only the finest materials and techniques to produce luxurious timber outdoor furniture that truly lasts. Contact us for more information on any of our high quality or custom made outdoor furniture.  We’ll be happy to help you expand your interiors into the outdoors and to enjoy the fresh lifestyle it brings.