Starting from scratch: Outdoor Rooms on a budget
I know that you want your shelter to be referred as a home. Creating an outdoor living space is no longer just about increasing property values or impressing the occasional guest. It is about creating a welcoming, warm, nurturing place to come home to?an open place that soothes the stress of out daily life, and brings us closer to nature and spirit. This habit of decorating homes only at outdoor living room steps should come to an end.
You don't have to find it very complicated to create your own outdoor haven, and believe me if you do it right, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money! I think it will be fair enough for me to give you these guides on how you really have to do it.
Step one: Do me a favour and put laziness aside! Find a spot in your yard that could provide uncompromising privacy, an interesting view, access to the sun, whatever most appeals to you for your special place. This could be as little as your overhangs near your front door, a slice of ground in your side yard, to a corner on top of your apartment roof!
If you realise that the space you have is near a premium, look for areas where thorns and shrubs could be removed. Small spaces are actually much easier to decorate and more intimate. More articles at , www.frugal-living.org.
Step Two: Try to provide some structure in the form of walls. Don't get me wrong we are not in the construction phase! The truth is no construction is needed for this room but only creativity! Whatever existing materiel in your house can actually be designed to provide relevant walls of your own design, from the existing plants to fences.
The aim of these walls to be designed is to actually stop the eye through your room, so therefore no concrete walls are to be designed. You can create intimacy in every way from potted plants into ground crawling plants. Trellis are ideal to be planted in rectangular or other growing vines therefore you have adjustable and portable walls depending on the occasion.
Step Three: Add a floor and ceiling! Floors in your outdoor room can consist of anything from gravel to concrete! If your outdoor room just has dirt floors and money is tight, add a bag of pea gravel or mulch to dress it up. Nylon throw rugs hold up pretty well to the outdoors if they are out of direct sun, but no fabric will last forever outdoors, so go for the cheap ones you don't mind throwing away at the end of the season.
If you have concrete floors, paint an area rug right on the concrete! Use foam brushes, mask out your shape with tape, and try to choose natural colours that go with the surrounding or your home's colours. Use stencils on top of the base coat for a custom look. Use the chisel edge of the foam brush to tap ?fringe? at the end of each rug. Seal with polyurethane formulated for outdoors, and it should last years!
Just tell yourself one thing, as far as ceilings go the sky is the limit for you! If you consider having an overhead shelter, consider growing some plants just to cover u up from scorching direct sunlight. Try morning glories as they are the best for all times. Get bulb lights and accessorise with them in order to give your room a live reception.
Step Four: It's that moment to furnish the space. Just play around with your imaginations and think what you will be doing in your space. Is it going to be a dining area or a private retreat resting place? Now, we need to furnish the space.
Consider what you will be doing in your space?will you need a table for dining, will it just be a private retreat for one, or will you be entertaining your guests? Feel free to bring out some interior items, but bear it in mind, make sure that they are not too precious, so make sure you play around those garage sales and thrifty sales. Use some waterproof paint to customise your colours, reason being that it is an extended outside room and it can be exposed to any sort of rainfall.
Step Five: Well I know this is the time where you can prove it to yourself on how skilled you are when it comes to accessorizing! Bear it in mind that this is an outdoor room so whatever you use for accessories make sure that it permits the weather, within the four seasons of the year.
Having plain benches is ideal because you can add pillows depending on the weather condition that particular day. Try to tie your pillows up if you live in a windy area. Have a fire place incase of chilli conditions by lining a free area with sand and gravel and try to balance it with stones and bricks (I have tried it and it really works for me).
Make sure that you don't leave the fire unattended, make sure that you have a bucket full of water incase of fire. Have some plants hanging on the corners. Make a collection of bird houses and hang them around the walls depending how you want to decorate them.
Its all yours, Create yourself that space to enjoy mother nature, its real fun and not at all expensive.
Siphephile, More articles at, www.frugal-living.org.
