Outdoor Entertaining: Turn Your Patio Into A Year-round Room
By: J. Reed
Outdoor entertaining has come a long way from just setting up a barbeque grill on the back deck or a picnic table on the patio. Now the most exciting new room in the house isn’t even in the house: it’s the new “outdoor room”. Creative homeowners are adding gas patio heaters (the kind you see in sidewalk cafes) and even building fireplaces so their outdoor rooms can be used in the winter. They’re arranging special seating areas to entertain guests. Decorating with different flowers, plants, and outdoor art. And, using large planters as well as arbors, trellises, or other simple structures to help define the space.
Where to start with your outdoor room
So how do you transition from a few pieces of lawn furniture to a true outdoor room? We believe the best way is to start with a central focal point and move out from there. Try centering your outdoor room around the one thing that you’ll be doing in it the most – gathering for a meal. Think about it like an indoor room. What’s the most important gathering place in the house? Where do people come together for conversation, drinks, and meals? It’s the dining table. That’s why we believe the best place to start is to put an attractive dining table in the middle of your outdoor room and work around it from there.
Borrowing from a beautiful Mediterranean tradition
You can’t drag your fine mahogany dining table outdoors, but you certainly don’t want a white plastic patio table to be the focal point for your outdoor room. What are the alternatives? You could go with a teak or wrought iron table. But, if really you want to do something special, then borrow from a timeless Mediterranean tradition and gather your guests around an exquisite handcrafted mosaic table. With its colorful, meticulously arranged hand-cut tiles, the table itself is not only a centerpiece for parties, but a delightful focal point for your outdoor room and a unique talking point for you and your guests.
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