When it comes to tackling your outdoor living spaces, it is always important to think about how they work for everyday use, entertainment and all-year-old life. The selection of the right materials that can be the weather (and pollen!) Is also the key to a durable outer place. Here are 7 secrets that help you get the best out of your living area outdoors – plus a few additional tips – from the southern interior and the landscape design professional.
Meet the experts
- Jennifer McKissick Is the founder of her design company of the same name based in Greenville, South Carolina
- Laura Covington Is the owner and main designer of her Wilmington, North Carolina, Laura Covington Interiors company
- Peter Falkner Is the founder and owner of Falkner Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama,
Expand your square meter number
In Jennifer McKissick's cottage from the 1930s, space was narrow and put her “sad, old terrace” in a covered veranda that acts as a casual life and dining room of the house. “The great thing in the south is that we can eat out there for about nine months a year,” notes the designer. It priorified memorable details such as Checkerboard Flooring, which was cut and colored from concrete to imitate the timeless pattern. Chippendale railings; And custom cupboards over the fireplace to hide the television.
Katie Charlotte Lybrand
Channel the large interiors
“Don't be afraid to bring out elements that you would use in your house – bows, glass lanterns and plants,” says McKissick. In the dining area she hung a John James Audubon printing that would otherwise have been sitting in the camp. She did the same with textiles and integrated throwing cushions in Lee Jofa's classic Althea flowers that was intended for interiors. “If you take a veranda and wrap everything in basic materials, it looks [a bit sterile]As if it weren't expanded, ”she says.
Katie Charlotte Lybrand
Rethink an old favorite
Veranda's painting “Haint Blue” is a long -term southern practice. (This tradition came into the region through enslaved West African people who believed that the color would ward off evil spirits or “hats”.) McKissick was not satisfied with the “million different blues” she tried. Instead, she handed over the above doors to Benjamin Moore's Sellerie salt (OC-136), a warm-related, with green tones.
“Spray your architect and contractor when you carry out a renovation. Get someone who really knows what he's doing and will save you money in the long run,” says Jennifer McKissick.
Welcome fresh air – and guests
This kitchen on the ground floor in the coast of North Carolina is open to the elements on most days over a glass garage door. “We wanted it to feel comfortable as if they were with all the advantages to be outdoors,” says designer Laura Covington about the area that the Intracoastal Waterway overlooks. It is prepared for entertainment with an all-round island, a built-in XO grill with a trading hood, a beverage refrigerator and a dual barrel meter. Open shelves are an affordable way to display objects to add personality.
Michael Blevins / MB Productions
Choose robust but increased surfaces
“We made sure to make a selection that felt special and polished,” says the designer of the all -weather composite (who reads like wood) from the backyard specialist, whom she used for the cupboards and the island. The sealed concrete slabs reflect light, and the surface contains “small shell spots that give it a certain texture,” adds Covington. “It's a really nice material.” The Palecek -Barstools are equipped in performance fabrics -a clever choice, since there is a pool nearby and wet bathing suits are a matter of course.
“If a full -grown cooking room is not in the cards, position a weatherproof, finished bar or island on your grill together with a few stools, so that it is an area in which people can gather,” says Laura Covington.
Joshua Stephen Jones
Add some surprises
“I want to lead you from one to another,” explains landscape designer Peter Falkner, who cut a terrace and two increased beds on the other side of this lawn and then put a hammock there to encourage people to keep themselves. “You wouldn't necessarily see that until you came to the fireplace.”
Two wooden obelisks offer size and support the vegetable garden.
“Artificial lawn looks so much better than before,” notes Falkner, who says that it is a low -maintenance choice for Yards who do not have enough sunlight or drainage to support natural grass. “And it is just so functional for pets and children who want to play outside all the time.”
Joshua Stephen Jones
Make it a goal
“Our customers usually have great houses, so we always try to get them outside and then get them to stay outside,” says Falkner. In this house in Birmingham, a lingerie Moss rock fireplace and a bluestone terrace are convincing for the whole year. “We disguised it with pretty pots,” he says. “It is a place you want to be.” A few cozy woven chairs and a cocktailed also help.