How to get the outdoor room you want and get the family excited about it!

Recently, we wrote an article - Outdoor Design Therapy, and we’re featured in the Summer 2015 issue of Outdoor Living Magazine! (Pat on the back! Yes, we’re proud.)  

So outdoor spaces have been on our minds and we’ve really been reflecting on how important outdoor spaces really are to us.  Think about it.  We often don’t take the time to stop and relax.  To enjoy the moment with family and friends.  We get caught up in the day to day flurry of activity and really don’t make relaxation and spending time together a priority.  So what better way to make this special time more of a focus than to spend it outdoors?

In the article we wrote, we talk about how you can extend your living space by creating an outdoor room and how to address it as you would when you furnish and decorate a room indoors.  This is important but why bother to do it?  Well, if you’re truly wanting to lure the family outside, away from the TV, computer and cell phones, you need to have a spot that is comfortable and enticing!  

Family Game night became a big thing a while back.  We’re not sure where or why it really started but, at House By The Shore, we love the idea.  You can make creating your outdoor living space a family game/project. Then once the project is complete you can certainly enjoy family game night outdoors! 

If you want all of your family to be vested in this space and to want to be in it, you need to get them excited about the project.  Get everyone involved by letting them help select the furnishings, choose colors and determine the functionality of the pieces you need.  We’ve come up with directions and a plan to get your family involved in creating an outdoor room everyone will love!  You have some research and tasks to complete before you can begin though.  You can’t just spring this on them.

First, you must develop a budget for your outdoor space.  The reality is we don’t all have tons of money we can spend to create the ultimate outdoor space but everything can be accomplished in stages and there’s always DIY projects that everyone can get involved in.  (Yeah, more time together – outside!)

This can become almost a game if you do your research first.  Create a design board for your choices.  This doesn’t have to be fancy, a poster board or even a Pinterest board is fine!  Next, you need to measure and draw out the space outdoors you plan to use.  Graph paper is excellent for this and you can make this part of the family tasks.  It is a great way to teach kids math skills!  Decide how many squares on the graph page are equal to a foot and chart it.  You may have a deck or a patio you’re wanting to use.  

Before you can start to plan what to put in the space, you have to determine how it will function and what you need.  We’ve come up with a list of questions you can get the whole family to answer so that everyone has their say.  Just sign up and we’ll email it to you right away! This will help you to determine the type of outdoor furniture pieces you need and how many.  Try to incorporate what everyone wants to do into the space.

Let family members vote on a color scheme.  If your family is anything like ours, if you don’t narrow the choices for the vote - everyone is going to pick a different color and that creates a whole other blog post - believe us!  So mom or dad research your outdoor furniture options and color schemes first.  You can take a screenshot of our color schemes and print them.  Cut out the colors you like and create two or three color cards that the family can then vote on.  Do the same thing for the furniture collections.

With our questions on functionality, we have included a shopping list for all the different items you’ll need to create your outdoor space.  So if you didn’t sign up before, you’ll want to now.  As your family votes on your selections, add them to the shopping list and to your design board.  You should have pictures of your chosen color scheme and your furniture collection on your design board now.  You may want to print or pin the individual furniture pieces to your board so everything is very visual.  You’ll also want to have someone add the furniture to your space plan.  You can draw a square for the chairs or rectangles for a bench or table on another piece of graph paper to the measurements of the furniture pieces.  Label what the piece is and cut it out.  Then as a family you can manipulate the paper furniture pieces on your space plan to create the layout.  

Now comes the fun part.  Adding the décor, rugs and pillows to make the space comfortable and inviting.  An outdoor rug will anchor your space.  It also will provide a place for the kids to play games and sit if you have company filling all the chairs.  Give your family 2 or 3 choices you have narrowed down and let them vote again.  Once a decision is made, add it to your design board.  

Now that you’ve chosen the color of the furniture and the rug, you have colors to pull from for pillows and other décor.  This is a great way to teach the kids about primary, secondary and tertiary colors.  If you need a refresher yourself – Color Matters is a great source for color theory.  It would also be great to show the kids how you want to balance the color (and why their idea might not work if you need proof).  Once you’ve added your pillow selection to your design board, now it is time to look at outdoor lighting and accents.  

You have created a design board for you space and a shopping list.  So now you can order or determine if you need to do this project in stages to fit your budget.  If you’ve got to accomplish this in stages, make use of a wish list.  You can create an account and add your items to a wish list.  That way you don’t forget your plan and it is easy to purchase the next stage when you’re ready.  You can also share your wish list with anyone who might be looking to buy you a gift!

Not only have you created your design and have a plan but you’ve done it as a family.  You’ve taught the kids some math skills, a little about art with color theory and helped them to learn how to decorate a space which is a skill they’ll need some day with their own home.  Best of all, you’re going to get that outdoor room you’ve been dreaming of!  
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