Creating Your Outdoor Room
My favorite time of the year is finally here – Summer! Like most mid-westerners after a long, dark cold winter, I cant wait to get outdoors and enjoy the wonderful summer weather.
Here are some of my tips for Creating your Favorite Outdoor Room!
Tip #1 – Use Landscaping to create walls
Landscaping can be used to create walls
Carefuly placed trees and shrubs add texture and appeal to an outdoor room!
Tip #2 – Provide Coverings for shade and rain protection
Pergolas provide shade protection-plant your favorite climbing flower to add color and soften the edges
Umbrellas not only provide protection from the sun and rain – they also add pops of color!
Tip #3 – Don’t be afraid to use color
The outdoors is the perfect place to play with bold color
A neutral background is the perfect place to insert color!
Green is a winner everytime – as it mirrors nature
Tip #4 – Don’t forget lighting!!
Exterior lighting highlights focal points and creates night magic!
Exterior lighting can enhance the appearance of an entertainment area, dining area, and outdoor kitchen
Outdoor lighting increases safety of after-dark use
Use outdoor lighting to highlight desirable features
Tip #5 – Extend the Season!!
Don’t forget to included items that help to extend the season well into the fall
Fireplaces are excellent way to extend the summer season into fall!
Patio heaters are available in all size and shapes. The great thing about them is that they are portable!
Tip #6 – Enjoy your outdoor room and all that mother nature provides!
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Designed to Dine….The 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour-Part 6 – The Final Project!
So here we are at last – the great revel! Let’s go back to the beginning - our inspiration – the Audubon prints and move forward from there.
Clients Audubon prints provide us with our inspiration!
The gray/green color palette of the prints provide us with our color foundation and garden theme. From this point everything evolves - our feature fabric provides additional inspiration.
This feature fabric coordinates with the artwork and speaks to our “garden” design concept.
From the feature fabric to the homeowners requests for a dining table that will accommodate large groups, maintain a sophisticated, elegant look and be durable enough to withstand “game night”, board meetings and special occasions – to the overall appreciation of historic value of the home, we customized a table to fulfill these needs.
This table opens up to 150″ to accommodate large groups of guests, has a waxed bar top finish to withstand and is lightly distressed
So at last here is our final revel of the 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour – Dining Room!
And finally – let’s not forget that our homeowner requested products with sustainable attributes! Starting from the ground up – the maple/cherry floor is original, we placed a 100% wool rug on top of that. All the wainscoting, crown molding and windows are also original to the home. The dining table is custom and made in California. the host chairs, dining chairs and lounge chairs are also made in the USA and are covered in fabrics that have natural fibers. Our custom drapery panels are silk. The roman shades underneath the box-pleated valances are made of natural fibers, the paint is Benjamin Moore low/no VOC and the canned lighting is LED. I could not be happier with the final outcome of this space and invite you to stop by between now and June 10th to experience it for yourself! I will be in the room on the following dates:
Wednesday, May 22nd – afternoon
Sunday, May 27th
Wednesday, May 30th - 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saturday, June 2nd – 1-4 p.m.
Sunday, June 3rd – 10 a.m. -1 p.m.
Saturday, June 9th
Sunday, June 10th
Visit www.mspmag.com for ticket information
Designed To Dine..The 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour-.Part Five – Installation Day!
Here we are – it’s installation day!! We have been working on this project since last July and finally our concept is close to completion! First up is our rug installation. A gray wool rug sets the foundation for our design.
Bob’s Binding Installs our rug
Next are our custom designed sheers and silk draperies that lend elegance and sophistication to the space.
Custom silk draperies are installed over cream sheers
Furniture is delivered
After the draperies are installed our delivery team brings in the custom designed table and chairs.
Table and Chairs for the dining room
The light fixtures are installed. Featured here are our sconces. Polished nickel with crystal accents kiss the walls!
After all the furniture, lighting and draperies have been installed, we bring in the accessories or jewelry for the room!
Accessories for the dining room
Coming up…. from design to concept – the final outcome!
Designed to Dine….The 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour-Part four ~ The Design Process cont.
In my last post I shared the fabrics that Letitia Little and I selected for the dining room furniture. We are extremely excited as they work with our garden theme/design concept. Now we need to select the furniture. As you may remember in an earlier post, the homeowners requested a dining table that could accommodate large groups of people for entertaining, hosting board meetings and be durable enough to withstand game night! It has to be functional without sacrificing elegance as this will be the focal point of the room. We worked with a showroom at International Market Square and had a custom table designed by Sterling. The table is made in the USA which meets our sustainable design commitment.
Below are the line drawings provided by Sterling showing the design of the table, along with all the dimensions and design details. Another great feature of this dining table is that it is crafted here in the USA which is great for our sustainable message!
Drawings provide dimensions and design details
Drawings provide dimensions and details
The table top is lightly distressed and features a waxed bar-top finish for durability
Now that we have agreed on the table design its time to make the final selections for the two host chairs, dining chairs and the two lounge chairs. We have selected all of these from Kravet’s furniture line.
Our garden inspired fabric will cover two of these modified wing chairs – beautiful and elegant!
The green/white lattice fabric is going on two of these host chairs
The dining chairs will be upholstered in a graphite gray linen fabric with an ivory trim around the inside seat back – pulling all the fabrics together in a cohesive, well coordinated design
We have also made these additional selections!
This one of a kind buffet by Marge Carson is a perfect addition to our design
Beautiful wall sconces combine crystal with metal and linen shades
This mirror top occasional tables sits between the two lounge chairs
Homeowners Mike and John meet with Letitia and Sheree to go over lighting selections for the dining room
Now that the selections have been decided it’s time to draw up the space and lighting plan to show where each piece will go in the dining room. Along with that is our lighting plan, showing the locations of all the canned lighting, chandeliers and sconces. No matter how well designed a space you may have, if you don’t have proper lighting it can ruin the whole design!
Showing the location of the canned lighting, sconces and the chandelier insures that items in the room such as artwork and furnishings are properly lit
Next post….Installation day!!
Designed to Dine…The 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour- Part Three ~ The Design process
Perspective of the dining room done in pencil by Megumi Y. Wong
Letitia and I have been very busy selecting fabrics, furniture, and lighting for our dining room in the 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour. We are very excited about our selections and want to share them with you!
This print fabric will cover the two lounges chairs in the dining room. This gray/green color combination and pattern works perfectly with our design concept!
Green “lattice” fabric will cover the two host chairs. A beautiful compliment to the lounge chair fabric and our design concept.
We selected this whimsical pattern for the cushions that top the radiator covers
Sheree and Letitia selecting furniture for the dining room in the 2012 ASID Showcase Home Tour
