How to create the perfect outdoor living room
Making a room outside
From cosy dinner parties in the winter to festive soirees in the summer, Kiwis love to live it up outdoors all year round. A great way to prime your property for these events — and to increase your everyday quality of life — is to create an outdoor room. No matter the square metreage of your backyard or patio, the following tips can help you extend your liveable space to realise the perfect outdoor room, complete with the appropriate heating and roof solutions.
Install infrared heating and overhead cover
Everyone knows that feeling of having a freezing draught whip at their legs during an al fresco dinner, or the discomfort of being stuck in the sun’s rays outside at the height of a heatwave. No matter how beautifully decorated or well landscaped your outdoor room is, it needs to be outfitted with the appropriate heating solutions and overhead cover in order to make it a truly liveable space. Luckily, there are top-quality outdoor products on the market designed especially for New Zealand’s changeable weather conditions.
Louvretec roof systems
Our good friends at Louvretec offer motorised patio louvre roofs to keep you covered overhead. You can say goodbye to those flimsy outdoor awnings which become a safety hazard in extreme conditions: Louvretec’s louvre systems are high-tech retractable roofs which will give you reliable cover against the elements all year round.
Louvretec’s aluminium louvres are sleek, stylish, and add street or garden appeal instantly. Choose from 8 different styles of roof appropriate for your wind zone and space, available in a wide range of powdercoat and anodized colours.
Kelray outdoor heaters
When it comes to keeping warm, our range of New Zealand-made outdoor heaters has you covered. Our infrared heaters are made of 316 marine-grade stainless steel to withstand Aotearoa’s salt-laden air, and come with the longest warranty on the local market, attesting to their durability. Available in a range of sizes, there’s a model for every outdoor room. Installation is a breeze, and can be done on patios, desks, pergolas, or with Louvretec’s outdoor louvre systems.
Better still, you can colour customise your Kelray outdoor heater to perfectly match your Louvretec roof. Simply ask us about our Dulux Duralloy Powercoat colours, and we can colour order to fit your design needs.
2. ‘Fence’ your outdoor room
Patio chairs arranged in a triangle do not an outdoor room make! Just like indoor rooms, your outdoor room needs to be walled or fenced in in some way (at least on three sides, ideally). A paved patio or deck can do the trick from a landscaping point of view, or you might want to take advantage of an existing garden fence to organize your outdoor room around. Trellis or bamboo options also work well if you’re on a budget: try training a jasmine vine over your makeshift fence for a romantic touch.
3. Source the right furniture
When purchasing furniture for your outdoor room, make sure to shop with the exact measurements of your space on hand: outdoor furniture will look quite different in the warehouse than it will in your home. If possible, try to mock up some landscaping plans with the aid of a Photoshop-savvy person before you invest, in order to double-check the suitability of the silhouettes and colours for your outdoor room.
It’s surprisingly easy to make an outdoor space feel cluttered with furniture, so start with the basics — for instance a dining table, a set of outdoor chaises — and add further pieces from there. Soft furnishings in the form of beanbags and cushions in weather-resistant fabrics can also add a welcome injection of cosiness and colour into the space.
4. Add a focal point
Adding a hearth-like focal point to your outdoor room is what will give it a real second living-room feel. Depending on your tastes, this focal point might be something as simple as an outdoor coffee table to hold the drinks, a statement plant or sculpture, an impressive outdoor drinks station, or a classic pizza oven.
5. Get creative with your lighting
Lighting is an effective and low-fuss way to add oodles of ambience to your outdoor space. A smattering of fairy lights is sure to draw all of your friends to all your fresh-air fiestas, while downlights or LEDs will make it easier to see around steps and garden beds in the dark. Lanterns make a gorgeous and beachy addition to an outdoor room, while large citronella candles offer insect protection on those mozzie-heavy summer nights.
Conclusion
With a heating solution and roof system in place and some other design tricks up your sleeve, you can build your outdoor room into a beautiful and functional space to serve your family and friends for years to come. One thing’s guaranteed: once you’ve extended your living space outdoors, you won’t want to go back inside!