Blurring the line between indoor and outdoor spaces. Outdoor furniture to sail shades, swimming pools to spas, decking, weather-resistant TV’s and lighting — all the essentials needed to create your ideal outdoor living space.

When it comes to increasing square footage, more and more people are thinking outside the box and focusing on the outdoors.

Outdoor living spaces are becoming a priority to home buyers as well as homeowners, who need to escape from the rigours of modern life and the bustle of the towns. Outdoor areas are safe spots where we can relax, gather our thoughts and enjoy the outdoors.
Today’s outdoor living zones are frequently designed as sumptuous retreats that incorporate all of the comfort and luxury found in their indoor counterparts, with upscale amenities, professional grade appliances and plush furnishings. The all-inclusive entertaining areas incorporate living rooms, dining rooms and kitchens and serve a function similar to their indoor counterparts. Family gatherings and parties can be easily hosted in these expansive extensions of living space, and the addition of spas, pools and gardens completes the total outdoor environment.
Beyond these highly visible elements, a well-equipped sun porch and garden retreat often rely equally on the subtle touches of lighting and audio components to create the perfect mood.

Interdisciplinary Design
The days  of “tacking” a patio onto the back door are long gone. Seamless integration between interior and exterior spaces is the best way to achieve valuable outdoor living that catches the eye.
Establishing a footprint that makes outstanding patio areas possible is the first step. Beyond that create integrated entertainment zones, pools and spas, decorative landscaping and garden elements. When interior courtyard space is available, consider, shade sails, shade awnings or pergola orientation and plant selections. Landscaping is as important to outdoor rooms as interior decorating is to rooms inside.
Visually stimulating and environmentally friendly, planting beds and flower and vegetable gardens are taking the place of grass lawns. They save water and utilise native and drought-resistant plants to add colour and interest — without increasing irrigation costs.

Take it to the Next Level
Second-story outdoor living is also gaining popularity, from small, step-out balconies on second bedrooms to full-scale, upper level decks extending from bonus rooms. Also, increased attention to environmentally friendly design practices has ushered in the era of green terraces and green roof systems. Often reserved for custom residences, upper level green space makes use of innovative technologies to turn otherwise unused square footage into a liveable, interesting outdoor environment. And homeowners appreciate the benefits of Mother Nature.
A simple but effective way to add second-storey outdoor living is the ever popular viewing deck. Similar to a watchtower on a ship, viewing decks allow home owners to obtain a commanding vantage point of their communities and the natural terrain beyond. They can become key selling points, especially in golf communities. Who wouldn’t want to step outside to views of the lush landscaping and brilliant colour of a gorgeous golf course!

Let there be light
A well-lit landscape should make the space usable day or night while simultaneously creating beauty and security. Fortunately, new outdoor lighting products on the market offer a variety of creative and practical touches for achieving these goals. For example, LED lights are energy efficient, cost effective and low maintenance, and since they are low voltage, they often last a decade or more without replacement.
Additionally, the changing hues of fibre optic lighting bring colour and creativity to the landscape, offering homeowners the flexibility to outline and highlight focal points like pools and waterfalls while creating special effects with rotating colours.

Music to your ears
Experts who specialise in creating outdoor environments say pleasing the ears is just as important as pleasing the eyes, and sound is a vital ingredient of such spots. Whether that entails the natural effects of a flowing fountain or soft music wafting from speakers tucked unobtrusively in the landscape, anything that masks the noise of traffic, barking dogs and other irritants only enhances the sense of peace and privacy that seem so essential to a well equipped outdoor retreat.
Consumer demand for better sound and video in the great outdoors is a driving force behind innovative new designs of audio-visual equipment from manufacturers like Bose, JBL and PlanterSpeakers, with durable weather-resistant speakers that don’t detract from the natural beauty of the landscape by tucking unobtrusively into the surrounding while producing high quality sound.
Today’s exterior speakers can be hidden away in soffits, buried in the garden or disguised as rocks or planters, and underwater speakers expand the mood music to the pool.
Even in outdoor areas that emphasize natural elements, video has its appeal, and plasma televisions are a common sight. The weatherproof LCD flat screen TV from Sanyo, available from QuatroVista SL, delivers incredible visibility so you can enjoy visual entertainment wherever you are.

Liquid cool
Either alone or as an adjunct to music, clear, flowing water and the gentle sound it generates also hides urban noise. Design choices range from recirculating streams and fountains to waterfalls and ponds, making them easier than ever to fit into most spaces.
Koi ponds and water gardens surrounded by blooming plants transform a outdoor area into a private oasis, but for minimal maintenance and design flexibility, waterfalls and fountains are an easier choice. You can choose the newer prefabricated fountains that come in a wide range of materials like cast stone and can be placed so the sounds of flowing water can be heard both inside and out. Best of all, these fountains may be moved with you if you relocate

Shelter from the elements
Given our fairly mild winters, outdoor rooms in the Costa del Sol are usable for the majority of the year. Yet, even though we don’t experience much cold, the not-exactly-temperate conditions that come with our bouts of brutal heat and flooding rains can be downright inhospitable at times. Fortunately, a few well-placed additions to the outdoor room can civilize, if not tame, the Andalucian environment.
Arbors and pergolas, which provide partial shade without completely blocking the natural light, are frequent additions to residential hardscapes, too.
But when the mercury jets past 80 degrees in the shade, even the prettiest of these structures provide little comfort, and growing numbers of homeowners look to evaporative cooling systems to turn down the heat in the hottest months. Unlike previous generations of misting machines that left users dripping wet, many newer units deliver a finer mist that evaporates almost instantly, keeping outdoor living areas dry while still cooling them off. Add in an insect control system to ward off pesky mosquitoes, and the scene is set for the perfect evening, no matter the season. Of course, for those rare cool evenings, a fireplace or a freestanding fire pit will keep things warm and cosy.

Tricks of the Trade
Manufacturers are excellent at catering to every whim and desire of today’s homeowners, seeking to capitalise on the latest and greatest technology as they provide more and more options for “tricking out” outdoor spaces. At the luxury end of the market, buyers can choose a wide variety of extras to give their outdoor spaces a little extra flair:

• Outdoor shower cabanas: Free-standing with hot water and privacy, easily assembled from a kit or custom built and installed. Much better than a garden hose.
• Decking: Built-in benches are gaining popularity, and often, designers wrap decks in benches instead of railings. It’s aesthetically more pleasing and adds a substantial amount of seating area for larger gatherings.
• Residential-grade outdoor saunas: Custom built, assembled from a kit, or ready-made for delivery, saunas are available in a variety of wood tones to match any decor.
• Fountain or waterfall elements for smaller areas and ponds when more space is available.
• Unique flooring, such as recycled glass pavers for colour; they have the durability of concrete without the drab look.
• Window and door technology, such as frameless glazing allows homeowners to “remove” an exterior wall, fully joining exterior and interior spaces. The Costa del Sol climate is perfect for this.
• Outdoor media is becoming very trendy, so consider pre-wiring outdoor areas for sound, wi-fi, cable television and phones.

Relaxing and Rewarding
These add-on and extras provide the finishing touches to take outdoor living spaces from good to great. To encourage functional use of outdoor spaces, provide the conveniences necessary to keep people from going inside.
Carefully executed outdoor living rooted in quality design and highlighted by integrated landscape architecture will achieve huge returns in value perception. Even simple wood decks immediately recover 75 percent of their cost in perceived value. Imagine what enhanced spaces with fireplaces, kitchens, upgraded flooring or water features can do. With costs that can easily exceed 50,000 euros an outdoor room can be an expensive proposition. But, besides adding value to your life, it also adds value to a home. So, pull up a chair, pour a cool drink and listen to the water flow. Living outside the box can be fun.

Contacts:

Interior Design and Outdoor Furniture
Richard Lewis Interiors. 952 896 901 • www.richardlewisinteriors.com
Roche Bobois. 952 777 858 • www.roche-bobois.com
The White Design Company. 952 494 155 • www.whitedesignco.com
Aquapool Spas. 952 665 435 • www.aquapool.es

Decking, arbors and pergolas
Superior Decking Services. 650 146 064

Landscape Lighting
Creative Lighting. 621 116 343 • www.creativelighting.es

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