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Living It Up In Your Outdoor Room
Connecting with family and friends in the safety and comfort of your own house - or hiving - is a new trend that appeals not only to homebodies.
This unique living space starts with a basic deck, porch, backyard, sun room, or other outdoor area typically used only during the summer. Add appliances and accessories such as a grill, dining table and chairs, outdoor fireplace or patio heater, spa or pool, and outdoor speaker system, and it’s a deluxe outdoor living room where you can gather with others year-round. “The backyard is a space that unites families and friends and warrants investment to reflect personal or family style,” says Rick Belmont, vice president of Products with Blue Rhino Global Sourcing. “Comfort, entertainment and escape products will continue to drive this ‘inside goes outside’ trend into the future.” Outdoor versions of traditional indoor appliances are abundant and easy to find. “Virtually everything you have inside your house is now available for the outdoor room,” says Helena Bennet, global product merchant for Outdoor Living at The Home Depot’s EXPO Design Center. “People are making this space a true extension of the inside of their home, rather than just a patio set and a grill.” A 2003 Weber® survey of gas grill owners with household incomes of $75,000 or more found that about 50 percent also owned an outdoor room. Of those who did not own an outdoor living space, nearly half were interested in creating one.
A Barbecue Chef’s Dream The barbecue grill is often the central element of an outdoor room. A grill and dining area lure guests outside to enjoy a juicy hamburger, sizzling steak, or skewered shrimp. But the basic barbecue grill has evolved from a dirty, messy contraption that may last a couple of summers into a sturdy, professional appliance that will stand the test of time.Upscale grills also include many extras you normally wouldn’t expect on the typical barbecue grill. Standard features for these impressive grills include stainless-steel burners, an easy-clean porcelain finish on cast-iron grates, sear plates to eliminate flare-ups, removable cleanouts, tool holders, smoker boxes, warming drawers, cast-iron griddle plates, and much more. Expect to cook a whole lot more than just hot dogs and hamburgers if you purchase an upscale grill. Many homeowners use their barbecue grills not only during summer but also during colder months. “It’s called chilling and grilling,” says Bob Bovie, Solaire™ public relations representative. “Many people grill in the dead of winter.” Solaire’s™ InfraVection™ grill is a hybrid grill combining both infrared and traditional burners. Available in 30-inch and 42-inch sizes, the grill provides infrared heat applied directly to the food. This cuts cooking time and helps seal in meat juices, Mr. Bovie says. An all-season grill must be built to withstand rain, snow, and heat. Weber-Stephen Products Co. gas barbecue grills sport weather-resistant work surfaces made of either granite-style thermoset, porcelain-enamel on steel, or stainless-steel. The Weber Summit® Gold D model includes six stainless-steel burners and cooking grates. Smoker systems are powered by 8,000 BTU-per-hour input burners; rear-mounted, infrared rotisserie burners; and a commercial-grade side burner. The Vermont Castings Signature Series line of gas barbecue grills also feature heavy-gauge, stainless-steel burners that resist corrosion. Vermont Castings model VCS3500 includes a 400-square-inch cooking area and 37,500 BTUs. The side burner is handy for boiling side dishes such as corn or lobster. As outdoor rooms become more popular, manufacturers are providing outdoor barbecue and kitchen islands that include a sink, refrigerator, and room to prepare food and serve guests. These are elaborate barbecue islands that can give your simple backyard a resort-like atmosphere. Plus you can dish up full-course meals for family and friends without dashing back and forth between the kitchen inside and your living space outside. Propane Equipment & Supply (PES) offers several barbecue entertainment islands custom-built to your specifications that arrive fully assembled and ready to use. The Alta model is a deluxe island with seating room for six at a circular, raised bar. Prep and serving space is also provided next to the stainless-steel grill. Options include a stainless-steel refrigerator, sink, lighting, and storage drawers. Carlena Garzarelli, representative for PES, says additional features for these islands include a CD player or radio wired to four speakers, 27-inch or 33-inch stainless-steel grills, 27-inch or 30-inch double doors, Danby glass-shelved refrigerator, drop-in side burner, and trash bin slide-out door.
Chatting Around the Fire Another key addition to the outdoor room is a way to keep warm on chilly evenings. A crackling fire expands the use of your outdoor living space beyond spring and summer and entices guests to linger just a little longer outside. There are several heating appliances available to fit the size and atmosphere of your outdoor room, including tabletop heaters, chimineas, patio fires, and full-size outdoor fireplaces.A full-size or tabletop patio heater is one of the simplest ways to warm a small outdoor living space. Endless Summer umbrella-style patio heaters from Blue Rhino Corp. provide up to a 20-foot diameter of radiant heat. Features include triple domes for improved performance in windy conditions, wheels for easy portability, and automatic safety controls that turn off propane gas flow if the unit is tipped more than 15 degrees. Blue Rhino also offers tabletop models that provide warmth over a smaller area, “but their portability makes them attractive to backyard chefs seeking to take a little edge off cool temperatures,” says Mr. Belmont with Blue Rhino Global Sourcing. “These units are easy to operate and run primarily on disposable one-pound propane tanks, but our models include an adapter hose which permits hook-up to larger grill tanks as well.” Lil’ Arctic Sun, manufactured by Artic Products, is a cast-iron and aluminum tabletop heater with a stainless-steel emitter screen. It is fueled by a standard propane disposable tank and features a push-button electric ignition. Available colors include green, beige, bronze, and pewter. Arctic Products also makes a line of cast-iron chimineas. One chiminea style is engraved with a decorative leaf design. Molded from cast iron with a cast-iron grate, the leaf style chiminea burns wood, charcoal, or pressed logs and is crack resistant. Available colors are black, green, bronze, and pewter. A patio fire is another attractive, efficient way to heat a small outdoor room. Vermont Castings offers a patio fire collection with several designs in both natural gas and propane models. They can be used on stone, concrete, and even wooden decks. An outdoor fireplace can warm larger spaces and is often the focal point of an outdoor room. The OASIS™ Outdoor Fireplace from Lennox Hearth Products features stainless-steel screens and optional bi-folded glass doors in a brushed stainless finish. It is offered in a traditional or herringbone brick pattern liner with optional bi-fold glass doors with brushed stainless finish. It uses an FTF10 chimney system, and its opening measures 42-3/4 inches wide by 24-5/8 inches high. The Majestic Fireplaces™ al Fresco series from Vermont Castings is available in both wood and gas models. They feature full firebox openings, stainless-steel construction, and outdoor designs to differentiate from the traditional indoor fireplace.
Music Creates Atmosphere Instead of four walls to box you in, music can define your outdoor living space and set the mood, whether it’s hard rock, swinging jazz, or soothing classical. According to the 2003 Weber® study, 38 percent of outdoor room owners report owning an outdoor stereo system or speakers.“We are finding that more and more people regard their outdoor environment as an extension of their home,” says Joanne Berthiaume, Bose public relations representative. “Whether you have decks, patios, pools or gardens, these areas are designed for relaxing or entertaining. And music enriches that enjoyment.” Because of the freedom an outdoor setting provides, it’s not always certain that the listener will be between or close to the speakers. Bose uses an Articulated Array® speaker design in its 251® SE outdoor speaker systems, which provides a full, balanced sound over a wide area. The 251® environmental speaker system reproduces sound over a much larger area than other outdoor speakers. It has exceptional deep bass performance, due to a 5 1/2-inch woofer placed in the multi-chambered bass enclosure. The Free Space® 51 environmental speakers are designed for in- or on-ground mounting and provide full-range sound coverage over a large listening area. The speakers are available in textured green to blend with landscapes and other outdoor furnishings. They can be used as primary outdoor speakers or as a complement to an existing system. StereoStone® offers camouflaged speaker systems that blend in well with natural outdoor environments as garden rocks or flower planters. Speaker systems that look like rocks are available in realistic finishes such as brown sandstone, grey granite or black lava. StereoStone® also offers planter speakers to keep your sound system conveniently hidden as a container for flowers. River rock and garden speakers come in three levels of power. The 100-watt model provides good performance for spas, patios, or small gardens. The 125-watt model is better for medium-sized areas such as pools or tennis courts. The best overall high-fidelity performance can be found in the commercial, 250-watt model that is best for wide areas of sound coverage such as larger yards. InvisiSound™ speakers by Monster Cable Products are designed to prevent your music from sounding just like background noise, which can happen when speakers are produced from cheap parts and low-end technology. AIS-30 two-way Outdoor Speakers come with 4-inch woofers and a 1-inch balanced drive dome tweeter. The wall-mounted speakers are available in black or white. Monster’s high-performance speakers are internally wired with Monster Cable® for the best possible sound and are easy to install with common household tools.
Create Your Own Backyard Spa It’s been a brutal week at work, and nothing sounds better than a warm, relaxing bubble bath as soon as you get home. Why stay indoors when it’s a beautiful, starlit evening outside, and the spa is beckoning you? You can take a mini-vacation right outside in your outdoor room.Cal Spas offers hot tubs in more than 25 different shells with multi-level, contoured seating. Ergonomic styling provides comfort and stress-free relaxation. Some features include neck jets and neck blasters, fiber optic lighting, and aromatherapy systems. Among the most surprising and unusual features are flat-screen television sets and DVD players attached to the hot tub itself. So you can catch a movie, sip a drink, and relax in your outdoor spa simultaneously—the epitome of relaxation at home. The 2003 Newporter Entertainment Spa features 67 jets, a 17-inch flat screen television, DVD player, and CD/stereo system with subwoofer and surround sound speakers. Another home spa trend is a growing demand for high-end custom spa designs instead of the traditional square pool, says Greg Mash, product designer with Bradford Products LLC. Bradford offers conventional spas as well as the innovative swimspa, which is larger than a traditional spa but also smaller than the average backyard pool. The swimspa often has spa-style seating and therapy jets at one end, while at the other end is a current generator. “The notion ‘swimspa’ means that the vessel has its own means of generating a stationary current, which the bather will swim against without ever reaching the other end, or having to turn around (as in laps),” Mr. Mash explains. “The small size enables those with limited space the ability to have a pool where one typically wouldn’t fit.” More Editorials |
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