When planning an outdoor living space, ask yourself a few questions.

1. What activities do you need to allow for? Write down all the likely uses. You can reconsider it later to what fits in your financial position and space.
2. What kind of space do you want to prepare plans for?
3. How is your financial position? Be practical about what you can spend. Also, be careful not to overbuild for your market! Make an outdoor living area an investment, not a financial loss.
4. Are there existing plants and trees to take into account? Plants provide shade and visual appeal to an outdoor area.
5. Do you need hardscaping (porch, deck, paths, etc)?
6. Is privacy an issue? You can put up a wall or fence, or plant trees, vines or a hedge if you have to screen out a neighbor’s view into your yard.
7. Is direct sun an issue? You do not want your friends to be having cocktails in the heat of the summer sun. Plan for shade.
8. Consider any lighting you might need. You can light walkways, shine floodlights on plants and focal points, and have dim lighting where appropriate.
9. Have you considered a water feature? Fountains and ponds add a peacefulness to outdoor living areas.
10. Will you be eating or cooking food outside? If this is the case, plan for the right hardware you might need.
11. What sort of patio furniture might you want?
12. Are insects going to be a difficulty? If so, you might want to need to consider some screened areas.

Other things to think about when planning an outdoor enjoyment area

The change from your indoor space to your outdoor domain should be as invisible as possible. This can be achieved easily by employing coordinated color schemes and textures, as well as choices of furniture and cushion fabrics.

Use the summer weather, and plan an outdoor living space that will suit your needs and be as nice as the inner spaces of your domain. This is also a superb, effective and fairly inexpensive way to seem to increase the area of a smaller home in all seasons.

Terry Potter works at Pipefine Patio Furniture, which has been in the patio furniture business for over 40 years, both as a manufacturer and retailer. The company also sells replacement outdoor cushions for all brands of patio furniture.