Planning an Outdoor Living Space


An outdoor living space can do a lot for a home. It can give you a place to relax in your free time, it can be good for entertaining guests, and it will provide you with more opportunities to enjoy the nice weather that is so common in the San Francisco area.

When it comes to outdoor living spaces, you have a lot of options. Depending on the layout of the yard, your budget, and your taste, you can do a lot of things that can make your outdoor space more functional and more enjoyable. If you want to achieve the best results, you will need to put some thought into this project. Let’s take a look at a few of the steps that you can take to plan for the best outdoor living space for your home.

Identify Goals

To start planning, you need to know what you are going to want to do with your outside space. You may want it to be a place to entertain friends or it could be a small space where you go to enjoy some of the outdoor features on your property. You want to think about how many people you will want to be able to enjoy this space at the same time, and the types of activities that you will use the space for.

Many of the decisions that you make in designing your outdoor living space will depend on the goals that you have, so it is important to have a clear idea from the beginning.

Size and Location

In planning an outdoor living space, you are also going to need to consider its exact location in the yard and the size of the space. For some, it might be right off the home itself, and for others, it might be set away from the structure. In finding the right location and determining the size of the space, you are going to need to consider things like the layout of the yard, the traffic patterns that people use when they are in the yard and the goals that you have for the space.

If you find that there are limitations on the size and location of your outdoor living space, you may have to make some adjustments or compromises regarding your goals. This is a good time to refine your plan and to decide what is important in regard to your goals for an outdoor living space.

Consider Existing Architecture and Landscaping

When you build an outdoor living space, you want to make sure that it fits in with the architecture and landscaping that is already there. If the space is going to be built right off the home, you want to follow similar lines in the existing architecture. In addition to that, you want it to fit in with the style of the existing structure.

If you already have some nice landscaping features, you may want to integrate them in with the space, or at least take the effort to avoid building a living space that is an obstruction. If you have flowerbeds, nice trees or a pond, these could work well as elements to integrate in with your outdoor living space. If you do not have any of these things, you might want to consider building some of these things to go with it.

Type of Construction

When you plan an outdoor living space, you generally have two options for the type of construction. You can build the space on a deck or you can go with hardscaping. If you already have a deck or patio, then you may already be planning to use one of these spaces as the base for your outdoor living space. If you do not, then this is a point that needs to be considered.

Both of these options have advantages and disadvantages, and within each, you will have all sorts of decisions that you will need to make. Depending on your goals, and the types of features that you want for the space, one could be more advantageous than the other, so it is important to put some careful consideration into this point.

Think About Wind and Rain

Since we are talking about an outdoor space, you need to take the time to think about protection from the elements. If your yard is open and breezy, you might want to think about some features that you can add to protect people from the wind. To achieve this, you could use various fencing solutions. If you want to go with a more natural and integrated look, you could consider adding some trees to block the wind.

With an outdoor space, rain might be an issue at times. For some people, they will just accept that the space will not be useable in the rain, but there are some people that may want to enjoy their outdoor living space even when there is a bit of a drizzle. If you want to use the space when it rains, you are going to need to think about building some type of roof or canopy to protect against the rain.

Lighting and Furniture

Furnishings and lighting will be a part of making the space more usable and more comfortable. For furniture, you want to think about the number of people that you want the space to be able to accommodate and the types of seating that you want. You can buy regular deck furniture if you want an easy solution, but there is also the possibility of having things like benches built in.

If you plan to use this space after the sun goes down, you are going to want to think about your lighting options. In this, you need to understand the types of activities that you will use the space for, and identify the areas of the space that will need to be well lit. You could buy rechargeable outdoor lights that will work well for some situations, but for the best lighting, you should go with lights that are built in and planned to light the different areas of the outdoor living space.

An outdoor living space can be a lot of things, and if you have the budget, you would be surprised at some of the nice features that you can have. If you want a nice outdoor living space that will meet up to all of your expectations, then you need to make sure to hire the right team for the project. Running this type of project from its planning to its completion can be complicated.

For building projects in the San Francisco and Oakland area, Monclair Construction is a team that can ensure success. We not only work on building new homes, foundation repair and remodeling, but we have also seen many outdoor projects to completion. For your outdoor living space, we can help you plan the project, and then we can carry out the work to make sure that it meets your goals.

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