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Home & Garden Articles
Enjoy the Indoor-Outdoor Lifestyle
Thu 27 Aug 2009 - 11:14
Enjoy the Indoor-Outdoor Lifestyle
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Kelsey_Smith]Nancy Kelsey Smith
One of the greatest concepts to be introduced and embraced in the last few years is the idea of indoor/outdoor living. This entails adapting areas outside and adjacent to your indoor living spaces to extend your space for relaxing, entertaining, etc. Many of the new (and smaller) homes that are being built are incorporating this concept to the delight of those who buy these homes.
Many of us live in older homes and do not have the luxury of that layout but we can make small changes to the floorplan we do have that will create the desired effect for a relatively low cost. Typically, it would be the living room/family room area or kitchen that would most benefit from this approach. There needs to be a door leading to the area outside and preferably this would be a glass door. If you don't currently have this feature, plan to make that change. This is an expense that will prove well worth while as you will be able to more fully enjoy your available living space. Once that purchase has been made, the rest is very inexpensive and easy to attain. All it takes is the addition of a piece of two of furniture (if you don't have extra pieces at your disposal, garage sale items work wonderfully), and a few well placed plants in interesting containers and if desired, an indoor/outdoor area rug. Presto, you have another available living space.
When I imagine what my ideal home would look like, I envision small areas off of several of the rooms that would extend their living space by incorporating use of the outside spaces. Bedrooms would all have glass doors leading to the outside where there would be found a small table and at least one chair (preferably wicker or metal) where one could sit and sip a cool drink while reading the newspaper or a new novel or just enjoying the day. The only other thing needed to complete this idyllic scene would be some beautiful plants or flowers pleasingly arranged. Some of the "outdoor rooms" may be defined by a small indoor/outdoor area rug which are widely available and inexpensively priced. The kitchen would have double glass doors leading out to a patio area where there would be a larger table and 6 plus chairs for outside eating and entertaining.
Obviously, summer is the ideal time to full enjoy and make the best use of this arrangement but I have found that even in the cold winter months having something lovely and interesting to look at when you gaze out your windows or glass doors is a great idea. Keeping a few small evergreen plants (firs, pines, boxwoods) placed in pots that can be moved around your yard as desired is a good way to get more mileage out of your purchases. When winter arrives at my home I simply move and arrange several of the potted evergreens where they can be seen from inside the house and then I can enjoy them all through the winter season. It's especially fun to put small, white lights on them during the Christmas holiday, they cheer me each time I pass by. Try it, you'll like it.
Nancy Smith is one of the owners of RobbinsSports.com, an online retailer specializing in [http://www.robbinssports.com/sporting-goods-store/basketball-basketball-uniforms-c-22_281.html]basketball uniforms and a [http://www.robbinssports.com/sporting-goods-store/basketball-basketball-jerseys-c-22_279.html]basketball jerseys.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Kelsey_Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?Enjoy-the-Indoor-Outdoor-Lifestyle&id=2818297
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