Summer is the time to lighten the weight of fabrics and add cheerful colours around us, to celebrate the arrival of the season. To enjoy extend your living area outside, and connect with your surroundings. Add plants to your window dressings. Rearrange a space and make it more comfortable for the hot summer months.
Whether your décor projects happen indoors or outside, they’ll refresh your space and make you feel like a special guest in your own home. Summer is a lighthearted, playful time of a year, and with a little time and effort, your home can reflect this carefree attitude. Here are some ideas to decorate your surroundings for the season.
Turn Your Gazebo in a Summer Retreat
Convert your gazebo in the outdoor living room this summer, and arrange seating to encourage guests to sit, socialize and relax. Place a durable rug in the outside living room, to make it an extension of your
interior. Accessorize the area like you would any of your indoor rooms. Add end tables and a coffee table for convenient placement of food and drinks, and install outdoor lighting, like lamps and sconces to use in the evening. To create the ultimate outdoor living room, add fabric panels to your gazebo. Install an outdoor fireplace or a freestanding fire pit to help guests stay warm on cool summer evenings.
These outdoor settings will let your create and enjoy your own oasis, with your loved ones.
Potting Boxes
Get creative, you can pot a plant in anything which have a opening on the top and a place to hold some soil in the bottom, so examples are old draws from any cabinet, or chest of drawers, chipped pottery, old rain gutters, old log hollowed from the middle.
I especially like old rain gutters. You can play with them, very easily. Tie them with wire on the top of stairs railing or hang them on the sides of gazebo or try them on the sides of your deck.
Try your hand on old light fixtures or concrete blocks as your planters. Concrete blocks, also known as Cinder block has this special appeal when grouped in twofold. For starters they look chic and modern while still being cost effective. Then the rest of their appeal comes in when you take a look at their footprint in Your outdoor space. Many of us only have a small deck or a few feet to enjoy. Why take up that extra room with planters? In this solution you don’t have to. Grow up instead of out !
Outdoor Movie Theatre
Watching movies has always been the best part of our teens. This do not have to change as we progress in our life. Turn your backyard into an outdoor movie theatre to enjoy your summer evening with friends over snacks and drinks.
Some tips about how to setup the outdoor movie theatre. Your projector should be mounted as high as possible, the higher the better. Some ambient lighting goes a long way. It sets the mood and it also helps your friends in finding their way around. Adding a fire pit on the side will add some drama and provide warmth in the cool summer nights.
Serve the regular movie snacks with some home made sandwiches, pinwheels, cheese nachos etc. Marshmallows another great choice for the fun evening. Your fire pit now can serve another purpose, marshmallow roaster. Yummy !
Last but not the least , BUG SPRAY. Do not forget the bug spray, for movie nights, as you will definitely need it.
Install an Outdoor Kitchen
Outdoor kitchen does not have to be an elaborate kitchen. A gas barbecue and small counter space is more than enough to do the job. Even the coziest outdoor kitchen can create big impact outside. Just keep your mind (and your budget) focused on the essentials as well as the features and functions you’ll use the most. A simple kitchen with bare essentials can go a long way in improving your backyard’s sizzle and style quotient.
Cooking outside is a welcome change from the usual routine. Place an outdoor kitchen near your indoor one so it’s easy to carry food items back and forth.
Building an outdoor kitchen may not be very expensive. Your old kitchen cabinets doors, freshly painted with new hardware can go a long way. Use your existing BBQ as an insert with bricks/cinder blocks walls to build cabinets. For smaller outdoor kitchen space, high-end materials can be used, as they aren’t as much of a budget-buster, as for bigger kitchens. Use this opportunity to make surfaces like the counter-top with materials like flagstone, blue stone, round stone, concrete or even granite. Sometimes sticking with the basics can be the most satisfying strategy.
As, summer time is party time and time to enjoy fresh air and sunlight. During summer most of our time spent is outdoors in gardens and patios, on decks and pools. To party in warm summer evening, small outdoor kitchen, a fire pit, outdoor movie theatre, lots of potted plants on the deck and gazebo with sheers, are all must haves.
Invite your family and friends, cook up some quick, simple and fun foods and put up a movie in your outdoor movie theatre and have LOTS OF FUN!