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Top Outdoor Living Trends for 2020

March 21, 2020
Published by Garrette Custom Homes

With spring approaching, now is a great time to update the garden and patio areas of your Vancouver WA homes. Whether it’s just some new lights and cushions or creating a whole kitchen/bar area, there are lots of ideas for making the outdoors just as much of a living area as the indoors of your home.

Overall, for a number of years now, there has been a growing trend of turning patios and garden areas into real living areas, with attractive furnishings and design elements that you usually think of inside the home, not outside. Outdoor rugs, wall art and sculptures, and atmospheric lighting are just some of the ways these outdoor spaces are becoming extensions of your home.

It’s easy enough if you have an existing patio area to choose sofas, chairs, side tables, and even outdoor rugs to define the space and make it comfortable and stylish. Add some vintage advertising signs or other weatherproof art on the outdoor walls to add more visual interest or you could also look into stone or metal sculptures or elegant wind chimes to add a finishing touch to the space. Decorate as if it were an indoor family room, with art, lights, and throw pillows and blankets. The key is to make it as comfortable as possible.

While exterior porch lights, tiki torches, and candles are the usual go-to outdoor lighting for evening entertainment, consider strings of warm white lights with larger bulbs than your typical Christmas tree lights. These can be wound along railings, woven through tree branches, or draped along walls to create soft ambient light. You could also choose to hang some attractive lanterns or even solar-light garden chandeliers. Solar lights in pots around the patio railing and lining the stairs are another way of adding light that isn’t too bright, but still enough to see by.

As well as decorating your patios and porches to feel like a real living area, one of the biggest trends this year is to create private spaces within your yard, with decorative pathways leading to small seating areas or even just a bench that is surrounded by greenery to create your own private grotto. Use rows of tall shrubbery in a corner of the yard to create a secluded area, or consider creating your own vertical gardens with wood trellis walls and plants that will fill the area, or potted  plants attached to the wall. These garden rooms can be large additional entertainment areas or simple spots to relax and unwind in a comfortable chair, surrounded by potted plants and attractive stone pathways.

The biggest trend this year, though, is the outdoor kitchen bar. Rather than a grill off to one side and a cooler of drinks, people are creating built-in grills with counters for prep and serving, built-in refrigerators for everything from food to drinks, and even sinks. Don’t forget the bar area with seats, and if you do a lot of cooking outdoors, why not create a second dining room with a full table and chairs and an overhead chandelier for the full dining experience.

The outdoor living trends of 2020 for Vancouver WA homes and elsewhere are focused on creating outdoor extensions of your home. To make the most of your backyard and patio, turn your outdoors into spaces that are just as comfortable and attractive as the inside of your home. Consider screens, fire pits, curtains, awnings, and walls of greenery to make your space usable for as long as possible throughout the year. Whether you’re entertaining or just relaxing with family, having an extra outdoor living area is a great addition to your home.

Categorized in: Community Info, Design Tips, Floorplan Tips, Home Decor Tips, New Home Tips

This post was written by Garrette Custom Homes