Rooms With a View
By: Josh Garskof, This Old House magazine
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Outdoor Living Areas
Most yards consist of a lawn, with a smattering of shrubs and flowers. You
mow, you weed, you prune, and you admire your handiwork on your way to the
mailbox, but otherwise your landscape may not see much action. Yet by thinking
of the spaces outside your house the same way you think about the ones inside,
you can transform your property with versatile outdoor living areas that draw
family members and friends to all points near (the front porch) and far (the
back fence).
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Bruce Littlefield
Case in point is the outdoor space around this 1920s farmhouse in the
Catskill Mountains of upper New York, owned by Bruce Littlefield. When he bought
the place in 1999, it was so overgrown with brush and poison ivy that it took
the whole summer to clear it. The author of several lifestyle books about
decorating inside and out with vintage finds—including the recent Garage Sale
America—Bruce envisioned his property as a series of open-air rooms centered
on a different activity or landscape feature. "I figured I could double the size
of my house and the number of people I could have over by adding rooms
outdoors," he says.
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Furnish a porch, deck, or patio like a living room
The furniture on most porches backs up against the house, which is fine as an
observation post or a place to read the paper, but it's not the best setup for
socializing.
What was done here: When Bruce designed the front
porch addition to his farmhouse, he made it a generous 12 feet deep, instead of
the usual 8, to fit extra furniture. He also added electrical outlets for
plugging in table lamps and recharging his laptop. To make the most of his
space, Bruce planted boxwoods around the low-slung porch's three open sides,
rather than ringing it with railings. This increased the usable floor space and
allowed him to hang a vintage swing, which he faced toward the sofa that sits
against the house. Streamlined furniture, such as an armless, weatherproof sofa,
petite metal chairs, and painted wood tables—all found at yard sales or on
eBay—expand the space even further.
More take-home tips: On a back
deck or patio, create different furniture groupings based on the activities you
want to have happen there. For instance, a large, all-weather table and chairs
in the center can easily accommodate a family barbecue, while benches along the
perimeter will encourage private party conversation.
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Create a feeling of enclosure—and some shade—with an overhead structure
A little cover from the hot sun will make an outdoor room more comfortable,
but that doesn't mean you need a solid roof.
What was done here:
Building this vine-covered pergola over the patio casts a pleasant dappled light
on the recycled bricks—and any seated occupants—below. Bruce's garden designer,
Tim Cleary, used pressure-treated 6x6 posts to support a grid of 2x10 beams and
2x6 rafters fastened with through bolts. The beefy construction was required for
the American wisteria that Mary Cleary, Tim's wife and business partner, trained
up the posts. Otherwise, the thick, twining vine, which grows quickly but can
take years to flower, will pull apart nailed boards and crack small ones. Mary
also planted clematis to cover the posts with summer blooms. (For more vines,
see the list on slide 11.)
More take-home tips: A retractable
fabric awning off the side of your house or a patio umbrella can also provide
cover, keeping diners and loungers from baking in the heat. Outsize and
cantilevered umbrellas can shade most of a small terrace or deck. (Giant Umbrella Company and All American Pool and
Patio offer a look at some of the latest.)
Illustration Rodica Prato
Know-how: Making a strong, stylish pergola
A good part of the detail on the freestanding pergola shown in slide 4, and
much of its stability, are found in its four corners, where the tops of the
posts are wrapped with two sets of interlocking beams that have rafter
tails. Here, David Valcovic of Trellis Structures—This Old House
landscape contractor Roger Cook's go-to guy for custom pergolas—shows how to
make this long-lasting connection:
1. Where beams cross on the outside
corner of the post, notch them about halfway through—one from the top, the other
from the bottom—so they fit together with the tops flush.
2. For
beams that meet at the inside corner of the post, cut off the rafter tails to
the same length as the ones extending off the first set of beams. Notch beams
halfway through where they meet at the post's inside corner; they should fit
together with the tops flush.
3. Route ½-inch-deep slots in the outside
faces of the first set of beams to accept the second set's decorative rafter
tail pieces; this will keep them from visibly pulling away when the temperature
changes. Glue and screw the pieces in place. —SAL VAGLICA
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Use a water feature to draw people out into the yard
Build a fish pond or place a birdbath or gurgling fountain near your property
line to bring family and guests out for a visit, maximizing every inch of your
green space.
What was done here: The large boulders arrayed
around Bruce's pond provide sturdy, impromptu seating. There's no need to lug
chairs out to the water's edge to watch the koi, turtles, and frogs. When
planning a pond of your own, avoid putting it under a cluster of trees. "You
don't want to spend all your time cleaning leaves and debris out of the water,"
Bruce says.
More take-home tips: You can create a simple focal
point with a fountain. All you need is a submersible recirculating pump,
something for the water to pour over—such as a stack of river rocks—and a basin
to catch the overflow so it can be funneled back (check out the pebble fountain
on Bruce's patio, in slide 4). A fountain helps drown out noise from neighbors
and car traffic. Just be sure there's a spigot and a GFCI outlet nearby for
refilling evaporated water and running the pump.
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Use low walls and a floor to establish the room's footprint
An outdoor room can be located almost anywhere in your yard, but there are a
few guidelines for creating one. They typically require some sort of floor, such
as crushed stone, brick pavers, or even a patch of steppable ground cover.
You'll also need walls: A simple hedgerow, picket fence, or adjoining trellises
can create a boundary.
What was done here: The remains of the
5-foot stone foundation Bruce found on his property are tall enough to provide a
sense of enclosure but not so high that you can't peek over them and take in the
view. Working with Tim Cleary, he laid a bed of pea gravel to form a stone
floor, then outfitted the space with a table and chairs and a bar cart for an
outdoor dining and entertaining room.
More take-home tips: You
could build your own sitting wall of mortared stacked stone. At just 17 or 18
inches high and 1 to 1½ feet deep, topped with flat capstones, it easily doubles
as a bench.
For a planted border, consider evergreens such as boxwood,
holly, or privet. All-season greenery will help define the space and prevent the
spread of loose gravel into the grass—and vice versa. Choose dwarf varieties to
keep pruning to a minimum.
Illustration Rodica Prato
Know-how: Building a gravel patio
Laying a crushed stone floor is one of the easiest ways to increase outdoor
living space, says TOH's Roger Cook, who suggests using locally
sourced stone to minimize transportation costs and your carbon footprint. Here's
his step-by-step:
1. Mark the patio's borders with spray paint and
excavate 4 inches of soil within those lines using a square-head shovel.
Compact the remaining soil with a hand tamper.
2. Fill the excavated area
with 2½ inches of pack—a mix of 3/4-inch crushed stone and stone dust—and rake
it level before tamping into a smooth 2-inch-deep slab.
3. Lay
landscape fabric over the base and sink steel edging along its perimeter. Use a
wood block and hammer to tap the edging down until it's level with existing
grade. The edging spikes should puncture the landscape fabric to secure it in
place.
4. Shovel gravel on top of the fabric until the patio's evenly
raked surface is ½ inch below the top of the edging. —SAL VAGLICA
Photo Richard Felber (Styling by Michelle
Lay)
Take advantage of outbuildings
Your yard may already contain features that can anchor an outdoor room. The
exterior wall of a detached garage, a toolshed, or a storage barn are ideal
starting points.
What was done here: Rather than tear down this
dilapidated outbuilding, Bruce shored up and spruced up the structure as the
backdrop for a covered seating area. He retained the building's vintage
character by using corrugated metal roofing and vertical plank siding finished
in charcoal paint, giving the boards a weathered look. He used a bold red on the
divided-light door, awning-covered window, and trim boards to set off the
structure's details. He then added a Japanese maple and an ornamental pine,
foundation plantings worthy of a house. For the seating area itself, he laid a
pea gravel floor and built a shed roof overhead using rough-cut 2x4s from a
local mill, more corrugated metal for the roof, and two Victorian-era porch
posts that he picked up at a yard sale and painted to match.
More
take-home tips: To gussy up a garage or shed, attach wood lattice on a
sidewall for climbing roses to grow up, put up a flower box beneath a window,
and arrange a pair of Adirondack chairs or a bench in front of it for an outdoor
reading nook that's sheltered—at least on one side—from the wind.
Photo Richard Felber (Styling Michelle
Lay)
Add a hearth for an instant gathering place, day or night
Fire turns any spot in the yard into an attraction where people can keep warm
and admire the flames on a cool night, much as they would in a living room with
a fireplace.
What was done here: A stone-ringed pit makes a patch
of grass near Bruce's front porch an enticing daytime destination. A die-hard
flea marketer, Bruce has a collection of secondhand chairs to put out. But he
prefers a simple moisture-resistant cloth. "The best picnic blankets are those
quilted moving blankets from the U-Haul store," says Bruce.
More
take-home tips: If your outdoor room is a ground-level patio, consider
adding a masonry fireplace or buying a prefab one. You can get a large
freestanding model sheathed in faux stone veneer for $500, while a more
elaborate fireplace with a copper chimney cap and tabletop-height pillars on
either side goes for $1,000 (both at Sears).
Most store-bought hearths burn logs, but some run on natural gas or propane and
can be plumbed into your home's fuel line, just like a gas grill.
More Perennial Vines for Pergolas
1. Sweet Autumn Clematis: Heavy foliage with small, white, late-summer
flowers
2. Climbing Hydrangea:Waxy leaves and big, flat, white
flowerheads in early summer (shown)
3. Trumpet Honeysuckle Tubular:
Scarlet flowers that give off a honey scent
4. Dutchman’s Pipe Large:
Heart-shaped leaves that make an excellent screen
Types of Decorative Gravel to Consider
1. Pea Gravel: Usually sandy in color, inexpensive, and easy on bare
feet
2. River Rock: Smooth stones extracted from riverbeds in a
variety of colors, often grays
3. Lava Rock: A very lightweight,
red-ochre-colored pebble with angular edges
4. Quartzite: Similar to
pea gravel but with a brighter, whiter color
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