My future outdoor room

Many of the design blogs have been buzzing about the recent Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, which featured both the office spaces of architect Stan Dixon and designer Suzanne Kasler. These are spaces that I have come to know well over the past six months as Stan is the architect who is designing my new house, and Suzanne is the designer who is creating the interiors of the home.

In the Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles article on Stan Dixon (which can be seen here), there is a small picture of a sketch that Stan had created for a project – and the project is my house! It is a sketch of the the outdoor room that we are planning. In Atlanta, outdoor rooms are quite popular as the weather is pleasant much of the year, and much of the fall and winter are mild enough to enjoy sitting outside when there is a fireplace. 

Photo credit: Erica George Dines, via Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.

Here is the entire sketch of the space (sorry that it is not straight!). We considered various locations for the this space, and different size rooms. When Stan came up with this sketch, it was exactly what I had in mind (Stan knows that I need to see something before understanding it, so he kindly created this sketch for me while on an airplane flying to a client site). Although the details of the space will be fleshed out by Suzanne, Stan’s initial feel is that the room will have a very simple fireplace, with a limestone bolection mould on the painted brick. Stan likes the idea of a mirror over the fireplace to reflect the pool and the outdoors, and the casual elegance of canvas curtains to frame the opening. He also envisions some sort of green vine on the opening to soften the look.

The outdoor room is going to be aligned with the pool, and was designed to be just large enough for a seating arrangement. We made the decision to make the outdoor room a space for sitting and visiting rather than dining; this allowed us to make the space smaller and more intimate. We can easily set up an outdoor table elsewhere if we want to eat outside.

This is one of the features of the new house that I am most looking forward to, and I particularly like the idea of having a covered space where I can sit by the pool and not worry about getting too much sun!

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Outdoor Rooms

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This might seem like a strange post in the dead of winter (and on top of that, Atlanta is in a record breaking cold wave), but I have been thinking about outdoor spaces quite a bit given that we are working on the plans for the new house, and outdoor rooms are highly desirable in Atlanta homes. I have never really saved pictures of outdoor rooms, so although I can think of at least 20 pictures that I have seen from magazines and real estate listings, alas I do not have these files on my computer. However, I was able to dig up a few prime examples to illustrate this post.

Some outdoor rooms are big enough for both a table and seating, and others are meant mainly for a cozy seating area and a fireplace. When building a house, the cost of building an outdoor room is not that different than building an indoor room. After all, outdoor rooms require a roof, a floor, often nice walls and ceiling treatments.

This breathtaking outdoor room, in a recent edition of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles, has many features of an indoor room – beamed ceilings, lovely lighting, and an artful arrangement of furniture. The designers were inspired by the California design aesthetic as epitomized by Nancy Corzine, Barbara Barry, and Michael Taylor. Design by Judith Schindler and Sudi Cecil, photo credit Erica George Dines.

This charming outdoor space, by architect Jack Arnold, is part of a home in Connecticut, and was featured in the December edition of Traditional Home. Photo credit: Michael Partenio.

This is perhaps the most luxurious type of outdoor room: a pool house that has its own living area. Image via Phoebe Howard, who did the interiors on this pool house in Birmingham (click here to see the inside).

An outdoor room in a beautiful home I featured last year, with interior design by Melanie Turner. The home was built by Benecki Fine Homes, and was the personal home of the builder (it recently sold). I think this is the perfect size for an outdoor room – a cozy little place to sit in front of a fire, and I like how this room is oriented to the pool outside.

Another beautiful outdoor room that was recently featured on Limestone and Boxwoods. Image courtesy of Blayne Beacham. Click here to see the real estate listing by Beacham & Company REALTORS.

A beautiful outdoor room in an Austin, Texas home. The outdoor furniture is Janus et Cie. Interior design by Fern Santini; image via House Beautiful, photo credit Ngoc Minh Ngo.

Architect Jack Arnold’s home in Tulsa, featured in Veranda Magazine several years ago, features an outdoor ‘cabana’.

This beautiful outdoor seating area is right off the living room in a home I featured last year.

The level of finish detail is unbelievable in this loggia from a home on the market in Atlanta. I don’t think I have ever seen a limestone fireplace in an outdoor room!

Another beautiful loggia, from a home on the market in Atlanta (although it just went under contract). If you look across the pool, you can see that there are twin loggias, one off the master, one off the family room.

I have heard time and time again that outdoor rooms, particularly in temperate climates like Atlanta, become the favorite hang out place in a home. When I have been to parties at homes around Atlanta, the outdoor room (particularly when there is a fire lit, and the temperature is not too cold outside) is a real gathering place. What about where you live? Would you use an outdoor room if you had one?

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