Home Remodeling
101
Something about summer makes us all
want to go outside and play. Just as it takes a lot of work
to make a house a home, a good outdoor area is not a patio
unless you can enjoy being around in it. You know: go barefoot,
play badminton, have tea, arm-wrestle with the kids, snip
a few dew-lapped roses, read, eat, sleep even. If you can't
use your deck, can't go out there and actually enjoy it, what
is the point?
To that end, the easiest way to get
maximum returns on your deck is to treat the outdoors as an
extension of your house. And just as there is not one all-embracing
living space in your home, you probably will not want one
monolithic expanse outside. You will want rooms outside your
house, just as you do inside.
A few artfully placed shrubs, trees,
flower beds, fences, or decks-whatever-and you have sheltered,
private rooms reserved for dining, playing, and resting outside.
So pull up a lounge chair here, set up the picnic table there,
and by all means, stretch out the hammock over wonder.
Furniture has an important place in
the garden, just as it does in your home. But to get the most
use out of a garden chair, it helps to ensure that both its
feet and yours do not become mired in the mud. To this end,
hard flat surfaces--outdoor floors for your outdoor rooms-can
keep your terra firma suitably firma.
Brick is a traditional favorite for
floor material in outdoor rooms. It is durable and colorful,
it can be artfully laid out in a multitude of designs, and
it keeps furniture on a steady, even keel. Its angularity
can be softened with curves in the layout, and its uniformity
can be undercut with variation in pattern. Brick also can
define an outdoor room in walls and fences, in floating "islands,"
and in walkways climbing hilly terrain.
Dividing the deck into several areas
and stairstepping them yielded a number of extra benefits.
One large deck would have overpowered the rear facade of the
house and looked like a giant runway. Smaller decks that follow
the slope of the yard merge the house more gracefully with
the lawn. Also, a single-level deck would have projected farther
out from the house, blocking views of the lawn from ground-floor
rooms inside the house.
To learn more about KwikDek decking
products, return to our home page or call and speak to
Home
Improvement Ideas Part 1
Home
Repair for Your Garage?
Living
in a rental? 
