Behind the Scenes

It took me years to realize a big secret about Outdoor Rooms: They don’t need to be enclosed to be fantastic! We wanted to share three outdoor rooms Hanover Avenue designed in completely different cities and environments…. The first is the rooftop of Common House in the mountains of Charlottesville, the second is my own tiny urban courtyard, and the third is a sprawling drought tolerant yard in Texas. We’re showing these spaces together because they all illustrate insider design secrets that are easy to achieve and can help you create your own outdoor oasis no matter where you live. Outdoor Rooms are like adding square footage to your house without adding walls – who doesn’t love the idea of roasting a marshmallow in a “living room”?!

3 Insider Secrets

1. Create Intimate and Versatile Seating Groups.  The rooftop of  Common House is known for being both a wonderful place to work and hot spot to throw a party. The social calendar on the roof top of Common House is very diverse, so we knew the space and the furniture grouping needed to be flexible. Sofa backs act as walls, planters acted as corners, and umbrellas and awnings acted as ceilings, yet all of these elements are moveable to accommodate changing floor plans for various events. We even designed the planters on wheels so they can easily move and the umbrellas can shift around too – perfect for any gathering! The entire outdoor space is made more inviting by dividing the roof top into these various “rooms”.

Check out their instagram to see some of the cool events they host up here! *And a best, if you don’t live in Charlottesville, you can become an out of town member to have a home away from home for UVA games, weddings, polo, allll the fun things that happen in CVille! We designed the interiors with these fine gents, and we love the place a mongo amount – check it out the comfy cushions awaiting you!

…Create Intimate and Versatile Seating Groups (Continued)  Below, on the opposite end of the spectrum, my minuscule, urban back yard only has two furniture groupings. Though it’s tiny, entertaining is still a blast because we have a place to eat at the table and another to chat around the fire. Best, my fire pit chairs are comfortable but still fold up flat so they can be stored when we need more room for larger gatherings. Pro Tip: As a rule of thumb, 24″ between table areas and small seating areas is all you need in a smaller yard.

2. Limited Palette. Call me a one trick pony, but I love outdoor rooms to be shades of blues and greens with only limited hits of high chroma. Especially in smaller backyards, keeping the palette hues of nature (think sky and foliages) allows the space to feel bigger and less cluttered. But if you are a person who loves hits of color, my best advice is to use restraint. For example, if you are loving yellow as your theme, choose various shades of yellow and make your accent colors those that mimic nature (blues and greens) rather than adding another strong color like purple as your accent. I think this allows the bold colors to shine without looking garish.

3. Make use of  unexpected pieces. I love outdoor rooms with items that don’t feel like they are meant to be “all-weather”. To me, it makes the space feel less contrived and more inviting. The fire pit in my back yard is really a very old caldron that my Dad gave me – he is a professor at Hogworts. {{Just Kidding}} But I love that it looks different and inherited! Some of the chairs I use outdoors are not weatherproof, but if I get them second hand for a few dollars and they give me a season or two of good wear, I think their quirky personality is worth their enjoying the sunshine and rain as much as I do. And outdoors is a place that I say do anything funky with accessories – def don’t limit yourself to the items you find in the outdoor section of big box stores!

Shop The Look

So what do you think of these outdoor spaces? We hope they inspire you to give your back yard, terrace, or balcony a little lift. Please reach out in the comments below with any questions/feedback, and of course, always send us your before and afters so we can oooh and ahhh with you!

#FlawlessDesignForAll & remember, pinning is winning 🙂

xoxo

Anne