What is indoor/outdoor living? It means having a home with architectural elements that allow your indoor living to expand and blend with outdoor space. It means having huge sliding windows and doors that open your home right up to the outdoors and let the light and breeze in. It means opening an entire wall to the backyard to dramatically expand your living space. It means seamless transitions between your indoor home and outdoor escape.
Sound like a trend? Maybe so – but it’s one that’s changing people’s lives and it’s here to stay.
• Growing in Popularity – From covers of magazines to interior design seminars to homebuilders across the country to homebuyers of all income levels, indoor/outdoor living has seen an explosive growth in the last few years. Today, builders know that large sliding glass doors and windows are some design elements that help a home stand out from the rest.
• Green Living – Large openings to your backyard can actually improve your carbon footprint. For example, by opening an entire wall of your home to the outdoors, you are dramatically expanding your livable space without the need for more structure (saving yourself costs, materials, and energy) – all which improves your home’s energy efficiency.
• A New Lifestyle – More than just a trend, indoor/outdoor living is changing the way we live. No matter where you live, be it the sunny West Coast or the cooler East Coast, large space openings breathe life into a home. From entertaining your friends and family at a Summer BBQ to hosting a Spring or Fall dinner party, when you allow light and breeze into your home naturally you will wonder how you ever lived any other way.
Glass walls, outdoor rooms, shared materials, solar orientation, and transitional zones are all terms that builders are embracing while updating their designs. Interior designers have also reported that they are increasingly being asked to focus on exterior spaces and retailers such as Pottery Barn are featuring twice as many options for outdoor living as they did five years ago (think indoor/outdoor rugs, fade and water resistant furniture, shatterproof dinnerware).
Indoor/outdoor living used to be the kind of thing one only expected at luxury resorts or in West Coast beach mansions with living areas that erased separations between the house and an ocean view. However, that is no longer the case as indoor/outdoor living is no longer just reserved for beach dwellers. Instead, it’s now a concept that’s embraced by homeowners, homebuilders, designers, and retailers across the country.
