Contractors combine form and function in designing outdoor living spaces

Not only has outdoor living become more popular in recent years, it’s become more than just decks and patios, according to Remodeling magazine.

Contractors are installing outdoor living rooms with vaulted ceilings, fireplaces and kitchens, and they’re maximizing whatever views the homeowners have. Here are some of the ways you can make your outdoor living space a bigger part of your dream home:

• Instead of just a pool house to go along with the pool, include a studio for art, architecture, pottery or other useful function;

• Make sure your outdoor living structure blends with the existing house and its roof ties to the house’s roof;

• If you’re building a lanai, or porch or veranda, maximize openings and views;

• Find decorative ways to provide the outdoor living space screening, such as a pergola (trellis) and making tall planter platforms part of the deck rail so they don’t take up floor space and can drain onto the ground;

• A covered outdoor structure creates a more interesting roofline and dresses up what otherwise is a simple box;

• Choose materials for your porch or veranda that hold up well in the outdoors and, more specifically, in your climate;

• Build the design of your outdoor space on paper before you physically build it to work out all the bugs;

• A sliding glass door from the interior to the exterior living space could optimize the view of the lake, mountains or other geography outside your door;

• Your outdoor space should face south, if possible, so that the sun passes over rather than shines in your face in the morning or evening;

• Have your contractor coordinate with the landscape designer and pool installer to coordinate placement of larger structures and to hide equipment.