When I am prepping houses for sale or helping clients re-design their homes I often notice they have overlooked including outdoor areas on the to do list. These are important areas in the life of your home. My work focuses on lifestyle in Southern California and outdoor spaces often act as full functioning rooms for nine months out of the year. Buyers and guests visiting your home during these fair weather months will surely enjoying the outdoor spaces you have created just as much if not more than your inside living areas. Look around your yard and/or patio and see how you can improve the aesthetic of your outside space for summer. Here are some of our top tips:
-Does your outdoor furniture have outdoor cushions? If so, what condition are they in? Replacing or cleaning existing outdoor cushions can give your old dining set a fresh facelift for summer. If buying new pieces don't feel you have to be too matchy matchy. Just as you plant your garden with complimentarry colors, buy cushions that play off one another useing different patterns and textiles that coordinate to add extra depth visually to your seating. I love to use outdoor throw pillows in the back of regular dining chairs. Guests appreciate the extra cushioning (especially if they're short!) and it adds an inviting look of comfort to the table.
- Weed plant beds and re-fresh the mulch! A clean crisp plant bed creates that fresh feeling for your yard and new mulch will prevent new weeks from quickly growing. I also like to add beautiful rocks that I find around Ojai as a garden border or as an interesting natural design element. Largeer rocks also make beautiful stepping stones and stairs on terraced areas.
-Clean your outside barbeque area and entertaining space. Nothing is worse than having someone cook for you in a filthy from winter outdoor kitchen. Consider investing in a barbeque cover next fall to make spring/summer clean-up less work.
-Re-oil outdoor wood furniture and accesories. Teak Oil, Tong Oil, Linseed Oil are some commonly used conditioners for outdoor wood. A staging trick is to use an SOS pad on the wood first which removes some of the winter weather wear. Do this a day before oiling so the wood can dry completely. And when you oil be sure to do it out of the direct sun for better results.
Happy beginning of summer! Simplify. Revive. Renew.