Photo courtesy of Patio World.

The most popular addition to homes in the past 10 years has been outdoor living space. What formerly may have been just a small patio with a dining table and four chairs has grown into what many call their outdoor room.

Your outdoor room will be the most popular area in your home if properly planned to fit your individual preferences and desires. Do you like to entertain family and friends? Do you like to BBQ and dine outdoors? Do you like to relax in a comfortable lounge chair? Do you like sitting around a cozy fire on a Central Oregon evening? Many questions to answer.

The most common outdoor rooms are a concrete or paver patio or a deck. However, most people aren’t limiting themselves to only one outdoor living area. Depending on the architecture of your home you may have a couple different areas. Maybe a small front porch where you can spend summer evenings watching the world go by and a larger area in the back where you can BBQ, entertain, hot tub or whatever your choice.

Comfortable outdoor furnishings of excellent quality will really transform your outdoor room into your special place. Most people are choosing plush cushioned seating to simply hang out and relax while having cocktails or immersed in reading. Dining chairs normally feature less cushioning and are a bit more upright, but they are still at a more relaxed angle than indoor dining chairs. Outdoor dining chairs and tables are usually a couple inches lower than their indoor counterparts to accommodate the casual outdoor atmosphere.

Your outdoor room is a much different environment than an indoor room, but it’s not uncommon for higher quality outdoor furnishings to last 25 years or more. Unfortunately, the greater share of outdoor furnishings purchased at box stores is of insufficient quality to last more than a couple seasons. Marketing people may use buzz words to legitimize their low quality products. However, there is an inordinate amount of cheap patio furniture that is destined to reside in the local landfill after a couple seasons. Additionally, the factories putting out the cheap products are polluting our wonderful clean environment. Buying long-lasting quality is a great way for going green!

Custom orders can take five to six weeks, so it’s best to plan ahead in choosing your outdoor furnishings so you can get exactly what you desire. You will likely own it for a number of years, so it’s worth the short wait.