Live larger by extending your living space beyond the boundaries of your house. Linking the indoor and outdoor spaces of your Long Island, NY, home via the strategic use of masonry and other design choices will promote your idealized lifestyle. The transition from inside to outside can be seamless with a well-planned landscape design.
Context and Continuity
One way to better connect the indoors to the outdoors is by focusing on ease as think about how you’ll move between your living spaces. You can aim to minimize changes in elevation. The pavers you have installed for your walkways and patio spaces could be as smooth as the surfaces you use in your house. And the color of the pavers could be similar to the color scheme you employ indoors, or at least complement it.
Image Source - Unilock
Whenever possible, you want to make the progression from indoors to outdoors to feel more like a continuation rather than a dramatic change. For instance, a welcoming seating wall around a fire feature would make your outdoors look as inviting as your indoor living room couch and all its plush pillows. The outdoor kitchen can be fully stocked, with all the necessary amenities, to ensure the conversation and entertaining outside resembles the same type of activities that go on inside in the cooler months. The emphasis should be on thinking through how to facilitate quality interactions that make the outside areas feel more like an extension of your home. Choose stones for your outdoor kitchen, bench seating, or even fountain feature that reflect the home’s sense of style to further the linkage between the two areas. This approach will make it clear that your living space doesn’t end at the back door—it keeps going, with the addition of fresher air!
Related: 5 FINISHING TOUCHES TO COMPLETE YOUR LONG ISLAND LANDSCAPE DESIGN PROJECT
Consider a Dual Perspective
When considering the connections between the interior and exterior of your home, give thought to the view you’re creating from both perspectives. For example, you may want to be able to admire your water feature from your kitchen window. A gorgeous set of stone stairs leading up to an entryway could be admired from your outdoor dining room table.
Careful planning around your landscape lighting can also help in this regard. For gatherings and outdoor experiences, you want the lighting to aid safety as people navigate your landscape, but you also want to highlight the best masonry features of your yard, such as your fire pit or a retaining wall topped with pretty flowers. Thought needs to be given to making the lighting bright enough for getting around and for transitioning to the indoors when the time comes—but not so bright that you feel like you’re inside when you’re actually outside.
Related: BEAUTIFY YOUR OUTDOOR SEATING AREA WITH STUNNING MASONRY IN WESTHAMPTON, NY
Compelling Masonry Features
To further blur the lines between your indoors and outdoors, you can swap the expected elements involved in either living space. For example, a cozy couch setting placed in front of a roaring outdoor stone fireplace provides the romance of the outdoors with the comfort you’d typically find in your indoor living room. A slatted wood ceiling braced by stone columns allows shadows to grace the porch and creates visual interest and comfortable shade. Or a stone bench coupled with cozy pillows and blankets brings an insider’s comfort of the outside.
As for indoors, you could have your mantel or fireplace redesigned with stone features that resemble what you have installed outside. You could also scatter plants with similar shapes and textures in containers or beds throughout both the inside and outside so solidify a connection.