Budget Decorating
(featured column)
Decorating
Your Outdoor Room on a Budget
by Kathy
Wilson
Outdoor rooms
are extremely popular these days, and not just amongst the rich and famous! You
can squeeze an outdoor room in almost any space, and decorate it to match the
style and mood of your home, inexpensively! More...
Any room needs
furniture, and an outdoor room is no exception. However, much of the patio
furniture on the market today is quite expensive. You can make inexpensive resin
chairs work for you, however. There are new varieties with a texture to them
that looks more like wood than their slick plastic counterparts did. Look for
these! Also, the white Adirondack resin chairs sell at my local discount stores
from $11 to $15, and look amazingly like the real painted wood chairs,
especially from a distance. Dress up your new chairs with some cushions, and
they will fit right in to any décor! You can also now spray paint those chairs
with a new paint from Krylon called Fusion. Pick it up for about $4 and
customize cheap plastic chairs. (Hint: Look at garage sales for used ones you
can repaint!)
Once you have your furniture in place, time to think privacy.
Hopefully, you are protected on at least one side by a wall, fence, or building.
A great way to offer yourself some more privacy is to use a trellis as an extra
wall, and plant fast growing vines at its base. You can anchor the trellis in a
planter to make a moveable wall. Morning glories, scarlet runner beans, and
moonflower will all cover your new “wall” in no time!
If your outdoor room is protected in part from the weather,
fabric curtains can be used outdoors as well. I suggest using cheap flat sheets
and either a staple gun or a grommet kit. Cheap muslin can work as well, and is
so inexpensive it can just be replaced the next year! This is a great technique
for the end of a porch or deck, and can help control the sun as well. Be sure to
use tiebacks for those times you want to let the breezes blow through.
Lighting is so often overlooked in outdoor rooms because of its
expensive nature, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Candles and torches
are wonderful for outdoor meals, and solar lights can be used for safety,
without the expense of electrical installation. Strings of clear holiday lights
are magical wrapped around a tree, or over a porch beam. Luminaries can be
created with recycled cans and a punch tool, then drop a candle inside.
Finally, don’t forget accessories to add charm and style to
your outdoor rooms! Pick up some unfinished bird houses at the craft store, and
decorate them with paint, then hang in a group on the garden fence or wall. Use
scrap lumber to paint signs for your garden room with inspirational sayings, or
words. Use your hand tools as décor items and hang them on the fence or wall.
Lean an old picket fence against the porch wall, (or a new one, you can get a
premade picket fence piece for around $8 at the home improvement center!) then
place planters of flowers in front of it. Add cut flowers in pretty pitchers and
bowls from the kitchen, pick up candles at the dollar shop, and lay out a fabric
napkin or two as an impromptu tablecloth.
Any way you do it, an outdoor room is worth having in any home,
and with a little creative thinking can be decorated with style, comfort, and
the spirit of the seasons which coax us out of doors.
* * *
Copyright © 2006 by Kathleen Wilson. All
rights reserved.
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