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Deseret Morning
News, Friday, April 08, 2005
Connect inside of your
house with the beauty outdoors
By Ann Robinson and
Annie Vernon
For the Deseret
Morning News
With the advent of spring after a particularly foggy winter,
you may already be connecting more with the outdoors through
hiking, biking, golf or puttering around in the garden. But
have you ever considered how well your home connects with
the outdoors?
A
Liberty Park-area home has small windows and an unattractive
back door and porch See
this project.
Renovation Design Group |
An excellent way to improve your home is through the addition
of effective indoor-outdoor connections. These connections can
be physical, such as French doors opening up onto a porch, or
visual, such as the addition of a window to expose a lovely
view.
Indoor-outdoor connections can be minor, such as a mudroom
situated between the garage and the home, or major, such as
an outdoor entertainment area placed just outside the doors
of a home's main gathering space.
Whatever the case, effective indoor-outdoor connections encourage
occupants to conveniently get out and enjoy the outdoors,
while bringing the beauty of the outdoors into your home.
Here's another good reason to consider adding indoor-outdoor
connections to your home: their value. For example, exterior
living space adds usable square footage to your home without
costing you the $120-plus per square foot you'd spend for
the construction of an addition.
Outdoor rooms defined by structures such as decks, porches
and trellises include gathering spaces, meeting places, outdoor
kitchens, eating areas, play areas and even secure sleeping
porches. Finally, adding visual connections to the outdoors,
such as through the addition of glass doors or enlarging a
window, adds value to your home by making its interior space
appear larger than it actually is.
In considering the physical indoor-outdoor connections that
might work for your home, remember that connections should
be placed to help homeowners and guests transition comfortably
from the outside to inside and vice versa. For instance, public
spaces at the front of the house, such as porches, are very
important for welcoming people into the home.
To provide privacy from the street, outdoor entertaining
spaces and recreational areas are best placed in back of the
home, off of an indoor gathering space if possible. Small,
non-trafficked spaces, such as a fenced atrium, should be
created outside bathroom windows.
French doors, sidelight windows, gable windows and a master suite
addition make the home much more inviting. See
this project.
Renovation Design Group |
Improving your home's visual indoor-outdoor connection includes
adding or enlarging openings to capitalize on outdoor views
and to allow more natural light inside. Where a spectacular
outdoor view does not exist, a charming focal point in the yard,
such as a fountain or a flower garden, can be added. If too
much light is coming into a window, outdoor structures can be
built to modify the light. For example, a trellis can be constructed
to shade a west-facing window.
However you like to enjoy the outdoors, effective indoor-outdoor
connections can help suit your home to your lifestyle.
Related Articles:
-
Capitalize on views and natural light
-
Public vs. private is key to design
Architects
Ann Robinson, AIA, and Annie Vernon, AIA, welcome your design
questions at Ask@RenovationDesignGroup.com.
Robinson and Vernon are founding principals of Renovation
Design Group, a local architectural firm specializing in residential
remodeling design.
To register for "Designing a Remodel with Character &
Class," call 533-5331 or click
here for details.
© 2005 Deseret News
Publishing Company
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