Create an oasis with outdoor room

The easiest way to add to your living space: Look outside.

With no walls necessary, "outdoor rooms" are becoming backyard havens for relaxation. Depending on the materials used overhead and underfoot, they can be seasonal or year-round.

"People are realizing by doing an outdoor room, they can really expand their living space," said George Khayat of Casual Elements in Rancho Cordova, Calif. "It's not just a backyard anymore, where you set out a table and chairs. It feels like a room."

That can be just about any room. Designers are creating outdoor kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, dens, bedrooms, even areas with showers and soaking tubs.

Unlike most dens or kitchens, these rooms could be washed down with a hose.

"It's something we all covet but don't get around to doing," said Jamie Durie, host of HGTV's "The Outdoor Room." "But they help you feel good just by being outside. We suffer from nature-deficit disorder. Outdoor rooms are a way to reconnect with nature."

Outdoor rooms allow living plants to be part of the decor. Shrubs can be partitions; potted plants become centerpieces. Living borders soften hard edges.

"Living outdoors is something everybody does in the summer," said Kathy Brenzel, Sunset magazine's garden editor. "But you can also connect with nature in unexpected ways. Birds and butterflies usually don't fly into your living room."

Brenzel has several outdoor rooms in her own Menlo Park, Calif., backyard.

"I have a dining area under a redwood tree, a fire pit with gravel flooring, a cocktail area where the late sun comes through," she said.

"... You can make your outdoor room anything you want.

"What I love is the sense of play it allows. Backyards are supposed to be fun. People can indulge their fantasies, create a Hawaiian retreat, a Baja margarita bar or a surfer-themed garden. Most of all, it's a place we love to be."

Khayat's national company specializes in outdoor furnishings (check out www.casual-elements.com). With the recession, demand for furniture dipped. But customers sought other things to make their outdoors great.

"This year, we started selling barbecue pits and islands," Khayat said. "They've had an incredible reception."

Part of the appeal of outdoor rooms: They can be cheap.

"You can start with an old couch. Cover it with pillows," Brenzel said. "You can make a table out of a slab of concrete."

Sunset magazine recently challenged Los Angeles designers to create outdoor rooms. Jennifer Barguiarena put together a canvas-covered dining pavilion for under $600. The most expensive part ($338) was four large ceramic pots to anchor the tarp poles. Stylist Gena Sigala needed less than $300 for a personal retreat featuring a large market umbrella, salvaged daybed, sea-grass mats and lots of pillows.

HGTV host Durie devotes his series to creating these personal oases. "The Outdoor Room" travels the globe for inspiration, then transforms ordinary backyards into exotic retreats. An unused courtyard becomes a yoga-friendly space for meditation, for example.

"I've been designing outdoor rooms for 12 years (in his native Australia)," Durie said. "Americans are really waking up to it now, and not just Californians."

Where to start?

"I start where people begin with most rooms," Durie said. "That's soft furnishings, art and color. Take the little lessons you learn around the house straight out the back door. Add the touches you like."

Said Khayat, "I really like water features, too, such as a fountain. There's something about the sound of water that's very relaxing."

Shade is vital, Brenzel said.

"Always start with a great umbrella. If you don't have a covered patio, it's instant shade, and you can move it.

"Then, add comfortable seating. I love outdoor wicker. It's easy care and looks great. Then, consider lighting. There are so many more options now and it lets you use the room after dark. I really like portable fire pits, too. They can extend your outdoor season."

The floor defines the space. It can be "hardscape" such as flagstone or tile, gravel, decking or an alternative. Some ideas: A washable outdoor carpet, low-growing groundcovers that can take foot traffic or just plain dirt raked smooth.

Creating an outdoor room can be a solution for challenging yard space. For example, grass won't grow under the spreading branches of a large tree. But the leafy canopy forms a natural umbrella.

Don Burns faced a different dilemma, common to many new homeowners. Two years ago, he bought a two-story Sacramento, Calif., house in foreclosure. Built in 2005, the three-bedroom home was a bargain; the yard, not so much.

"It's a canyon backyard, very narrow," Burns said.

A mere 8 feet wide, the space runs 43 feet along a two-story stucco wall, facing into the neighbor's dining room. It gets, at most, three hours of sun a day.

People like to congregate outdoors. Burns knew he had to do something when he hosted an Easter brunch.

"I had 40 people, but there was just nowhere to sit in the backyard," he said. "People were literally standing in the flower bed."

Burns found his outdoor-room inspiration at Hearst Castle, the famed mansion in San Simeon, Calif. While sitting on a wall overlooking the Pacific, he realized he could create his own sitting wall at home.

After rough-sketching his ideas, Burns got together with a contractor. A 5-foot fountain from Pottery World became a focal point with imported tile adding a colorful splash. At chair height, the sitting wall curves around planters.

"I wanted a maintenance-free yard and got a room in the bargain," Burns added. "I now have a place where you can sit down and have a good time."