As temperatures fluctuate from wintry mix to summer breeze, area landscape architects, interior designers and deck builders brace for the annual onslaught of clients who want to transform their outdoor space into a seasonal family room.
“What I’ve noticed is everyone wants a patio or outdoor living space, like a barbecue, outdoor kitchen or chimney, as opposed to plantings,” said Robert Groff of Groff Landscape Design in Fairfax County. “A lot of people are doing the planting on their own or they come back for it later.”
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Fueling the trend toward creating outdoor living spaces is new technology that allows manufacturers to produce durable, weather-resistant materials.
There are outdoor fabrics that look and feel the same as regular fabrics. Once dull gray composite decking now comes in finishes indiscernible from exotic woods. Patios, retaining walls and paved walkways are being constructed with crack-resistant, engineered materials.
“There are so many new fabrics and they are increasingly easy to clean and maintain,” said Barbara Hawthorne of Barbara Hawthorne Interiors in McLean.
The trick is blending these advanced products with the timeless beauty provided by flowers, scrubs, trees and grasses.
To balance all the colors already in a garden, Dana Tydings, of Tydings Design in Gaithersburg, recommends neutral shades. “Beige doesn’t have to be boring,” she said.
Because landscaping is already visually busy Elizabeth Norman of Elizabeth Norman Landscape and Garden Design in Middleburg, Va., suggests boldly patterned fabrics as opposed to fabrics with tiny prints. It is also good to view a fabric at different times during the day to see how it responds to natural light, she said. “Pay attention to what happens when the sun goes down. “Natural light can be incredibly powerful and incredibly sublime.”
Maintaining outdoors structures, such as arbors, decks and gazebos, is easier thanks to better decking material. Trex, which revolutionized decking materials nearly 20 years ago, has a new product called Trex Transcend that comes with a 25-year warranty.
“We use Azek, Trex Transcend and Evergreen,” said Josh Desilets, president of Deckscapes of Virginia. “Evergreen is good. Azeck is better and Trex Transcend is the best. Oil, grease, and things of that nature won’t soak into the board.”
Outdoor kitchens and fireplaces remain popular among clients, especially for entertaining and to get the family together outside, according to Anthony Cusat, of McHale Landscape in Upper Marlboro.
“They want to be the house where everybody comes,” Cusat said, “And it’s not to create an ‘it factor,’ it’s to create an environment that’s conducive to outdoor interaction.”
Jay Graham of Annapolis-based Graham Landscape Architecture said he likes to install low walls in his designs. “This time of year your furniture is still in storage,” he said. “With a low wall, you go out and sit on the wall and enjoy a cup of coffee. In the summer the wall can be used as a table.”
