Creating the Perfect Indoor-Outdoor Living Space
One of the biggest shifts in the home and interior design industry in recent years is the move away from closed floor plans and towards multiple blended living spaces. This design involves a more fluid use of the indoor and outdoor areas of the home, allowing for better flow and integration throughout the overall living space.
While homeowners across Australia have always enjoyed indoor and outdoor entertainment areas, Territorians have a distinct advantage. Beautiful year-round weather means that blending interior and exterior living zones is particularly ideal for the Top End lifestyle. Sure it can get a little humid during the Wet Season but relaxing outside and watching the storms roll in is such a unique experience most Territorians take for granted.
Transitional living spaces are the perfect way for Territorians to get the most out of their outdoor area throughout the whole year, while also extending the reach of their indoor spaces. If you’re unsure how to go about achieving this look and design, we’ve compiled a list of tips on how you can create the indoor-outdoor style in your own home.
Blended Living Spaces
The popularity of open, blended living spaces in Australian homes is due to its ability to introduce light, space and depth into interior rooms. When executed properly with defined zoning, blended living spaces can not only make your home feel bigger, brighter and more inviting, but can also help alfresco areas to act as natural extensions of the indoor space.
These blended spaces perfectly cater to the busy activities of the modern Australian family, allowing people to engage and interact more easily in a communal space while still allocating individual areas for relaxation and concentration.
Bi-Fold Doors
Bi-fold doors are made up of panels that fold up into a stack against one side of the wall when the door is opened. Typically used to offer unimpeded views of the alfresco area, backyards or gardens, bi-fold doors also allow plenty of natural light to filter through into the home, and offer an elegant solution for bridging the gap between the indoors and outdoors.
Stacker Doors
Stacker doors provide more space, better access to the backyard or alfresco and extra light. Much like the benefits of a sliding door where you can really open up a room, stacker doors actually allow you to control the amount of air or space that you desire.
The panels of a stacker door are a lot smaller than say a sliding door. Thus, allowing you to open 1 panel out of the 6 stacker doors, instead of having to open one half of your sliding door.
It’s also easier to leave open when you’re entertaining and require guests entering and exiting the kitchen or alfresco area. It allows more open space for an area that is quite small by creating more room to move. Our Zuccoli Aspire and Northcrest display homes both feature stacker doors so we would encourage you to come and experience their benefits first hand!
Outdoor Dining
Hosting outdoor barbeques and dinner parties are some of the most enjoyable ways to put your alfresco area to better use. Whether your preference is for a casual patio lounge set or more formal dining arrangements, be sure to sure to invest in outdoor furniture pieces that are long lasting, weather resistant, and ideally low maintenance. This will enable you to treat your outdoor area as an additional living space in which to relax, eat meals, and entertain guests.
Décor
Furniture isn’t the only thing that can make your outdoor space feel more comfortable and appealing. Try adding decorative touches such as outdoor cushions or throws, lighting options like fairy lights or lanterns, or feature pieces like an ornamental mirror or vase. Leafy pot plants, large or small, also work wonders for brightening up the outdoors; meanwhile, outdoor rugs add interest and texture to simple spaces. Decorating your alfresco area will help it to feel much more lived in, like an integral aspect of your home.
Water Features
Water features and installations bestow gardens, alfresco areas and backyards with an aura of ambiance and tranquility, heightening the existing beauty of natural elements. Versatile in both design and scale, they can be subtle and unassuming, such as a solitary fountain or bird bath, or striking enough to completely transform a space, such as a koi pond or a water wall. Water features are a fantastic way to enhance the look and feel of your alfresco area, whether you’re after a modern, rustic or classic look.
Indoor Greenery
Having greenery inside the house has many health and lifestyle benefits. Apart from their naturally bright and decorative appearances, household plants help to purify indoor air, liven up dark or drab spaces, and even decrease the stress levels of inhabitants.
There are a variety of popular indoor plants that brighten up communal living spaces and are easy to maintain. Succulents are a low maintenance, super effective way to add a splash of colour and really liven up an area.
We really are lucky up here in the Top End and what better way to take advantage of the beautiful weather than leveraging both the exterior and interior zones of your home. With a little creativity and ingenuity, it’s easy to create living spaces that can be utilised throughout the year, whether they’re indoors or outdoors. It’s the perfect way to enjoy our distinctive lifestyle.
Bendella Group has a range of homes that blend the indoor and outdoor space to create an extremely functional living area year round. Our award winning Beach House design is a perfect example and is our most popular home to date for this reason!
Next stop.. learn how to create the perfect indoor/outdoor space!
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