Winter Outdoor Living
By Dawn West
dawn.west@homeimprovementideas.net
Home Improvement Ideas Columnist
You may think, "Winter outdoor living? Yeah right, if I lived in California." Well, think again. The tips in this column aren't for people who live in Phoenix or LA, where winter and summer are a lot alike. These tips are for folks in Iowa, Ohio, Vermont, and all those other places where winter is a cold and often harsh time. While you can’t expect a tropical miracle in Michigan in February, these tips can help you get a lot more warmth and light and a real sense of the outdoor living you enjoyed all summer long, even in the cold of January. Here's how.
You don't have to spend winter hunkered down in the dark without a ray of sunlight in your life. These tips can help.
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Start with a Heater
You can extend the life of your patio well into October and November with a few good patio heaters. They won't melt all your snow, and they won't create a weather-defying bikini zone, but they will make spending time outdoors much more pleasant in those transition months.
Glass Works Wonders
While you may not be able to hang out on a standard patio all winter, with a patio enclosure you sure can. Glassing in your patio means you can regulate the temperature. It also means you get all the beauty and light the outdoors has to offer. If a patio enclosure doesn't suit your tastes, consider more glass in your home in general. Adding a sunroom or simply adding more windows to your family room can bring in that crucial extra light to help beat the winter blues.
Think Light
In winter, we often bring out dark colors, and while mulberry, navy, evergreen, etc. are certainly lovely shades, whites, yellows, pale greens, and other traditional summer colors can make your home seem lighter and airier. Consider keeping them in at least a room or two.
While you can't defy the weather completely, a patio heater, a patio enclosure, more light in general, and some wishful decorating can capture that sense of outdoor living that makes summer so great, even in the depths of winter.
About the Author:
Dawn West teaches writing at Oregon State University. Her previous experience includes working for the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, a not-for-profit in New York City, and serving as the director for an educational program for at-risk youth in Boston. Dawn holds a B.A. in English from Harvard University.
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