When it comes to designing the perfect outdoor living space, there’s a lot you can do to add both charm and functionality. No matter the size of your yard or patio, there are countless ways you can transform your space and make it an extension of your home so that friends and family members can spend time together. To give you some ideas, here are seven tips for creating an outdoor entertainment area for ultimate relaxation and good times.

1. Find the Perfect Location

Assess your property’s lot and outdoor space to determine a good spot for building your outdoor entertainment area. If you have a small backyard or narrow side lot between you and neighbors, it can seem tight–but don’t worry! There are still many clever ways to make the most of your outdoor space. For instance, consider some tall privacy walls to make it an intimate retreat. A split-level or tiered deck design is another fantastic option for properties built on slopes and inclines, giving a scenic view and vantage point over the backyard. Tiered decks also allow a way to divide porch aspects such as seating groups, dining areas and cooking stations.

2. Design an Outdoor Kitchen and Bar

Speaking of cooking stations, there’s no better addition to an outdoor entertainment area than an outdoor grill. More than that, you can design an entire outdoor kitchen around it, complete with outdoor appliances. Whether it’s gas or charcoal, choose the best built-in grill for your cooking style and prepare delicious meals for family and guests. You could even add unique party-pleasers into your outdoor kitchen, like a margarita machine, a wood-fired pizza oven or a practical ice maker to ensure drinks are chilled.

While you’re at it, design your outdoor kitchen with some counter space that extends into a bar area, complete with stools. This not only allows for various seating options but also a place for family and guests to congregate as the chef manages the grill.   

3. Incorporate Various Seating Options

As you create an outdoor entertainment area, be sure to add comfortable patio furniture. Think of dining tables shaded by umbrellas for weekend brunches or chaise lounges with a nearby cantilever umbrella for catching some sun. 

Also, space out separate seating groups for guests and family members. Not only does it give options for comfort, but it allows everyone to maintain social distancing while still enjoying each other’s company. For instance, you could have a conversational set in one section of the patio or deck and a hammock or porch swing in another. You could even build half walls with pavers to visually divide the seating groups and offer a sense of privacy. This is especially helpful when you have tiered decks and patio spaces for everyone to spread out.

4. Build a Spot for Bonfires

If you want to create a relaxing ambiance in your outdoor entertainment area, be sure to have a way of building a bonfire. Whether it’s a fireplace like a tall chiminea, standing fire bowl or a coffee table with a built-in gas fire pit, a crackling and warm fire adds a pleasant glow to the overall ambiance. This works especially well in the spring and late summer when the nights begin to get cooler.

You could even design and build your own DIY fire pit, stacking repurposed rocks from the backyard. Give it a wide ledge for extra seating, a spot to place drinks and snack plates or make it merely a place to kick up and warm your feet. Be sure to add some chairs around the bonfire to create another separate seating group as well.  

5. Wire a Sound System and Television

Music can go a long way when entertaining guests, providing the perfect atmosphere and setting the mood. Complete your space with outdoor speakers so you can stream your favourite playlists.

Better yet, purchase an outdoor television so everyone can watch the big game. You could even gather around and spend some quality family time together, like having a movie night complete with some popcorn and pizza.

You’ll want an outdoor television that is at least 43 inches so that everyone can see it.  Being daylight readable is important, as well as being able to operate at outdoor temperatures all year round.

• 43inch Full HD LED panel
• 700cd/m2 Brightness – Twice the brightness of a normal TV
• Built in 2 x 15W Amplifier
• Operating temperature -20 to 60 degrees – suitable for use all year round

6. Hang and Install Lighting Fixtures

Just like bonfires and music play a huge role in creating ambiance in your outdoor entertainment areas, so does the lighting. Not only can lighting offer a well-lit area once the sun goes down, but it also casts a soothing glow. Install some basic sconce lighting along the exterior walls, but be sure to hang up some string lights or cafe lights across the lawn or patio as well for a charming touch. You could even attach LED rope lighting beneath the edge of the banister for a streamlined, chic effect. And if you can’t have a bonfire, you can still add a few large hurricane lanterns and light candles inside to cast a wide glow across the ground or deck. 

7. Raise Some Privacy Walls

For homeowners who are concerned about privacy, raise a privacy wall or fence along the edges to keep out neighboring properties. Unlike the chain link fence of old, there are many more fashionable modern fencing options today. For example, you can install a metal privacy screen with various punched cut-outs to suit your outdoor entertainment area’s decor.

As mentioned earlier, privacy walls also allow you to make the most of small spaces. Install a tall privacy wall to separate spaces as well, creating intimate areas that family members and guests can escape to for some peace and quiet.  

More Outdoor Garden Design Ideas

There are plenty of other ways you can adapt your outdoor spaces.

1. Best lawn games for family fun
2. Slacklines for the garden
3. Outdoor Trampoline buyers guide

The post 7 Tips for Creating an Outdoor Entertainment Area appeared first on Active Outdoors.

I spoke to Rosemary Ward from the Royal Horticultural Society to find out more about how gardening can be beneficial to everyone.

Current bestsellers in Gardening on Amazon

Here’s some reasons to get into gardening that show you can be active outdoors and achieve something worthwhile at the same time. And don’t worry if you haven’t got a garden, we’ve got a few ideas for getting round that too.

Reasons to get into gardening

Impress your mum by growing her bouquet for Mothers’ Day. Daffodils are easy; just plant the bulbs in autumn, and they’ll flower the next spring. Choose two or three varieties to cope with changes in the date and the vagaries of the weather.

Challenge your friends and see who can grow the tallest sunflower, the longest runner bean or the biggest pumpkin. You can grow all these from seed; try your local supermarket for the cheapest packets. Start the seeds on a sunny windowsill in April or May, then plant them out in a sunny position, keep them watered and give them some liquid fertiliser now and again.

Picture by Johnny Boylan

Improve the neighbourhood with colourful flowers. Brighten up your street with bedding plants in tubs and window-boxes; fuchsias are good for shade, and geraniums for hot, sunny spots. Just buy, or scrounge, one plant and you can take cuttings to produce lots more. If you get really inspired, you could get involved in Britain in Bloom (www.rhs.org.uk/britaininbloom)

Win prizes by competing at horticultural shows. The real money is in giant vegetables, such as leeks and onions, where prizes can run to hundreds of pounds. Start with your local show where the competition is less fierce and you may end up with a nice trophy. Local libraries should know what’s on in your area.

Help save the planet by growing your own fruit and veg, and cutting out some energy-guzzling, greenhouse-gas-generating food miles. You can save yourself a lot of money too, especially if you grow more expensive crops such as baby spinach, mangetout peas, fancy salad leaves or gourmet potatoes. For more on growing your own vegetables go to rhs.org.uk/vegetables

Do your bit for wildlife. Grow plants such as holly, cotoneaster, crab apple and berberis to provide berries for birds. Buddleia produces large, scented flowers that are a magnet for butterflies, and bumblebees love lavender. Ivy provides nectar-rich flowers, berries and shelter for birds to nest in. For more on wildlife gardening go to www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk

Get fit: gardening doesn’t have to involve a lot of effort, but if you want to build your strength and stamina, a bout of digging is a good way to do it; and you’ll have something to show for your efforts, not just aching muscles.

Spice up your diet with home-grown herbs. Top off a pizza with thyme or marjoram, grow mint or lemon verbena for a refreshing tea, and get authentic with fresh coriander on your take-away curry. Most herbs are easy to grow and generally do well in pots and window-boxes. You can even try them indoors on a sunny windowsill.

Chill out: it’s a proven fact that gardeners live longer than non-gardeners, and lots of people find being close to plants is a great way to de-stress. If you haven’t got a garden yet, visiting someone else’s can have the same effect. If you join the Royal Horticultural Society you can get into 140 of the best gardens in the country free. Membership is less than half price for under 25s, and you get all the same benefits as older members. Go to www.rhs.org.uk/membership to find out more.

Add a little romance: many plants have fascinating histories, intriguing folklore or gruesome medicinal uses associated with them, and growing them brings these stories to life. For something more practical, you could grow roses, pinks or lavender and strew the deliciously scented petals in your bath

Astonish your friends and family by growing weird vegetables you’ll never see in the supermarket. How about orange cauliflower, black tomatoes, red broad beans, blue potatoes or yellow raspberries? Then there’s beans with yin/yang markings, spotty lettuce and stripey radishes. Or you could try salsify, that’s supposed to taste of oysters, or ruby chard with stems so red and shiny they look as though they’ve been varnished.

Gardening without a garden

Even if you haven’t got a patch of earth to call your own, there are lots of ways to enjoy gardening.

If you’ve got any outdoor space at all, even if it’s just a balcony, flat roof or tiny yard, you can garden in containers. This doesn’t mean laying out for expensive pots or tubs, but using your imagination and looking at what you might recycle to grow plants in.

If you’re still at school, join the gardening club; or persuade your teachers to start one. You can get lots of help and ideas by going to the RHS School Gardening website.

Visit your local allotments to watch and learn and maybe help out a bit. If you get the bug, you may be able to rent your own allotment, or share one with a friend or member of the family.

See if any of your neighbours have gardens they are not using, or struggling to manage. In return for helping them out you can pick their brains, get lots of experience, and maybe a share in the produce.

Find out about local community gardens. These exist all over the country and often rely on volunteer labour. They’re also a great way to make friends to. Find out more at Farm Garden

Stately homes, public gardens, National Trust properties, local parks and many other gardens welcome volunteers to help out and most are really keen to encourage young people to join in.

The post Gardening for fun appeared first on Active Outdoors.