Outdoor Living Space

Beat The Heat In Your Outdoor Living Space

Your family swimming pool is an ideal way to beat the heat this summer. What happens, though when you want to be near the pool, but might not want to swim? There’s a variety of ways to have fun and stay cool poolside this summer, as well as ways to improve the functionality of your outdoor living space.

A small pond of water garden might be the perfect backyard addition to help keep you cool when you aren’t in the mood for a swim. Adding a poolside garden creates a sense of relaxation and tranquility. The water adds a cooling element as well as transform the poolside space with its relaxing sight and sound.

We can help you find one that suits your personality and the unique layout of your swimming pool and backyard space. A free form pond lends itself to a relaxed feeling as you create a path to and from the pool. If you add plants to a pond look for plants that lure in dragonflies as they help eliminate mosquitoes and be sure to consider elements to keep the water moving as mosquitoes are drawn to stagnant water.

If you are drawn to formal gardens, add planters or even raised planters to provide a structured feel. This would also be a welcoming design to add a reflecting pond or a fountain feature.

You can also change the way your backyard space looks and “feels” by adding garden ornaments like birdbaths, terra cotta pots, wooden barrels, statuary or urns add to the aesthetics. Choose features with an eye toward it melding with your existing landscaping or contrasting with what you already have in your backyard – it is a personal choice.

Consider adding an entertainment system to your outdoor living space. You could have any sized viewing screen installed. While we certainly don’t encourage sleeping in your pool, it’s a bet that your children would love hosting a slumber party that would include movie watching; why not give them the opportunity to do some of that in the pool? Choosing a motorized screen with a projector placed behind the screen will provide high definition viewing.

Where possible, placing speakers on or near a wall will offer better sound quality. Mounting speakers higher (up to ten feet) offers more sound coverage. Install enough speakers so that the sound can be heard clearly from different spots without the need to blast the volume. The speakers could also be designed as rocks, and skillfully integrated into the landscaping to make the theatre all but invisible when not in use.

That’s a great choice for the evening hours, but, what about daytime viewing? There are many television systems available on the market that are designed specifically for outdoor, daytime viewing.

If watching tv isn’t your idea of great outside entertainment, you could also have a stereo system installed, hiding your speakers in the same fashion, as rocks or hidden in bushes. Of course, placing speakers where you can hear them easily, but your neighbors won’t.

In this age of technology, everything can be installed with wireless technology allowing your entire system to be controlled from indoors. Beyond that, you reduce the worry of destroying your remote should it fall into the pool, as you can easily purchase one that is waterproof.

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