First Up - My Dream Outdoor Space

Apparently there's a guy - Jamie Durie - who has a show on HGTV called The Outdoor Room. I really didn't need to know that. If there's anything I could be addicted to, it's HGTV. I haven't watched TV (other than the occasional late Saturday night Criminal Minds re-run) for well over 2 years. But now that I work from home, it's just not right that I should discover a show on how to create something I've wanted since we were able to buy a house of our own ... an Outdoor Room.

So I chose the article about how Jamie Durie can advise me on creating the perfect Outer Sanctum in the September 2011 issue of Better Homes and Gardens as my Project "Good Advice" 1st try.

"Jamie encourages everyone who has a small patch of earth - or even just a patio or deck - to re-imagine their exterior environment as a functional, eco-friendly living space."

OK … Here's what I recently tore out of a magazine as my OMG-I-Want-That outdoor space.

Nice, huh?

Jamie’s featured space in BH&G is also quite nice.  I was particularly interested in the pictures of his “green roof” pergolas.  He made planter boxes at the top of the pergolas to hold plants of all sorts, that beautifully, elegantly and naturally hang/sprout/blossom around the edges of the roof.

Well, I think I have this one nailed.  I don’t even need to read how to do it, ‘cause we already have that going on.  See that, at the top of our roofline?  It’s vegetation my friends.

Yep, we are avant-garde at our house, and now boast an eco-friendly, green roof of our very own.  So it’s a little brown now, and I’m pretty sure that what’s growing in the gutter isn’t supposed to, but I interpret this as a start to my new and improved outdoor space.  Whaddya think?
We are constantly trying to re-imagine our spaces.  We’ve been in home improvement mode since 1998. These last 2 years we have been outdoor focused.  Taking out a crumbled and broken old driveway, expanding and re-paving it, and slowly (for real – very slowly) have been reconstructing our front space to include little luxuries such as steps and walkways.

How close are we to getting my dream outdoor space?

Yeah … even my favorite tree just up and died this summer waiting for this to get finished.

When Mr Durie tells me to grow a green wall, I’m pretty sure he isn’t thinking NW Moss.  Or to get comfortable and set out a day bed with soft luxurious cushions as a must-have, we’d be talking moving furniture out of the house or garage for about 10 (non-consecutive) days out of the year (the rest of the year it would just take up space we don’t have). Or to add fire as a sensual element, but comes with a huge caveat: not if you own any of these!

I remind myself that he lives in sunny southern California, is a TV Host who can write off his hobby as business deduction and was born with wicked creativity and imagination – none of which are part of my particular situation at this time (and unlikely to be in the future).

Here’s my take away though:  our spaces should accommodate our life, not the other way around.  I will work on that piece of advice for all the projects we undertake.

And if anyone knows Jamie, tell him to stop by … and lend some much needed specific advice I can really hang a flower basket on.

Cheers!