Indoor-Outdoor Design: Tips and Trends

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Fall is here, and for Florida and much of the South that means it’s time to take life outside. From barbecues to relaxing by the pool, our backyards, porches, and decks become an extension of our home. While not all indoor-outdoor spaces are created equal, implementing smart design elements can quickly maximize the backyard of your new home or next remodel project.

A great example of a high-performing indoor-outdoor space is our Palazzo Lago home in Windermere, Florida (pictured below). The home was the winner of the Grand Award – Custom Home in the 2013 Orlando Parade of Homes and Orlando Life magazine’s 2013 Home of the Year runner-up. Palazzo Lago was also featured in the August 2015 edition of Hearth & Home in the articles “Trends in the Outdoor Room” and “Seamless Indoor-Outdoor Living.” Here are a few ways we make sure a backyard functions as a great living space:

 

Indoor-Outdoor Living Trends

 

A Smooth Indoor-Outdoor Transition

To create a seamless indoor-outdoor space, a covered hard roof area is essential. Incorporating a portion of your deck or patio under a hard roof will offer functional relief from sun and drain and will also serve as a transition space from inside to outside.

Don’t think of the outdoors as a separate part of your home. Rather, blend it further with the indoors by minimizing the visual and physical barriers between the two. Many homeowners are replacing their aluminum sliding glass doors with folding glass doors. These doors open all the way to maximize the sense of openness. This easily accessible area can now become an outdoor living room with cushioned furnishings, ceiling fans, and intentional lighting. As such, plan your covered patio or lanai large enough to comfortably fit an outdoor furniture arrangement.

 

Palazzo Lago Custom Home - Porch

 

A Resort-Style Pool in Your Own Backyard

In recent years, residential pool construction trends have aimed at adding a resort feel to pools. Spillover spas, fountain jets, and waterfalls are today’s slides and diving boards of years past. Additionally, attention is paid as much to the layout of the surrounding deck space as to the water itself. For example, deck size is key. The target deck-to-water ratio should be 3:1. Also, plan your furniture layout ahead of time to make sure the space works how you envisioned it.

Any pool that transitions from kid time to adult time needs ample storage. Avoid clutter by providing adequate storage space for toys, towels, and cleaning equipment. The size of storage required can vary depending on the number and age of pool users, and how much of the pool maintenance you intend to do yourself. An exterior 4′ x 4′ storage closet, for example, will allow you to conceal unattractive items and secure chemicals.

 

Indoor-Outdoor Pool and Patio Renovation Orlando FL

Courtyard Comebacks

Backyards aren’t the only space you have for outdoor enjoyment. In some cases, a private, open courtyard can be a great place for a relaxing getaway. Even courtyards as small as 8′ x 8′ provide an intimate al fresco experience. Courtyards can be placed off the master bedroom, in a side yard, or even under a large tree in the front yard. Enhance your courtyard with a wood trellis and a vine, colorful aromatic plants, or a water feature for soothing background sounds. During the cooler months, invite friends into your courtyard as a place to chat over a fire pit, or use it as a romantic place for two.

 

 

A Connectivity Case Study in Saarbrücken, Germany

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Saarbrücken is a German city along the French border with a population of around 176,000 residents. Like most German cities, Saarbrücken’s core is a mix of walkable streets, urban buildings, and historic sites. Despite this, city leaders and residents are concerned about the future connectivity, mobility, and livability of their city.

 

Saarbrucken_Germany_Connectivity

 

A recent article in the local newspaper appeared under the title “Without Resolve There Is No Future,” lamenting the automobile’s takeover of the city in recent decades and the lack of planning for the future. Now, for the average American city, the article’s commuter statistics would be a dream: 4% ride bikes, 11% carpool, 17% use public transportation, 23% walk, and 45% drive to work alone. In contrast, over 75% of Americans drove to work alone in 2013. For a comparison, Saarbrücken’s numbers are similar to much larger American cities like Philadelphia or Seattle.

 

Now leaders are engaging citizens to create a 2030 Transportation Plan. The plan will cover six major goals, including fostering sustainability through public transit and cycling, accessibility, livable streets, and safety. But this isn’t the city’s first initiative to create a more livable city. Here are five ways Saarbrücken has been promoting connectivity in the past two decades:

 

1. The Pedestrian is [Becoming] King

 

Saarbrücken’s main commercial corridor, the Bahnhofstraße, saw multiple incarnations in the past century. Bustling dirt roads with horse-drawn carriages gave way to streetcars in the 1890s. Then, after a nearly complete destruction during World War II, Saarbrücken’s main drag slowly reemerged in the 1950s and ’60s. But shiny new buildings weren’t the only difference along the Bahnhofstraße. By 1965, cars and diesel busses had completely replaced the extensive network of streetcars. For the next 30 years, the Bahnhofstraße looked like many American cities’ main streets: narrow sidewalks, angled parking, and a constant stream of cars.

 

Bahnhofstraße, Saarbrücken, Germany

 

A big shift came in the 1990s with the first pedestrianization efforts. Today, the entire length of Saarbrücken’s Bahnhofstraße (about one mile) is reserved solely for pedestrians. This effort continues today, with many side streets being converted into Woonerf-like pedestrian- and bike-friendly environments.

 

Woonerf, Saarbrücken, Germany

 

2. An International Streetcar

 

Although Saarbrücken’s streetcar system closed down in 1965, the Saarbahn revived the former Line 5 in 1997 as Line S1 and has seen multiple extensions since then. Today, this “regional streetcar” serves 40,000 riders per day at 43 stations and runs over 27 miles through Saarbrücken and various smaller cities. The core is served at 7.5-minute intervals, while farther out neighborhoods and towns are served in 15-, 30-, and 60-minute intervals. What makes the Saarbahn special is that its last stop, Sarreguemines, lies in France, making it not only a regional but also an international streetcar.

 

Saarbahn, Saarbrücken, Germany

 

3. Bike Parking

 

While only 4% of Saarbrücken commutes by bike, bike parking can be found throughout the city. With a goal of getting at least 10% of commuters on bikes in the next few years, bike parking and cycle tracks are a major part of future transportation plans.

 

Bike Parking, Germany

 

4. A Multi-Modal Waterfront

 

While the Saar river is the namesake for, well, just about everything in Saarbrücken, the riverfront itself seems to have been an afterthought in the Bahnhofstraße renovations of the 1950s and ’60s. That changed in the past year, however, with the project Stadtmitte am Fluss, or City Center on the River. With updated lighting, renovated storefronts, upgraded accessibility, and new greenspaces, the city hoped to activate a neglected portion of its downtown waterfront.

 

Stadtmitte am Fluss, Saarbrücken, Germany

 

While the project was met with skepticism over costs and necessity, it was completed successfully and has brought new life–and connectivity–to the city’s core. An improved multi-modal trail connects existing riverside paths for a great walking and biking network.

 

Stadtmitte am Fluss Trail, Saarbrücken, Germany

 

5. Saarbrücken: A City to Explore on Foot

 

With all the pedestrian streets mentioned above, it’s no surprise that 23% of Saarbrückers commute on foot and that the streets are always filled with shoppers. Smaller initiatives, however, have played a big role in getting people out of their cars. For example, sidewalks have been widened, directional signage with walking distances is commonplace, underground shopping tunnels allow pedestrians to avoid crossing large streets, an existing historic building was converted into a mall in 2010, and café seating spills out onto sidewalks throughout the city.

 

 

 

 

Design Principles for Aging in Place

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Many recent surveys show that homeowners are staying in their homes longer. It could be due to the economy with decreasing home values making it difficult to buy a new home or the cost of assisted living facilities or the desire to continue to live in a familiar environment. Many people who plan to stay in their current home consider remodeling over buying a new one.

If you’re staying put for a while, then a well designed home should accommodate your current needs for comfort and safety and also be designed with enough forethought to evolve with your needs as you grow older or as your lifestyle changes. Aging-in-Place design considers creative solutions for wheelchair users, people that rely on mobility aids such as walkers, or crutches and people with visual or physical impairments.

 

Aging-in-Place Home Design Features

 

Consider using these Aging-in-Place design ideas for the ongoing future enjoyment of your home:

Floor Level Changes

  • Minimize change in floor levels. Have the least amount of steps possible. If a ramp is needed, then install one with 12” of length for every inch of rise. For example, if there is an 8” difference in height between floors, than the ramp should be eight feet long.
  • Seniors prefer one level homes over two levels. Stairs can be difficult to climb.
  • The step between the bathroom floor and the shower floor can be inconvenient for wheelchair users. Roll-in showers offer an option – the transition between the bathroom floor and the shower floor is relatively flat – the shower floor slopes from that point down to the drain. This option requires a larger shower to mitigate the shower spray from getting on the bathroom floor. Non-slip tile makes sense for everyone.

Pathway Clearances

  • Hallways and other circulation paths through rooms and around furniture should be between 36”-42” wide. Use this same minimum distance between countertops in a kitchen.
  • All doors should be a minimum of 32” wide with lever handles.

Baby-Boomer-Home-Features

Kitchens

  • Lower the countertops from the typical height of 36” to 32”-34”.
  • Provide roll-under cooktops and sinks. (These are counters with drop-in fixtures at 32”-34” high with knee space below them).
  • Outfit base cabinets with drawers instead of doors. The drawers provide easier access to kitchen items with less bending.
  • Mount built-In wall ovens or microwave ovens at lower heights so the controls are no higher than 48” above the floor.

Bathrooms

  • Use an elongated type toilet bowl with the seat 18” above the floor.
  • Provide blocking in the walls for future grab bars between 33”-36” off the bathroom floor. Install the blocking behind the toilet (24” wide), on a wall beside the toilet (42” wide) and in a shower or around a tub.
  • Specialty accessible tubs are available with a seat and they have doors for easy lateral transfers from a mobility device – grab bars are already pre-installed.
  • Sinks heights are determined for each individual’s needs – 32”-34” for wheelchair users or for people of short stature, 36” for people with bad backs.
  • Good lighting helps those with poor vision.

Laundry Rooms

  • Mount shelves at convenient heights for easy access to cleaning supplies.
  • Choose front-load washers and dryers with lower folding counters.

 

You can make these accessible accommodations by retrofitting your current home, including them in remodeling plans or even in a new custom home design. If you are buying a new home from a homebuilder, ask for these considerations that you are entitled to by law. In any case, work with your design professional to implement these and other universal design principles to ensure the barrier-free use and enjoyment of your home for years to come.