Outdoor to Indoor = A Seamless Living Space
No longer are outdoor and indoor spaces seen as separate spheres. In recent years, more and more property owners have come to see outdoor space as an extension of their home’s interior. This is especially true for any property with low interior square footage—you can instantly expand it by turning your outdoor space into a weather-resistant living area, opening up new ways to relax, work, and entertain.
Most homes weren’t built with a seamless indoor/outdoor experience in mind, though. Even a soft sprinkle of rain keeps residents stuck inside. That’s why improving your outdoor space with additions like pergolas, retractable awnings, louvered roofs, and sliding glass enclosures is a brilliant option: These additions can help transform your outdoor space into a year-round living area. Modern railing systems add even more convenience for many people, creating an additional safety precaution in raised outdoor areas while allowing an extra flourish of style.
Modern Trends: Smart Pergolas and Louvered Roofs
Weather changes all the time, and so does your schedule. What you want in the morning might not be what you want later in the day. Smart pergolas and louvered roofs offer a solution to this issue, allowing users to alter their positions at any time in response to changing needs.
Louvered roofs have been popular for a long time, but automated louvered roofs are an improved version of the old classic. You can rotate the slats however you please at the touch of a button, angling them to open wide when you want to lounge in sunlight or closing them entirely when you want to block rain or relax in the shade. Smart pergolas offer the same convenience. You can even integrate them into your smart home system. Though traditional versions might seem more cost-effective than smart options, automated systems provide added long-term value—they can open or close automatically based on data from their sophisticated weather sensors, preventing potential damage.
A Year-Round Room With a View: Retractable Awnings and Sliding Glass Walls
Getting weather protection from outdoor additions is only the first step in integrating indoor and outdoor spaces into an expansive, year-round living area. Another rising trend is to treat decks and patios much the way you treat indoor areas by populating them with comfortable furniture and even weather-resistant entertainment systems. Retractable awnings and sliding glass walls make this easy.
Both can protect your possessions from harsh weather. Rain promotes mold growth while damaging furniture, patio, and deck materials over time. The harsh UV rays of sunlight, meanwhile, cause their own cascade of damage: fading colours in fabric, drying and cracking in wood, and breakdowns in concrete. Though it may seem at first that sliding glass walls don’t block UV light, they actually do. Glass naturally blocks some UVB light, the kind responsible for sunburns. You can get specially treated sliding glass enclosures and walls to block UVA rays as well. There’s nothing stopping you from creating a protected outdoor paradise.
