5 Tips to get the most out of your outdoor space

Summertime, and the entertaining is easy. This past year has made outdoor entertaining more popular than ever, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to begin when it comes to utilizing and maintaining an outdoor space. Enter: OI! Even though we usually focus on interiors, we love any opportunity to jazz up a fun exterior place. Here are some of our favorite tips + tricks to get the most #mojo out of your outdoor space.

1. Use an Outdoor Rug for a Functional Pop of Color

Outdoor rugs exist for a reason! These rugs are designed for high-traffic areas and are more durable than your typical indoor rug. Bonus points: it’s a great way to add fun patterns, colors, and textures to your space. Though they are designed to survive the outdoor elements, we recommend storing your rug indoors during the harsh winter months (talking to you, fellow Chicagoans).

2. Don’t Cheap Out on the Big Pieces

Look, we love a good bargain as much as the next person — but when it comes to outdoor furniture, it’s really important to invest in high-quality materials that can withstand all of the outdoor elements. Your wallet will thank you when you don’t have to replace everything in a couple of years.

3. Maintain Maintain Maintain

While sourcing quality pieces is super important (and fun!), it is just as important, if not more, to maintain it. We have a few simple tricks to extend your furniture’s longevity:

• Invest in furniture covers (if you’re only going to do one thing, this should be it!)
• Oil your teak furniture
• Bring cushions + smaller accessories inside during inclement weather and in the Winter months

A little TLC can go a long way to get the most out of your outdoor furniture.

4. Extend Outdoor Entertaining Season by Adding Heaters

Adding heaters to your patio will allow you to keep the party going all night long and into the fall. There are a ton of stylish heaters that can be incorporated within the design, while also making your space so much more functional.

5. Hire a Professional to Insulate Your Plants

You know we are huge plant fans at OI, and we love to fill our outdoor spaces with lush greenery.  Hiring a pro to insulate your plants will help to protect them from super-harsh weather, and will prevent a ton of work in the upcoming spring.

And there ya have it! The gist of it all? Have fun! Fire up the barbecue, make a pitcher of margs, and invite your friends over.

“Outline Interiors absolutely transformed our home in Chicago! We purchased a ~4,200 SF home with very little furniture and hired OI to decorate interior and exterior spaces, namely the Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, 4 Bedrooms, and the Outdoor Patio. Laura and her team worked diligently to create an incredibly cozy space while perfectly capturing our design aesthetic of contemporary casual. OI also stayed on budget and on time, and was very detailed and organized throughout the entire project. I would use Laura and her team for all of my future design needs and highly recommend OI!” – Andrea, client

Ready to start a project with us? We would love to work with you!

Following over a decade of experience in luxury interior design Laura Tribbett founded Outline Interiors in 2015 with the purpose of creating moments of joy for others – MOJO. This followed her work at a variety of “AD Top 100” firms in New York where she had the privilege to hone her design sensibility and project and construction management skills under renowned designers such as William T. Georgis, David Easton, Thom Filicia, Shawn Henderson, and Thomas Juul-Hansen. Laura holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Interior Design (cum laude) from Texas Christian University.