Newcastle Living Magazine
Edition 7
Outdoor Entertaining
Your guide to the ultimate outdoor entertaining area
“An entertaining area has the potential to not only make your home the party house of the year, but can also add significant value when it comes time to sell.”
Summer may be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop using your backyard during the cooler seasons. A well thought-out and functional outdoor entertaining area has the potential to not only make your home the party house of the year, but can also add significant value when it comes time to sell. We’ve put together a guide to create the ultimate outdoor entertaining area that will have your friends and family talking well into 2023.
Set the mood
We’re going to skip recommending patios and outdoor seating. You already know this, and we want your outdoor entertainment area to be a cut above the rest. Set the mood outdoors with smart lighting. Not only is smart lighting incredibly easy to set up, but the full range or brightness modes, warm and cool tones, and colours means that you can match your lighting to the mood or party theme. This means bright cool light for a family function and warm dimmed light fo a romantic dinner at home.
Bring the heat
The last couple of years have taught us to make the most of our spaces at home, and never has this been more prevalent than in the rise of the firepit. By creating a secondary area further into your garden, a firepit acts as an anchor for any party during the cooler months. Place a few chairs or even logs around it and you’ve crafted a space to keep warm and keep your guests wowed. If you do go down the route, make sure to invest in good quality sand for the base, a grill grate to cook and a fire pit mat for protection.
Prep the oven
While we’re talking about keeping things hot, you would be hard pressed not to consider a pizza oven as part of your outdoor area. Pizza ovens have become a lot more accessible in recent years. And while the old style permanent ones are still preferable, there is now a wide range of moveable and cheaper options on the market. If you’re in the business of impressing your guests, you can’t do much better than a homemade margarita pizza from your own oven.
Add the green
A great way to add a subtle cherry on top to the overall feeling of your space is to make sure to add plenty of potted plants into the patioed or pergolaed area. This helps create a sense of bringing the outdoors in, maintaining a connection between the rest of the backyard while still showing a contrast between the two areas. The lush green plants will also help relax the guests around you, like being in a tropical paradise.