Outdoor Living Rooms in Bethesda, MD

Outdoor Living Rooms for Bethesda Homes and Estates

An outdoor living room brings together everything people love about their indoor family room and sets it under the sky: deep upholstered seating, a fireplace or fire table, a television or sound system, soft lighting and a roof or louvered cover. Rather than a patio with furniture on it, it is a planned room with a floor, walls, a ceiling and a focal point. In Bethesda, these spaces often sit directly off a kitchen or family room so the indoor and outdoor rooms flow together through wide doors.

The layout follows interior design principles. Seating faces a focal wall, usually a fireplace, often with a weather-resistant television above. Circulation runs around the edge rather than through the conversation group. A dining area and outdoor kitchen sit nearby but separate. The floor is typically porcelain, thermal bluestone or travertine, flush with the interior threshold where possible. Overhead, a pavilion, louvered roof or attached porch roof gives rain cover, and recessed lights, ceiling fans and infrared heaters are wired by an electrician, with gas for the fireplace run by a qualified fitter. Low walls, planters and screening hedges such as Green Giant arborvitae or Nellie Stevens holly give enclosure and privacy.

The Mid-Atlantic climate rewards a room that adapts. Fans and shade make humid July evenings pleasant, heaters and the fire stretch use into December, and motorized screens keep mosquitoes out on summer nights. On a well-planned infill lot in Bethesda or a large property in Potomac, the outdoor room often becomes the most used room in the house from May to October.