NICK WILLIAMS & ASSOCIATES
THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
OF AN OUTDOOR ROOM
NICK WILLIAMS
THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AN
OUTDOOR ROOM
Outdoor rooms, outdoor living areas, have the comfort and style of an interior room while inviting
Mother Nature in for tea. Think of them as a styled outdoor patio, often with an overhead wood roof or
open beam ceiling in a typical family room format, only without the walls. Instead the roof is supported
by solid wood columns leaving the space open to the yard environment around it. The comfort factor is
added with the addition of a striking full scale fireplace design. Add comfortable lounge chairs or sofa,
end tables, wide screen TVs or other similar features and you have all the comforts of home.
This booklet will briefly visit all the key and essential elements in the design of a good outdoor room:
AIR
FIRE
Designed by Nick Williams & Associates and Tom Torre
WATER
EARTH
AIR ELEMENTS
The air element is the most obvious thing about an outdoor room, because it is always the fresh,
clean outdoor air of mother nature! All the qualities of air make this room different from any
other in the home. It is expansive, opening on vistas to the surrounding landscape or gardens, it
cleanses and freshens, and it moves dynamically through the space, gentle breezes or cool
winds on a clear day. A ceiling fan is often a good addition, as it can circulate the air on more
humid days, and keep that dynamic flowing.
Our outdoor room roofs are most often built with wood and oversized to create this feeling of
expansiveness and openness that is the essential quality of air. This concept is carried even to
the choice of stain to use on the wood, which we usually do in a light shade, a transparent stain,
so you can see the wood grains. This also makes the room feel larger because of the light colors. Using expansive, open beam ceilings, the rooms have an airy feel while retaining all the
warmth and comfort of a living room or family room you might find in any home.
Tight on space in your home? Nick Williams is fond of saying that the outdoor area around
your home “is the biggest room you have.” So the entire concept of the outdoor room is about
expanding your lifestyle, and integrating it with the natural open space around your home – in a
unique and well crafted style.
In some designs, a strongly built roof for an outdoor room can also serve as a floor for an upstairs deck, and even the fireplace can be extended up to this second level as well. Other designs
forsake the roof altogether and just let in the sky with an open beamed wood trellis pergola design graced by vines to create a shaded patio area. The design possibilities for an outdoor room
are almost limitless!
When considering placement, the location of the patio or back yard area often dictates, but you
always have some control by deciding the angle of the room relative to the home. Things in nature are seldom squared, and your room need not be so either. You can experiment with shape
as a key design concept, bringing in natural curves, unusual angles, all with the aim of making
the space visually stimulating. And the way in which the room typically opens to the surrounding space brings in a feeling of discovery as well, with a different vista from every opening.
You might even consider a skylight if facing north or east to change the quality and ambiance
of the light as the day progresses. Nick believes a ridge skylight is architecturally the nicest
look, or perhaps individual skylights that go in between the ceiling beams. Skylights can be
used to allow sunlight and moon glow into the space creating a natural light in both cases, like a
car’s moonroof.
FIRE ELEMENTS
A second way to add dynamic energy to your space is the essential Fire Element. The centerpiece of this element in the room is the fireplace design, a warm and inviting hearth that becomes the focal point of the
room. Most room furniture will be situated to face this feature, for we all know how comforting it is to relax
by an open fire. It has been a comfort to us for millions of years, long associated with security. The flickering flames can command our attention, trance like, and even the smell of wood on an open fire, the crackling
and popping, touches a deep root in our minds.
You can add a full wood burning fireplace, or opt for a gas fireplace but either option still offers you the ability to have the night linger on, adding a hint of romance to the space as well. This is one of the essential
qualities of the Fire element--by rolling back the darkness, it extends the time you can enjoy the space. But
its second primary quality is the addition of mood and ambiance. Light itself is a fire element, whether it be
sunlight filtering through the open beams or skylight, or hearth light. Fire pits can also be positioned near
one of the side entrances to join that segment of the room to the adjacent space, allowing the life of the interior to flow out into the surrounding area, perhaps into a cluster of outdoor chairs situated around a conversation fire pit.
The latest state ordinances require only gas burning fireplaces, so we’ve researched and chosen what we feel
are the best offerings, depending on our client’s needs (i.e: heat, aesthetic). There's nothing that commands
attention or sets mood in a room more than a fireplace. Nick Williams specializes in the creation of unique
stone and rock fireplaces where unusual or striking keystones are crafted into the design.
And with the fire element still in mind, don’t forget outdoor lighting! We often use low voltage lights that
will be in between the ceiling beams. Post mounted sconces, a light within a ceiling fan, or unique natural
lighting such as the Nick Williams Candle Lights can work wonders by adding a soft, inviting glow to walkways, or simply providing functional light for reading in the evening. (Link to Nick Williams Lighting)
Another light element is electronic, and we often choose
to mount an Outdoor Flat Screen TV right above most
of our fireplaces, especially for those who absolutely
must have their technology at hand. Like east meeting
west, north meeting south – technology meets nature in
an outdoor room. The combo is magic….Because the
idea of being able to go outside, perhaps in a warm summer rain when it’s not too cold, is so very nice and cozy.
The next essential element of fire is that of heat for
cooking and warming the space. Outdoor torches have
long been a common solution to add warmth to areas
adjacent to your room. For outdoor cooking you may
wish to consider a BBQ just off one segment. By adding
a counter there, you can have kids or other guests pull
up and sit at and the counter space, which can be used
for a buffet when entertaining. Everyone loves a barbecue, but now you can trade in that store bought monstrosity for something far more elegant, like a custom
wood fired outdoor pizza oven complete with adjoining
stone counter top and built-in appliances, or an outdoor
kitchen island with an eating bar in granite and tile. Add
some interest in elevation by creating a step-down into
the outdoor cooking area, and choose from a variety of
countertop choices: granite, flagstone, tile….But that
takes us to the next essential element: Earth.
EARTH ELEMENTS
The weathered, textured appearance and feel of stone and wood creates that
wonderful natural quality we love so much. We’ll travel hundreds of miles to a
national park just to find spaces like this, so why not bring them home? The
warmth of the stone creates an inviting focal point for any outdoor room, particularly in a well designed stone hearth. With just the right keystone to set the
focus, and accessories to accent the mantle and hearth, your design is complete. You can even mount a stereo component for music there, or a WiFi hub.
The earth elements adjacent to your room create small vignettes to add visual
appeal. These can be crafted stone patios, tiled walkways inviting you to explore, and of course interesting and colorful arrangements of shrubbery, foliage
and flowers. Outdoor rooms merge gently into nearby garden areas or custom
landscaping, creating a seamless harmony as one area flows into another.
The wood itself is an earth element, so your choice here, and the color of the
stain you choose, will be designed to fit your overall theme. Some styles will
seem more contemporary, others have that old lodge feel, or even the feel of a
bungalow on the African Savannahs. Stone sculptures can augment any theme
you choose, and the furniture itself becomes an essential earth element, providing solidity of place in any room. Other earth elements may also be the accessories you use in the design. Some rooms place large natural or faux boulders
off one portal to create a wild feel, others may bring in things like shell or semi
-precious stones to accent furniture woods, or interesting rustic sculptures,
Nick Williams Pottery Collection, magazine racks, metal works and so much
more.
These are some your essential Earth Elements.
WATER ELEMENTS
Water is another dynamic element that adds both
life and comfort to any setting. In nature we often
seek the soothing sound of a small stream or the
tranquil stillness of a small forest pond. The
sound of rain stippling on the roof can ease us
easily off to sleep. In like manner, the water element can be built into the room, in tandem with
stonework.
Fountains are the most common room additions,
often placed near one of the supporting posts, or
in an area just off one of the openings. The sound
of flowing water adds to the ambiance and
soothes the autonomic nervous system. Other designs are more enterprising, some even building
in a stream that flows under, around, or even right
through a styled outdoor room. But more common water additions to any setting will be fountains, or an adjacent swimming pool or spa design.
Add a wading pond or spa area, a stream, or another water feature to the equation and you’ll find
yourself immersed in Nature’s Four Elements!
These are our own “man made” watering holes or
ponds, and they can be easily styled as such, with
unique stonework, new Pebble Technology, or
even the addition of small waterfalls. Accent your
pool design with an adjacent wading pond or spa
area, complete with waterfalls that add life and
movement. Nick Williams adds even more drama
by creating landscaped areas of flower and stone
that kiss the water's edge to create the effect that
you are lounging in your own private pond. Add
an adjacent deck with soft cover hot tub and your
waterscaped world is complete!
Adding a hot tub….ahhhhhhh! If you haven’t
included a spa into your pool, an inexpensive
way to do it is by using a SoftTub moveable
tub, or installing a fiberglass above ground spa.
Relax, rejuvenate and have fun in your outdoor
tub complete with soothing jets that provide
ultimate hydrotherapy. Softubs are particularly
simple and easy to use, maintain, and are energy efficient, durable, lightweight and meant
to function any weather condition. Some folks
even incorporate the design of an outdoor
shower in the spa area, which can add to the
sensation that you are “bathing in the rain.”
You might end up singing in the rain as well!
One concept gaining popularity is the “Infinity
Pool.” This is a swimming or reflecting pool
that produces a visual effect of water extending
to the horizon, vanishing, or extending into
"infinity." This effect may be achieved by having water level right at the edge of the pool enclosure, which can be so situated to merge
visually with the sky, or a distant body of water like the ocean. In effect, it is a visual trick
to lead the eye out into the surrounding space-into the infinity of nature.
Yet even something as subtle as a rain catch
can add the water element to your room. All
you have to do is string up an iron chain to an
overhead gutter, where a small opening allows
the water to run down the chain into a stone
receptacle, where it then drains to the ground.
It’s easy to get creative with the water element,
a babbling brook, a water pot or fountain, a
rain catcher, or a beautiful fountain all add the
sound and movement of water.
SUMMING UP
We have tried to show how each of the four essential elements creates a unique energy, but also how they
act in concert to harmonize with one another. The earth element of stone becomes a foundation for, or receptacle for both fire in the hearth, or water in a pool, pond or spa. The sound of flowing water permeates
the space. The movement and expansiveness of air unites us with the environment around us. Natural and
ambient lighting of the fire element also provides warmth and a sense of security, while cooking a delicious meal!
So whenever you contemplate an outdoor design, just start where mother nature begins and think in terms
of these four essential elements: AIR, FIRE, EARTH and WATER. Your mind will soon be full of ideas,
and we hope we have helped to inspire a few with this booklet!
For more information:
NICK WILLIAMS AND ASSOCIATES
23013 Ventura Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Phone: 818/222-7477
Fax: 818/222-7478
Email: NWADesigns@AOL.com
Website: WWW.NWADesigns.com
Designed by Nick Williams & Associates and Tom Torre