TOPIARIUS asks, What does living beautifully outdoors mean to you?
If you haven’t caught on yet, all of us at Topiarius are obsessed with living beautifully outdoors. [HASHTAG!]
Because of my curious nature, I have begun asking our staff, our clients, and our partners in industry what it means to them to live beautifully outdoors. And, I’m getting such gorgeous insights!
This week my partner in crime is sharing his thoughts. (i.e., my business partner and husband Craig 😆.)
Here’s Craig:
Living Beautifully Outdoors to me is all about destination. This definitely means travel to amazing places – both urban (Hello! Have you ever been to Rome?) and nature (Oregon coast pic may have been staged???). Travel feeds the imagination and is key for the inspiration that continues to drive our business. But since we don’t all get to travel as much as we want, Living Beautifully Outdoors has to happen at home as well.
We have been in our home for 14 years (longest I have lived in one spot!) and we are SO close to the outdoor spaces that we long for (can you say cobbler’s children have no shoes?). When we were designing our home’s addition a major component of our brief to the architects was that we needed multiple outdoor destinations. As we have worked on the landscape design this year, again, we are focusing on creating multiple destinations.
So let’s do a quick count . . .
- Front Terrace: Westward facing and large enough to have comfortable seating to accommodate six. Sara spends afternoons lounging in the sun, listening to neighbor’s conversations as they walk by (neighbors – careful what you say, she is out there a lot on weekends).
- Back Terrace: East facing and perfect for me in the afternoon. Two comfortable chairs where I sit and count planes flying into O’Hare.
- Back Deck: A lovely raised deck looking into our backyard. It is covered by the cantilevered second floor. I sit here even in the rain and watch the birds fly in and out of our Hornbeam hedge. Oh, and did I mention the outdoor shower!
- Fire Pit: I am not a pyromaniac!
- Dining Patio: Still under construction. We will have a cedar pergola and a fabulous outdoor chandelier (need to find that still).
- Lawn: Small and very biodiverse, as I am not a huge proponent of wasting time and resources on it. Large enough for a game of Bags and for our friends’ small children to run through a sprinkler.
- Vegetable Garden: Raised beds filled with our garden favorites and perennials that pollinators love.
- Outdoor Kitchen: Yes, I have a gas grill, a Traeger, and a ceramic grill. Don’t you?
- Main Entrance: Setting the tone for our guests, open and welcoming with plenty of space to greet people as they arrive and for the long goodbyes when they leave.
How do I Live Beautifully Outdoors? Let me count the ways.