 EASY
Summer
STYLE
Create an indoor
environment outside
by Priscilla Kohutek
photography by Vernon Wentz
Need a little extra space to spread out? Maybe just a quiet spot where you can relax at the end of a hectic day? Or how about a private place where you can have a drink with friends, sans kids and television? Look no farther than your own back yard.
I’m not talking about the current craze for
al fresco living that takes up nearly as many square feet as your house — I’m talking about that quiet corner that you can turn into a charming little get-away space. A paved patio or deck is nice but not required. A relatively level part of the yard works fine. You just need a bed of soft green grass to wiggle your toes in and a comfortable place to sit that works for you. That’s what it’s all about these days — comfort and function.
Although we would all like to shop “top-of-the-line” at the very best stores, that approach isn’t in everybody’s budget. The good news is that there’s a wide price range in handsome outdoor furniture available from very affordable to very expensive.
At the lower end of the spectrum, the Big Three mass retailers — Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart — carry outdoor furniture with some fairly recognizable labels, such as Martha Stewart at Kmart, Michael Graves at Target and Better Homes and Gardens at Wal-Mart. Styling and quality mimic high-end lines and are much less expensive.
Whether the price point is bargain-basement, middle-of-the-road or break-the-bank, customers seem to want the same things: textured fabrics and natural, or at least natural-looking, materials. The hot new material is resin, which appears in many different forms to imitate metal, rattan, wicker, wood and even leather. It looks so good that you often can’t tell it’s not the real thing. The big advantage to resin is the durability factor — it’s more resistant to weather conditions than natural materials.
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