Outside Chances

For clients who want to enjoy the outdoors, there is a "better mousetrap" than the screened porch. It's the outdoor room, a screenless, no-walls, open-air charmer that is surprisingly versatile and functional. It can be big or small, formal or casual, simple or accessorized - whatever works for the house and the homeowners' lifestyle. McGuire, Hearn & Toms of Manakin-Sabot, Va., built an outdoor room for a Richmond, Va., house that wakes up the whole back of the house.

Every spring the client dutifully put up the canvas awning that sloped low over the old 20-by-12-foot slate patio, and every fall she put it back in storage. But nobody in the family used the patio; it was just too dark, hot, insubstantial and uninviting. The previous homeowner had left plans for a glass-walled room to replace the patio, "but we didn't need one more enclosed room," the homeowner says. When she saw a neighbor's new outdoor room, she discovered the happy middle ground that exists between a barebones patio and an enclosed room.

She asked Doug Bowman, FAIBD, of Doug Bowman Designs, Inc. of Midlothian, Va., to sketch out plans for a usable, inviting outdoor room for her house. She wanted a deep, bright space and - her top priority after enduring the awning - a high-ceilinged room that would tie in well with the main roof. Sure, said Bowman. The living room and dining room are next to each other at the back of the house, but the only way to get from one to the other was to go outside or backtrack through a hall. Easy to solve, said Bowman. Oh, and "we would like to be able to look outside" from the breakfast room, said the homeowner. We can fix that too, said Bowman.

Bowman came up with what he calls "a small design that had great impact on how the house functions." The centerpiece is an outdoor room that is both stately - to complement the traditional house - and airy - to add a fresh new dimension. "It feels like a casual living room," the homeowner says.

Columns support a steep tray ceiling that rises from an 8-foot base to a 12-foot center, opening the room to light and breezes, and the living and dining rooms to bright, backyard views. "I love the idea of the tray ceiling," says the homeowner. "We get great breezes and can use the room on all but the hottest days." She also wanted a fan, and the ceiling makes room for one.

Bowman stole a few feet from the old patio space for a rear vestibule that connects the living room and dining room and opens onto the outdoor room. That little room allows smooth circulation from room to room and provides an appealing, graceful transition to the outdoor space.

A patio steps down from the outdoor room and curves out to the glassy new breakfast room, extending the "floor area" of the outdoor space and drawing it out toward the newly landscaped yard. And Bowman stretched a section of roof from the outdoor room to the kitchen, creating a 4-foot-wide covered walkway that can be used when carrying food to the patio and outdoor room. Recessed lighting over the walkway lends "a nice glow and feel to the space," Bowman says.

Altogether, the outdoor room, walkway and patio cover an impressive 1,887 square feet of outdoor living space. Bluestone pavers run across the entire area. The look is clean and uniform - but not too uniform. Mason Hearn, CGR, of McGuire, Hearn & Toms, used different paving patterns - a bordered diamond motif in the outdoor room and walkway and a more free-flowing, random design on the patio - to define and characterize each section and create a friendly scale.

The outdoor room is bright, beautiful and comfortable - all things that the old awning-covered patio was not. The homeowner and her family use it three seasons of the year. "It's completely changed the way I feel about my house," she says, "particularly when I have friends over. We can have cocktails in the outdoor room or on the patio," she says, "then go into the dining room for a buffet dinner and back to the outdoor room for dessert."