Once you have decided on where to site your new outdoor living room, and those with those tiny yards may not have a choice, you can work on how to create the “walls”, “floor”, and even a “ceiling”. Your project has now become landscape design! You may need the advice of a garden designer at this point, or some great books on the subject to understand the materials that are used in building landscapes and how to use them to create enclosure, privacy and beauty.
Once you have supplied the “floor;” normally a wooden deck or a stone, brick or even concrete patio or terrace, and some “walls;” typically a formal hedge, loose hedgerow, wall, or fence, and maybe a “ceiling”; a sloping roof or retractable awning or parasol attached to the house, you can go crazy furnishing your new outdoor living room. Consider some sort of heating element such as a wood burning or gas fireplace, fire pit, chimney, or portable patio heater to enable to use your new “room” all year round.
Furnishings like benches and tabletops can be made out of say, cast concrete for a real permanent feel, or obtained from a myriad of sources. Manufacturers are offering many new choices for furniture and lighting designed specifically for the outdoors as well as much better selections than ever for tough but nice fabrics for outdoor furniture, cushions, pillows, rugs and shades. Almost anything you can dream up as a way of making your outdoor living room more comfortable is now available for purchase online and off.