Some home­own­ers want to stop design­ing their new home at the edge of the front door.

Here at Man­dala Homes, we like to encour­age the under­stand­ing and use of out­door rooms in the design of a home,  because we know that  the feel­ing of “home” is encom­passed in the land around the house as well as in the house itself.

“I don’t divide archi­tec­ture, land­scape and gar­den­ing; to me they are all one.” Luis Barrangan

This cov­ered kitchen porch has a mag­nif­i­cent view

Beyond encour­ag­ing  con­nec­tion to the land and to nature, there are other advan­tage to out­door rooms. They can be beau­ti­ful and they can reduce energy costs by pro­vid­ing nat­ural cool­ing spaces. And, less mate­ri­als are used in build­ing out­door rooms so use­able square footage is gained for less money.

Another cost sav­ings choice is to link the out­door eat­ing area with the indoor kitchen.Simply add a cov­ered porch to a south­east wall near the kitchen and incor­po­rate a door and a pass-through win­dow in the design. This pro­vides the plea­sure and fun of gath­er­ing and eat­ing out­doors with­out the cost of a sec­ond out­door kitchen.This south­east fac­ing eat­ing porch is also the per­fect site to place wooden boxes and clay pots planted with easy care veg­eta­bles and kitchen herbs.

Another out­door room idea is a private, covered porch area directly con­nected to the mas­ter bed­room. Such a room can pro­vide an inti­mate sleep­ing space that is opti­mum for star gaz­ing, a nat­ural way to cool off in the sum­mer and a way to enjoy nature from the com­forts of home. The out­door room fea­tured in our Mag­no­lia plan is designed to step down into a pri­vate patio area. This is a  quiet and beau­ti­ful place for read­ing ‚ sit­ting and enjoy­ing the sunset.

Out­door Room on the West Side

We‘d love to hear your response to these ideas and to read about your expe­ri­ences in cre­at­ing or liv­ing in out­door rooms.