By PETER MURRAY

Think of summer — not by just devising a unique spot in the patio for summer-time dining and entertaining, but giving it a tangy hue.

In other words, it’s like bringing afresh the spirit of summer, each year, in all its glory — more so, with your own mind’s eye, if not pure imagination. One from which you’d invent a sanctuary — an every day “getaway.”

First, and foremost. Please do send out the invites — in a manner of form and design, you’d think as most appropriate — because by the time they are honoured, summer days and nights for outdoor entertaining would be gone, and you will be made to wait for yet another season to welcome friends!

One cool idea: you’d elevate a simple wooden deck and place it in the shaded corner of the yard — a definitive haven from soaring mercury levels. You’d also sure do with a stone or brick patio — an invite for your guests’ protracted stay. You’d think in terms of structures such as gazebos and pergolas, too — all with the idea to offer your guests, friends, and family, a great prospect for jamboree…

More Space, More Flair

As for those who have larger properties, there’s, of course, no hassle. They would benefit from larger-scale decks and patios. More space, more flair! However, it’d, on occasions, make perfect sense to have multi-level areas. Reason: they maybe used to further divide the space and make clear the uses of each piece of the whole — the sum of its parts, and parts of the whole.

You could also think in terms of combinations — of diverse structures in a given area, or precinct. Combination matrix is very effective; also imaginative. Picture this — a lovely brick patio will profit from the shade shed by flowering vines growing in the marquee. In addition, it would also be appropriate for you to seek the right answers to questions you may have — on how you’d best use your space; what area you’d assign in your yard; what structural chemistry would best suit your property, not to speak of your refined or cultivated predilections.

More importantly, you’d, by all means, have your favourite area “screened” to protect yourself — and others — from insects, or those odious bugles they generate in your, or invitees’, ear.

Conventional wisdom says that most homeowners are inclined to spend more on outdoor entertaining areas — also, most prefer to have their pristine cement slab patios relegated to the pages of history, and replace them with stone brick. A brick-by-brick blend, that fits into the landscape. Naturally. Beautifully. It also goes without saying that people are also willing to “pitch-in” for a permanent area for entertaining. Simple logic. At a time, when most of us don’t seem to travel often, we tend to make our homes, and yards, a huge welcome point.

Furniture Rules

All the same, you’ve to, of course, first decide what you will mainly be using the patio or deck area for. The right way to kick-start the process is to choose your furniture first. It’s no point if you have made an area too small. It’d annoy you if chairs fall off the edges when drawn away from the table.

To complete the framework, you also need to match materials from the house for your patios. It is best to handle each situation in tune with individual tastes and/or needs.  A larger area, for instance, leaves room to divide the space into distinctive sectors. You’d, for example, have the cooking area occupy one portion of the space, a dining table and chairs another, and chairs and end tables yet another — a choc-a-block, as it were. Another practical idea is: you need to have a serving table either on your patio or deck, or near the door of your home. This is a useful way to ease stress when entertaining guests.

Besides, you’d experiment by mixing materials on patios and/or by laying the stone or brick in interesting patterns. Go for interesting ideas and designs incorporating your lifestyle needs and entertaining requirements. To cull a paradigm: for a classic brick house, a brick, slate or stone patio would be most suitable. Likewise, a wooden deck would be more precise for a modern, contemporary house.

Home Extension

Whatever the design of a new patio, or deck or a functional outdoor space, it is always beneficial for you to treat the area as an extension of your home. You could do it your way, or order for potted houseplants or containers filled with seasonal colours. Colours often boost the milieu, and also personalise the space. Coloured eminences, such as chair cushions or even napkins, which imitate the colours of the closest indoor room, for instance, will often amalgamate the inside and outside rooms. With sublime effect.

Linens are another great way to bring colour to the table, camouflage not-so-perfect tables, and also dress up a plain wooden picnic table. Vinyl tablecloths make great sense for outdoor use. What is really hot in terms of preference today? The new French vinyls — they offer a plethora of colours. Additionally, they provide great patterns to choose from, and they hold up to the weather. You’d just clean them up with a damp cloth.

One fact remains. Outdoor entertaining should be special and elegant, not a dull, long-drawn ritual. However, it need not be plush or expensive. Simplicity, with the right mix, is great — a welcome change from all the gloss of the most-frequented, or jazzy, parties.

Also, remember yet another welcome relief. When you open the door to the house with a potted plant, you conjure up a new feeling of an “open-arms” house — a home like no other, that makes guests feel quite at home, sweet home.

Light The Candles

Think of yet interesting sidelight: how you can best place tea light or votive candles in juice glasses, and use them on the table. Once this is achieved, you may also place some sand, or rice, into small pots, and a candle in the pot. It is recommended that you use unscented candles around food, because you’d keep a guest with a known allergy for scents away from all the celebration… unless, of course, you’d deliberately want to!

When you’ve all the elements of your entertaining area in place, make sure that you have your hold on a few special items — items that transform your place into an inviting, relaxing area for your guests. The choice is yours — and, you’d choose them from what you already have in your home’s repertoire.

Oh, the warmth of summer — a great time to live outdoors! Just the perfect time: to ignite the grill, draw a bottle of refreshing lemonade, and hoist the veranda sunshade. Perish the thought about size. Size does not matter at all — any property, big or small, is good enough, because there’s always room to “engineer” a great spot for relaxation.

Yes, the smallest apartment balcony, you’d think of, would do — it favours us for the occasional outdoor dining experience, with a shoehorned-in bistro table for guests and, maybe, just for U2.

To take pleasure from it… much more than just A Beautiful Day.