Column: It’s time for an intervention

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CIG-IO.Sorrell.02.24.15

Commentary by Randy Sorrell

Researching the predictions for 2015 luxury outdoor living trends from nationally acclaimed garden magazines and landscape architect associations was a bizarre disappointment. The stale forecasts were easy repetitions of the last 3 years.  Fire features are popular and most families would love to have a backyard grill station.  Really?

Let’s dig deeper with larger imaginations and scour what lifestyles Millennia’s, single parent families and encore retirees are intrinsically searching for.

BEYOND TRENDS

Outdoor living has regained the relevance it had when boomers were hormonal teens. We lived outdoors from morning until dinner, then snuck out again. Family BBQ gatherings on flimsy chairs around a wooden picnic table were beautifully engrained in our schedules and visiting parks was a weekly ritual.

That life is returning, only with more style!  Provocatively, THAT is the largest trend in America. Here are stimulating others:

1.  Details are rising to the top. To capture them, designers are being forced to listen.  Coercing ideas, hopes and visions from client’s imaginations is imperative. The result? Incredible, low maintenance livable spaces with clean lines and gobs of color! And originality. Finally.

2.  Boundaries are being destroyed. In kind weather, inside / outside is indistinguishable. Cushy, comfortable, elegant furniture rivals leather sofas in the living room. Methods to stay warm or cool off, dining el fresco, ceiling fans, shade structures, all-weather lamps and televisions, convenient music…if it’s in your living room, it’s on your patio too.

3.  Modern interpretations using classic designs and materials is my favorite movement. It’s thrilling to employ old-world materials blended with an innovative material like galvanized steel or ipe wood.  Throw in cinder block and crushed stone and I’m gasping in joy.

Others?  Eco-conscious landscapes, water conscious spaces, demand for shade, designers / manufacturers solutioneering outdoor ideas!

Intervention complete.


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