See 5 Bright Dining Rooms That Encourage Indoor-Outdoor Flow
Dining rooms that open to the outside have the best of both worlds: the laid-back feeling of dining alfresco without the fuss of having to dust off the outdoor furniture or carry plates too far from the kitchen. If you’re looking for ways to open up your dining room — and your home and budget allow it — take a look at these five inspiring eating areas located in homes from London to Melbourne that each offer design ideas for creating better indoor-outdoor flow.
1. Bright and airy in London. The kitchen and dining area on the ground floor of this London home flows outdoors through sliding glass doors onto a bright courtyard garden. Both spaces feel light, airy and inviting, encouraging an easy indoor-outdoor lifestyle.
Tip: Tie indoor and outdoor areas together visually by keeping colors and materials consistent between the two spaces and aligning indoor furniture with features in the garden. In this home, the designer used the same flooring material indoors and out and whitewashed the exterior brick to match the white interior paint.
Tip: Tie indoor and outdoor areas together visually by keeping colors and materials consistent between the two spaces and aligning indoor furniture with features in the garden. In this home, the designer used the same flooring material indoors and out and whitewashed the exterior brick to match the white interior paint.
Here, the French doors frame a view from the dining table of an oversized metal clock in the courtyard. From this view, it would be easy to mistake the courtyard for another room of the house.
9 Ideas to Take Your Flooring From Indoors to Outdoors | Browse flooring on Houzz
9 Ideas to Take Your Flooring From Indoors to Outdoors | Browse flooring on Houzz
2. Midcentury modern in the Bay Area. In this Oakland, California, home, accordion-folding sliding glass doors open up to a view of a sloped garden and tree canopies, creating a breezy dining experience.
Folding glass doors: LaCantina
Folding glass doors: LaCantina
Tip: Widen doorways as much as you can to open up the dining room. Not all buildings will support replacing an entire wall with sliding glass panels, but widening door frames and adding French doors can make a big difference. To extend the indoor-outdoor feeling without a major home remodel, consider replacing an existing opaque door with a glass door to let more light in.
Read more about this home
Read more about this home
3. Leafy views in Seattle. For this Seattle home, a wraparound lofted deck extends the living space and provides a platform for viewing the sloped backyard. Two sets of accordion-style folding glass doors allow the owners to have the dining and living area completely open to the fresh air.
Folding glass doors: Sunflex
Folding glass doors: Sunflex
Tip: Take advantage of a corner. For new building projects or major home renovations, consider designing around the ability to open up two sides of a room with sliding glass. Two glass walls are even better than one for that indoor-outdoor experience.
4. Canyon retreat in Los Angeles. Looking out on a leafy garden with a 300-year-old sycamore tree, this indoor-outdoor dining room in Los Angeles feels a world away from the city. The custom sliding door features a single large pane of glass set above two smaller panes of glass to provide an uninterrupted view of the garden.
Tip: Add a row of transom windows above sliding glass doors to elevate the view and let in even more light.
Here, the architects of the Los Angeles home took advantage of an angled ceiling to add additional windows above the doors and direct one’s gaze to the tree canopy outside.
Here, the architects of the Los Angeles home took advantage of an angled ceiling to add additional windows above the doors and direct one’s gaze to the tree canopy outside.
5. Contemporary indoor-outdoor design in Melbourne. The design of this modern home in Balnarring Beach, south of Melbourne, Australia, encourages an indoor-outdoor lifestyle and appreciation of the year-round temperate climate. The home is designed in a U-shape around an open lawn and deck area, with the dining room, living room and lounge all opening up to the central garden.
Looking from the living room to the kitchen and dining room, we see how all spaces open up to the central lawn and deck.
Tip: Take advantage of the opportunity to make a bold architectural statement with a patterned or textured exterior material in juxtaposition with a relatively blank side of sliding glass. Here, the architect installed custom metal siding in an almost wave-like form to double as a shade screen above the accordion-style glass doors.