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Flow With It: Outdoor Entertaining Spaces

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Flow With It: Outdoor Entertaining Spaces

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    Lee Brauer Photography

    Cook Out
    This modest cooking area (grill, refrigerator) is conveniently located adjacent to the sunroom and kitchen. Hugo prefers integrated, rather than freestanding grills. The terrace walls here and throughout the landscape have a low profi le to maintain the river view.

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    Pool
    It was challenging to make the original pool (odd location and shape) seem integral to the design and more connected to the house. Architect Jay Hugo replaced the original steep, narrow path with terraces for a “graceful transition,” using consistent materials.

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    Porch
    Hugo, who is principal owner of 3North, created the initial design concept. He and remodeler Mark Franko periodically reviewed site lines and adjusted the design accordingly. Hugo updated the size and spacing of the porch columns to maintain the view. The porch’s original 16-foot depth was too close to the pool, so the team pulled it back 2 feet. The porch’s focal point is a wood-burning fi replace made of cinder block fi nished with stucco. Placing it in a covered area close to the house, Hugo says, increases its functionality.

This is the third outdoor project completed by Franko-LaFratta Construction, Richmond, Va., in the past year, so co-owner Mark Franko is declaring outdoor projects a trend.

Franko says people understand that a recession can be a good time to remodel. He had done an interior project for these homeowners, so when they told him they were considering an outdoor project, his advice was: “If this is your forever house, do [the project] now. You’ll get good pricing and get good use out of it.”

The home, on the James River, had limited views and, Franko says, “even worse, no great relationship to the outdoors.” The earlier renovation expanded river views from the foyer through to the living area. For the outdoor project, the clients put together a team that included Franko, architecture firm 3North, which has a landscape division, and a decorator. To create outdoor zones that flow together, the team shared ideas on transitions, furniture size and placement, and the color palette for the best design outcome.

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Credit: cmccutcheon

—Nina Patel, senior editor, REMODELING.