As warm weather arrives our thoughts turn to summer days and extending our living space outdoors. We can say goodbye to cabin fever and spend some time in the fresh air. With the right furniture, landscaping, and a few other elements, we can take advantage of yard space. This will help extend our homes to take advantage of nature.
You don’t have to settle for a simple patio or deck. Today, you can build an outdoor living room or kitchen. You have dozens of choices for flooring, lighting, shade, appliances, and furniture. Decorations range from gardens to ponds and fountains that can provide atmosphere. In addition, a well-designed outdoor living area can boost the resale value of your home, too!
Outdoor Living Space Creativity
Design options are practically endless when creating your outdoor living space concept. The aim is to add an informal setting purely designed for entertainment and relaxation, in contrast to your home office or gym, where productivity and work are the priorities.
Decide on the theme for your outdoor space. Here are some design ideas to inspire you:
- Add a built-in bench with a water fountain or fire pit area as a focal point.
- Attach string lights around the windows and hang them from the ceiling for a fairytale aesthetic.
- For large outdoor living spaces, you can include an outdoor kitchen and create an outdoor dining area for dining al fresco.
- Add a coffee table, plush pillows, an outdoor rug, and lounge chairs for an outdoor living room.
- Add a hot tub, water feature, and fire pits with outdoor string lights for a resort-at-home vibe.
Extending Our Living Space Outdoors With A Kitchen Setup
The outdoor kitchen is one of the most popular ways to use an outdoor living space for entertainment and relaxation. Outdoor kitchens are functional and fun, depending on how much the people in your household love to cook. Having a kitchen on the backyard patio is an absolute dream for foodies. When the weather is good, you can cook all your meals and enjoy them in the great outdoors.
Bringing Out the Heat
We’re way beyond simple charcoal barbecue grills now. Today, you can buy and install everything from a simple, portable fire pit to a permanent fireplace complete with a hearth. If outdoor cooking is your passion, consider a barbecue pit, outdoor pizza oven, or even a fully-fledged outdoor gas stove. An outdoor kitchen can become a comfortable place for friends and family to gather.
In addition to the cooking spaces, you can look into outdoor counters. Granite is a popular choice. This will give you the space you need to prepare food without having to make constant runs back inside during meals. Check out our outdoor appliances in the Gappsi Store to imagine all your possibilities and start designing your outdoor living space.
Outdoor Living Space In Westbury Long Island
Gappsi’s latest backyard design on Long Island in Westbury NY includes a gunite pool, patio, outdoor kitchen, and landscape design to bring together an outdoor living space to enjoy for years to come.
The Gunite pool was 20 x 50 and finished with super blue diamond bright pool coating and porcelain tiles in the water line. When it comes to pool finishes Diamond Brite has been the industry standard for many years. It’s available in colors including Aqua Quartz, Cool Blue, and Super Blue. Diamond Brite typically lasts 8-12 years before it starts to become faded and spotty. Diamond Brite™ pool finishes are blends of selected quartz aggregates and fortified white Portland cement ideal for new or re-finished swimming pools. Available in a variety of colors and textures. Diamond Brite™ finishes are factory blended to provide the pool owner with an extremely durable and attractive alternative to traditional pool coatings.
The Gappsi team built a step bench in the deep end with tile markers to define the edges of the steps, and in the shallow area, we built the spa, sundeck, and bench.
Reduce Heat Loss With An Autocover For Your Pool
The pool is equipped with an auto cover to make opening and closing the pool effortless. Unlike solar covers, auto covers completely seal your pool with the touch of a button. Sealing your pool when it’s not in use prevents evaporation, the leading contributor to heat loss. Reducing heat loss can lead to warmer water temperatures; extending the swimming season up to three months in some locations.
Patio Stones And Pool Coping Options
The stones chosen for the patio and pool coping are from the Gappsi Stone collection G043 marble pavers. The Island was built with Eldorado prefab boxes and veneered with silver travertine in random sizes with a 4-inch veneer. The client chose all Twin Eagle appliances for their outdoor kitchen. The Twin Eagle appliances include a burner, gas grill, storage cabinets, a Summit refrigerator, and a sink, with a granite countertop.
The Gappsi team also updated and refreshed the landscaping to include some exotic plants to add to the outside elements. Using tropical and exotic plants will give your home a vibrant, lively, lush look, that will, in turn, make you feel invigorated and alive like you are on vacation at a beautiful tropical destination.
Check out our other blogs for additional design ideas and to view our amazing gallery of completed projects by the Gappsi Design Team in Long Island NY.
Marble Pavers For Pool Coping And Patio are one of the most preferred materials for the outdoors in homes. Marble is timeless and when used it elevates a home’s status, value, and overall appeal. This stone paver comes in different colors, patterns, and shades suitable for any application. Homeowners prefer marble pavers for their driveways and pool decks. This is for very good reasons that go beyond mere looks. Reputable suppliers like Gappsi provide the pavers with a tumbled finish for extra grip and a non-glossy surface that is perfect for outdoor pool areas.
Pool Covers For Safety And Efficiency
Pool Cover Maintenance Tips
Travertine Patios and Pool Coping are the perfect stone material to use on Long Island NY for your outdoor living space. Travertine is a natural stone, created in shallow bodies of water. The residue of lime settled and built up over millions of years in a massive thick block. The colors of the travertine derive from soil and minerals that contaminated the ground in the area where lime settled. Fossils trapped between the bodies of travertine accumulate and become the exposed holes you see in the travertine surface.
A beautiful weathered look. Travertine tiles are undeniably gorgeous. Investing in a travertine pool deck will add curb value to your property. You can easily create a comfortable, cozy-looking pool deck with travertine tiles as the graining and primary tile colors have a warm natural color tone.
This 
We completed this project about 4years ago. We installed a new gunite pool 16×36 with a bluestone coping, auto cover and a fiorito travertine patio. The pool has a sundeck. We have lined the steps edges with glass tiles. You can see they reflect light from one side. The pool is a sports pool. The deep end of the pool is the center. This side we have corner stairs. There is a bar area with stools inside the pool. In the lower patio area, chairs can be used as stools on the outside. This is a sunken fire pit area with a bench and gas fire pit. On this we have a semi raised patio. The property slopes so the pool was built a step down from the original house patio. This is a gas fire pit used more as an accent and this is also a sitting area. The property sits on a beautiful lake. The house is about 100 years old. We faced the walls of the pool to match the original bricks of the house to make it look like it’s been here as long as the house has been here. Gappsi is a complete backyard designer from landscaping, masonry and gunite and vinyl swimming pools, home remodeling and construction, synthetic turf, sports courts, putting greens, basketball courts, bocce courts and dog run playgrounds.. Gappsi knowledgeable and experienced personnel can help you create the yard of your dream. We also provide These services in the following areas of Eastern Long-Island – Western long-Island – North-Shore long-Island – South-Shore long-Island, Suffolk County, Nassau County, Glen Cove, Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon , Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, Brookhaven, Southampton, Riverhead, East Hampton, Southold, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, Mill Neck, Nissequogue, Lloyd Harbor, Muttontown, Coldspring Harbor, East ,Norwich and both Nassau and Suffolk County
The family in this East Islip home wanted a pool for entertaining that was built to last. Giuseppe Abbrancati, owner/designer of Smithtown-based Gappsi, Inc. suggested a gunite saltwater pool in a Sports Pool style design where both sides of the pool are shallow and the deep end is in the middle. “Gunite pools make a statement. They are a very customizable pool. That is why you see a sundeck, round steps, and LED lights inside the pool. You can shape the cement any way you want it and apply any finish. They are also highly durable,” says Abbrancati who has been building pools for the last thirty years. “The deepest part of this pool is six feet. It’s built like that so you can play volleyball in the pool and its fair ground,” he adds. Abbrancati designed a classic rectangular-shaped pool that is 16 by 32 foot in size and has that sleek modern look. “Everyone in the Hamptons has the gunite rectangular shape. It is the most elegant,” he says. The pool, he explains, is a cobalt blue diamond bright with quartz finish. Before the installation, the house – that is close to a hundred years old- had a simple concrete patio. in order to keep the character of the home, Abbrancati chose a brick looking veneer that would blend in with the existing bricks to make it look like the pool was always there. “I didn’t want the pool to look like it was an addition. I wanted it to look like it was built with the house 100 years ago,” he says. Travertine pavers were added throughout. Additional features of the property that Abbrancati built was a sunken down natural fire pit made from rocks and lava and an L-shaped bench for seating.
Message from the Customer
Vinyl liner swimming pool with concrete walls built in Centerport NY by Gappsi.