Pavers, pergolas and pavilions: Outdoor living areas get elaborate – The Columbus Dispatch

Once upon a time, a concrete slab, a charcoal grill, and maybe a beer-bottle opener mounted on a nearby tree was considered a pretty fancy outdoor entertainment area.

No more.

These days, outdoor room design is limited only by imagination and budget.

Ive been in the industry 30 years, and weve really seen a change in just the last five years in the amount of products and options for outdoor rooms, said Matt Medlock, account manager and designer at Ryans Landscaping in Dublin.

People want to be outside, and theyre thinking about more than just a patio with a grill and a table, Medlock said.

Last summer, Carolyn and Thomas White of the North Side upgraded a deck they had built 30 years ago. The old deck was showing its age and wasnt providing the couple, who are now in their 70s, with the outdoor experience they wanted.

We wanted a space where we could really enjoy our backyard, watch the birds and the deer, Carolyn White said.

Their aging wooden deck was replaced with a multilevel patio made with decorative pavers. The patio is accented with a circular half-wall seating area with fire table and topped by a pergola; a decorative fish pond with waterfall; lovely landscape plantings; and huge natural stone steps leading down into their expansive, wooded backyard. Matching paver paths lead to other outdoor areas, including a side courtyard with an outdoor pizza oven.

Now we find ourselves in the outdoor rooms all the time, Carolyn White said.

My husband bundles up every morning and takes his coffee out back. I dont like cool weather, let alone cold weather, but with our new fire table we can sit out even on cool evenings, she said. Now we love watching the deer frolic and play their reindeer games.

The outdoor work, including landscaping, cost about $35,000, Carolyn White said.

It was money well spent, she said.

Dave Lindsay, co-owner of Lindsay-Wright Company, a Columbus firm that designs and builds outdoor living areas, has been in the business for more than 30 years. Most of the companys projects begin with a base of decorative stone or concrete pavers, he said.

I can remember our first job, back when I was still working full-time as a schoolteacher, Lindsay recalled.

At the start, you just had red clay pavers. We threw down railroad ties, put down compacted sand and laid red clay pavers. Thats as sophisticated as it got back then. Now the skys the limit. There are so many fun things that can be done.

Now there are literally thousands of pavers in every color, shape and texture, plus natural stone. And the choices just get bigger and bigger and bigger. The brick paver industry continues to grow every single year, Lindsay said.

The pavers have come a long way, agreed Greg Gilbertsen, a design and sales professional with Landscape Design Solutions, the Dublin company that designed and built the Whites new outdoor area.

Twenty years ago, there was just what you think of as the standard 6-by-6, 6-by-8 paver, Gilbertsen said.

Now theres a wide variety of looks and colors, and also natural stone. People ask, Does the stone hold up as well as the pavers? I say, Theyre millions of years old already, so yes.

Gilbertsens company prefers pavers as a floor for outdoor rooms.

Poured concrete sometimes can be lower cost, and Ive seen some pretty artistic stuff with stamped concrete. But you can do so many things with pavers, and they are so much easier to repair.

Of course, the floor is only the beginning of most outdoor-room projects these days.

A lot of people are putting a roof over their outdoor room now, Lindsay said.

Companies that make pergolas and pavilions for outdoor rooms are piggybacking on the back of the growth of the hardscape industry, Lindsay said.

Before, wed have to plant a tree for shade, he said. Now, you can have instant shade with a pergola or pavilion.

And Ohios cold winters dont deter homeowners, Medlock said.

In Ohio, that means using outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, tower heaters, even resonating heaters built into the ceilings of pavilions, he said.

Projects can be as simple or as elaborate as a customer wants, Lindsay said, and can be designed to fit tiny urban backyards or huge suburban or rural lots.

When Leah Miller, 47, and Todd Miller, 46, bought a home in Dublin last year, one of the first things they did was start work on a new outdoor entertainment area.

At our old house, we had a covered patio with a fireplace and absolutely loved it, Leah Miller said. The previous owner of our new house had put on a simple concrete slab patio. That didnt make sense for us.

The Millers new outdoor-entertainment area includes a hot tub, outdoor kitchen and big-screen television over the fireplace.

My husband has three smokers, and every fall he hosts something he calls Meat-a-palooza. We have lots of people over, eat and watch football all day, Leah Miller said.

But the area isnt just for entertaining, she said. The Millers and their two teenage children use the outdoor area on almost a daily basis, she said.

We use it all the time, pretty much from March until it gets down to 30 or below, she said. Especially during football season, we love the feeling of having a fire going, getting cozy with blankets on, and watching games out there.

My husband also has an office at home, and when its nice out he works outside.

Leah Miller said she could not estimate the cost of the outdoor-entertainment room itself. The entire yard project, including addressing a drainage problem, re-sodding, installing an irrigation system and landscaping, cost about $200,000, she said.

Medlock, whose company designed the Millers project, said that more and more homeowners want to get outdoors to escape the frantic pace of modern life.

Family life is so hectic now. Bringing people together, outside in their own yard, surrounded by nature, is a better environment for everyone.

sstephens@dispatch.com

@SteveStephens

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Pavers, pergolas and pavilions: Outdoor living areas get elaborate - The Columbus Dispatch