Enjoying the outdoors offers immense health and lifestyle benefits. Our connection to and love for the outdoors has led to many architectural concepts that aim to fuse outdoor and indoor living, such as patios, porches, sunrooms and California rooms.
While these trends share the idea of having an outdoor space attached to your home, a California room offers an elevated experience. Outdoor and California room living allows you to enjoy the breeze and sunshine and block out rain and wind. This versatility explains why the trend has taken homeowners by storm.
What Is a California Room?
A California room is a partially outdoor space that serves as an extension of your home. It typically has a ceiling and at least two walls connected to the rest of your home. The other walls are open and exposed to the outdoor air. When paired with custom shades, your California room can mimic a normal indoor space.
While similar to a patio, porch or sunroom, California rooms offer a touch of luxury and upscale living. You can raise or lower the shades to let in light and air and incorporate furniture and appliances to make your home more functional. For example, California rooms can serve as an additional living room or kitchen, complete with couches, cabinets, a grill or a dining table. It’s a perfect balance of outdoor exposure and indoor comforts.
Design Ideas and Tips for Your California Room
The design of your California room is key to creating a stunning and timeless space. Here are design ideas and tips to enhance the look and feel of your California room:
1. Create a Cohesive Look
With your California room, you want to merge indoor aesthetics with outdoor functionality. Here are tips for creating a cohesive look:
- Carry over your home’s style: Assess your home’s overall style and how you can carry it into your California room.
- Choose a theme: How you want the space to look and feel will influence the theme, color palette and decor.
- Brighten it up: Choose light-reflective colors like white and beige to make the room appear brighter.
- Find focus: Select a focal point, such as a fireplace.
- Create rhythm: Repeating colors, textures or patterns create rhythm within a room.
- Introduce depth: Your California room is an indoor and outdoor hybrid. When you merge outdoor and indoor elements, like outdoor seats and throw rugs or potted plants and a fireplace, it’ll stand out.
- Add symmetry and proportion: Balance creates cohesion. Arrange your room, furniture and accessories in a way that creates symmetry and proportion. Choose furniture sizes with caution to keep the room from feeling overwhelming.
2. Incorporate Current Trends for California Rooms
There are many ways to style your outdoor California room — you’re only limited by your imagination. Research current trends and find a few that resonate. For example:
- Colors: Interior design relies on color schemes for impact, so you should pay attention to your palette. Earth tones are trendy, blues are timeless and traditional neutrals are stunning. Whichever colors you pick, let them reflect your style and personality.
- Rugs and throw pillows: Consider adding texture to the room by introducing fabrics and textiles. These can be anything, from rugs and blankets to throw pillows. As you accessorize the space, consider items that complement your theme and color palette.
- Lighting: While your California room enjoys natural light during the day, you want it to serve you at night, too. Pick the ambience that complements your look. Uniquely shaped fixtures and clear glass options are trendy — and glass can reflect light around the room.
If you’re a bit low on inspiration, these trends in California room design will spark your creativity:
- Outdoor entertainment area: Design an outdoor entertainment area by adding a large grill island for BBQs, an outdoor TV and a lounge area.
- Eclectic California room: Let your creativity take the lead with an eclectic California room. Whether you love mixing and matching patterns or experimenting with bright colors, an eclectic style will make your space your own.
- Nature-inspired California room: California rooms combine indoor and outdoor living and often feature natural elements like plants and wood. You can elevate this idea by creating a natural atmosphere with more stone, brick and wood elements.
3. Maximize Functionality and Flow
California rooms create a transition between the indoors and outdoors, and the ideal layout to maximize functionality is an open plan. An open layout creates more space and limits barriers that make the space feel congested. You can also maximize functionality by paying attention to furniture arrangement.
There are many furniture ideas for California rooms. Here are a few simple rules to help you create better functionality and flow with your furniture:
- Create a focal point that serves as an anchor for the rest of the space, such as a fireplace or TV.
- Use the primary purpose of your California room to plan the furniture arrangement. Is it a reading room, a workout space, a dining area or an office space?
- Eliminate crowding by mixing larger pieces of furniture with smaller ones and decluttering the space as much as possible.
- Create proper flow by directing traffic around the seating area instead of through it.
4. Protect and Shade the Space With Outdoor Shades
One of the main perks of California rooms is enjoying a sunny day and fresh air. However, you also want to enjoy your outdoor space without worrying about pests, rain, wind or excessive heat. Installing shades on the open walls can make your California room comfortable and livable, even on a searing summer day or a rainy fall evening. You can raise or lower the shades depending on the weather — or when you want more privacy.
With custom outdoor shades, you can continue to enjoy your California room while protecting your furniture from the rigors of the elements. Since shades come in varieties, including manual and motorized, you have options that complement your taste and budget.
Shade Your California Room With Shutter & Shade Shoppe
California rooms offer a breath of fresh air. Unlike patios, California rooms serve as more of an extension of your home. They are also different from a sunroom due to their exposure to the outdoors. If you want to enhance your California room by blocking out rain and wind, minimizing the effects of excessive heat, or having more privacy options, custom outdoor shades provide a solution.
Top-quality outdoor shades can protect your California room without turning it into a sunroom. A reliable company like Shutter & Shade Shoppe can walk you through your options until you find the right shades for your needs. Work with design experts for customizations that match your style. Request an appointment to learn more, or browse our online store!