Backyard Fun, Environmentally Friendly Ideas, Outdoor Lighting Ideas

Outdoor Solar Lighting Can Light Up Your Spring Nights

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With Spring in full swing, my family and I are spending longer hours enjoying our backyard. The warm, clear nights provide a fantastic setting for family relaxation and fun. What better way to enjoy Spring nights than with outdoor solar lights. They provide the convenience of bright nights without adding cost to your electric bill! They are by far the easiest and most inexpensive way to light your outdoor activities.

Solar lights are perfect for your backyard because they use the sun’s direct energy to charge all day and then release that stored energy at night. No expensive wiring or outside electrical outlets are required! They are weather resistant and require no maintenance. Your family will be able to enjoy countless nights frolicking outside with their every step lit by solar power. Can’t you just picture it now? Chasing fireflys and watching the stars appear in the Spring sky? That sounds like something my family and I will be doing tonight!

 

Outdoor Living Spaces

Get Ready to Rock! Outdoor Rocking Chairs Let You Kick Relaxation Into High Gear

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Spring is beckoning, but, wait… are you still indoors?  Is it pleasant outside your door?  Are the birds twittering, blossoms fluttering, and breezes whispering?  You don’t have to do much of anything on a gorgeous day like today — just get out there and relax.  I guarantee that one of the best ways to relax outdoors is to sit in a luxuriously cozy and meditation-inducing outdoor rocking chair.   Only one little toe needs to do any work; just a wee push is enough to get your chair rocking in a rhythm that will soothe even the most tension-tight muscles.

Personally, I love an old-fashioned rocking chair that hugs my back all the way up to my head, but my neighbor loves to share a relaxing rocker ride with a friend in her double rocking chair.  I also know folks who much prefer the gentle front to back movement of a glider.  No matter what your preference, an outdoor rocking chair is just the right ingredient to add to that perfectly relaxing day outside.   So, pardon me while I get out and get rockin’.

Innovative Solutions, Outdoor Entertaining

Businesses Benefit from Commercial Patio Heaters

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Patio Heaters Provide Heat and Revenue to Outdoor Restaurants, Cafes, & Bistros

As of November 2009, 35 states in the U.S. have enacted statewide bans on smoking in most, if not all, enclosed public places, including restaurants and, in many cases, bars.  During the summer, smokers can sit outside on patios, decks, or in gardens. But when the weather turns cold, and until it grows warmer in the evening hours, many smokers may prefer to stay home rather than dine out, which can significantly damage the restaurant business.  In response to this problem, more and more owners and managers in the restaurant industry are investing in business with Heaters. By using patio heaters, restaurants and bars can help their smoking customers feel welcome and warm and prevent drops in their revenues during the colder seasons.

Patio Heater Fuel Types

There are three fuel types used to power patio heaters: natural gas, propane, and electricity. For restaurants, natural gas could be the ideal option because the heater hooks up to the gas lines and never needs refueling. Natural gas heaters cannot be moved, however. If you plan to move the heater, for catering or other purposes, propane heaters may be the ideal option. Propane patio heaters run on tanks and can be set up in just a few minutes.

Common Patio Heater Safety Features

Of course, safety is a significant consideration for businesses. Many patio heaters are built with this concern in mind, so they come with excellent safety features. One important feature is an automatic emergency shut off. If the patio heater overturns, or is even jostled too vigorously, it automatically turns off. Another common feature is a piezo electric starter, which does not require a pilot light.

Patio Heater Options — How To Choose

When looking through the various commercial grade heaters, one of the most important considerations is the heater’s power, which is rated in British Thermal Units (BTUs). The average heater rates at about 45,000 BTUs, enough to make a 20 foot heat circle.  Keep in mind the size of your outdoor eating and gathering space; this will determine if more than one patio heater would be needed to maintain a warm and comfortable environment for your customers.  Another factor to consider is style. The heater should fit comfortably with the decor of your establishment, whether traditional or modern. Some models, for example, are reminiscent of a classic iron lamp post and bring a traditional elegance to the environment.  Other models offer a more sleek, modern, even futuristic appearance.

Important Tips For Patio Heaters

If you plan on moving the heater, choosing a patio heater with wheels would be the best choice. The wheels are often hidden, and so they will not affect appearance.

Having too much wind where you put the heater can adversely affect its performance. This problem can be solved rather easily, though, by using screens, shades, or other wind breakers.

An Asset to Restaurants

Patio heaters have no doubt proven their value to restaurants and bars.  Fortunately, as their popularity has increased in recent years, their price has decreased considerably. So it is now easier than ever to use patio heaters to help your business maintain old patrons and gain new ones.

Outdoor Living Spaces

Caring for Your Outdoor Wood Furniture

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Spring is here, and it’s time to bring your patio furniture out of storage and clean it up before putting it to good use during the warmer months.  If your patio furniture is made of wood, though, you may need to take some special care when preparing it for the season.  Arguably, the most attractive outdoor patio and deck furniture is made from wood.  Because wood is a natural product, it can respond in a variety of unappealing ways when exposed to moisture and changes in temperature and humidity. Proper maintenance of your wood patio furniture will help it last through years of extreme weather conditions.

Teak is one of the most desirable, but also one of the most costly, woods found in today’s outdoor wood furniture pieces. Teak is a beautiful, honey-colored, dense, tropical hardwood that is resistant to insect infestation and contains natural oils which also make it resistant to rot and decay. Unfortunately, teak trees grow very slowly and take at least 60 years to reach harvestable size, and, because teak furniture is in such high demand, teak is not found as easily as supplies of other woods like cedar, oak, or pine. With supplies not able to meet demand, the price of teak has elevated quite a bit over the years. The advantage of teak, though, is that, with proper maintenance, it can last for more than 50 years, which makes the initial investment worth it for many homeowners.  While cleaning teak is not necessary, it is not a bad idea to clean outdoor teak furniture each year to remove any buildup of pollen, sap, or mildew. Follow each cleaning with a coat of teak oil if you wish to keep the wood its original honey color.

Other tropical hardwoods, like Eucalyptus, have gained in popularity as the price of teak has grown prohibitive for many homeowners. Eucalyptus wood, like teak, is alluring, durable, hardy, and resistant to rot and insect infestation. The rapid maturity of eucalyptus trees makes them more readily available and more easily affordable. Like outdoor teak furniture, outdoor eucalyptus furniture can be treated with teak oil following an annual cleaning to help preserve the wood’s natural color.

Other popular choices for outdoor wooden furniture include cedar, redwood, oak, and pine. These woods, though (especially pine), must be treated with a preservative to prevent decay, which can occur in a short time depending on the local climate and weather conditions. Protecting this wood furniture with a water-resistant stain, protective oil, or polyurethane is also recommended. Your local hardware store has many products from which to choose, and a store associate should be able to assist you in choosing the best product.

In general, outdoor wood furniture should be cleaned once a year. Mix one tablespoon of bleach, five tablespoons of a gentle dishwashing liquid, and a gallon of water, and gently scrub the surface of your wood furniture with a soft bristle brush. Wash the solution from the furniture, and allow it to dry completely in the sun. Repainting or restaining wood furniture may be necessary at this time to cover and protect any worn or damaged areas.

All woods are susceptible to rot and decay if left in damp, humid, and shady areas for extended periods of time. Wood that becomes saturated with rain water is more likely to warp and rot, so using protective patio furniture covers when your furniture is not in use is strongly advised to keep your wooden patio furniture in good shape. The bases of furniture legs are the most likely to be affected first when it comes to water damage. If wood furniture is kept in the grass, at the poolside, or on a surface that collects even a small level of rain water, the legs can soak up that water and quickly rot. Covering the bottoms of each furniture leg with rubberized material or small sections of cedar fencing will help protect your furniture from rotting from the bottom up.

Finally, exposure to chemicals including solvents and chlorine, and exposure to common items such as alcoholic beverages, plants and flower nectar, and hot items (off of a grill, for example) can permanently stain and damage wood surfaces. Also, it is important to prevent plastic objects, like plastic table cloths, toys, placemats, and appliance covers, from lying on wood furniture for a long period of time because plastic can discolor wood. Plastic can also stick to and damage a wood finish.

The lifespan for any wooden patio furniture depends greatly on the type of wood used and exposure to the weather. Properly maintaining your outdoor wood furniture can increase the furniture’s life and maximize your investment. Outdoor wood furniture makes an attractive, natural addition to any outdoor living space, and, with care, it will continue to make a beautiful impression for many seasons to come.

Backyard Fun

Wood Swing Set Kits Make It Easy To Do It Yourself

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Have your kids successfully talked you into buying a backyard wooden swing set, but you dread the thought of visiting a showroom and being talked into dropping thousands of dollars on mediocre equipment (and even more on the installation of that mediocre equipment)?  Consider the following three words: do it yourself. The good news is that even a novice do-it-yourself enthusiast can purchase high quality, and reasonably priced wooden swing set kits on the internet and assemble one as soon as it arrives at your door.  Even better news is that do-it-yourself wooden swing set kits are available for purchase without wood included or with wood included. Deciding which swing set kit to choose depends only on how involved you wish the do-it-yourself aspect of the construction to be.

Do-it-yourself swing set kits, whether they come with wood or without, should always offer free shipping and come with complete step-by-step instructions for construction — all necessary hardware and basic accessories (such as swings, monkey bars, canopy top, etc.) should be included.  Many additional accessories are almost always available for purchase, but any wooden swing set kit that requires separate purchase of necessary hardware should be avoided. Every nut, bolt, bracket, and spring clip needed to complete the project should always be included with the kit.

Here’s the big question.  How does a do-it-yourself enthusiast make the choice between wooden swing sets that come without the wood versus swing sets that come with the wood? Consider the following. Kits that do not come with wood allow you the luxury of hand selecting the type of wood, and even each specific piece of wood, that will be used in the construction. More time and tools are needed for these kits, though, because each piece must be searched for, transported to the home, cut to exactly the right size, and sanded, and then holes must be drilled for each piece of hardware. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts who are truly enthusiastic about home construction projects may prefer this approach.

On the other hand, wooden swing set kits that come with the wood included may sometimes be a better choice for the do-it-yourself enthusiast who does not have the time to select and sand the wood. The wood that comes with these kits is usually high quality and intended to last for many years with proper care. An advantage to swing set kits that include the wood is that all the wood is pre-cut, pre-sanded, and pre-drilled. With these major steps already completed, you can construct the wooden swing set in a fraction of the time.

Whether you choose a wooden swing set kit that includes wood or not, you can significantly reduce your costs by shopping wisely and constructing the equipment yourself. Either choice gives your kids a fun, safe, and long-lasting place to play and provides you with a feeling of pride and accomplishment.  So, go ahead and do it yourself!