Nature Calls

Marion and Jack McGrath love the new second-floor master suite in their recently renovated Maitland home. But it's the new lakefront lanai and outdoor kitchen that have really changed their lives.

"It's like a resort," says Marion McGrath. "We live out there. My husband cooks for me all the time. We don't even go to restaurants anymore. I'm thinking I died and went to heaven."

The McGraths, who own Jonathan McGrath Construction, incorporate outdoor living spaces into many of the large-scale remodeling projects they undertake for private clients. So it was high time they created a comparably impressive and inviting getaway for themselves.

Back yards, once thought of primarily as unsightly places in which to banish storage sheds and construct dog runs, are becoming elaborate extensions of homes-often including every amenity you'd expect to find inside a home, except perhaps the walls.

And even that's changing. Some leading-edge floor plans include walls of glass that slide completely out of view, further blurring the line between inside and outside.

Upscale finishes and furnishings, once thought to be too "nice" for outdoors, are migrating past that demarcation line. In upscale homes, travertine marble flooring is marching out the door, onto the patio and sometimes even onto the pool deck.

Appliances, from refrigerators and icemakers to televisions and elaborate sound systems, are getting weatherproofed and shipped out to summer kitchens and patios. Even outdoor furniture, thanks to the invention of weather-resistant fabrics and finishes, is starting to look and feel like its indoor cousins.

"It has to do with the baby boomer generation," says Rick Jennings, vice president of Nautilus Homes, which builds new homes and remodels older ones. "We're staying at home a little more. We're cocooning a little more and we're enjoying our yards. We find that right now, about 15 percent of our work is outdoor work. It's grown from zero in a year and a half."

Even using high-end materials, outdoor rooms can be a cost-effective way to expand a home's living space, says Jennings.

"Not only does it expand your space for less money than an addition might cost, but it also has an ambiance that you can't create inside of a home," he says.

New homes, as well, are being designed with outdoor living spaces, says Kay Green of Orlando-based Kay Green Design, who decorates and furnishes model homes for builders across the country.

"With the models, we want to make the outdoor spaces look like indoor spaces," Green says. "We do grilling porches with really nice grills, blinds, a sofa, chairs and a big table. It makes it look like the home has more space."

Of course, swimming pools remain the ultimate backyard focal point. But they're no longer no-frills concrete craters.

"I'm seeing more tricked-out pools," says Green. "Sometimes they're getting smaller, but they're getting more elaborate, with water features, natural stone and rock, colored interiors and natural shapes as opposed to the big backyard rectangle."

Landscape Architect Scott Redmon has in recent years designed pools in every conceivable shape, including an award-winning pool that meandered through a home's courtyard like a natural stream, widening and narrowing to create different looks in different areas.

"People are putting more and more money in smaller and smaller spaces," says Redmon. "There are a lot of people spending $100,000 for a pool area. There are lots and bells and whistles out there, almost to the point of overkill. And stuff you used to do only for really expensive projects is being used for median-priced projects now."

The array of pool features available can be mind-boggling. Options for interior finishes range from traditional white to deep-blue pebbles that make the water surface look like a mirror.

Decks can be acrylic, pavers or natural stone. A wide range of lighting is available, from typical colored underwater lights to complicated fiber-optic systems capable of creating a light show.

And then there's the fun designers are having with water, creating everything from traditional waterfalls to jets shooting across the deck with synchronized music and lighting. Pool edges that appear as though they disappear into the horizon-so-called vanishing edges-are also popular.

"We do dancing water, thumping water, lights in the water and lights with the water feature," says Tony Caruso of T.C. Water Features in Orlando.

"Sun shelves," three- to 14-inch shallow areas in the pool where people can plop down a lounge chair or just sit and soak up some rays, are increasingly being requested, says Caruso.

A seemingly unlikely yet dramatic combination of fire and water features has likewise become chic.

Firepits or fireplaces near the pool have been commonplace for several years, but the 2005 New American Home, located in Baldwin Park and featured on this month's Orlando Homebuyer cover, has a fireplace behind a waterfall plus a round firepit with a fountain in its elaborate pool courtyard area.

The 2006 New American Home, located in southwest Orange, has a poolside fireplace as well as gas torches along one side.

"Fire is definitely a hot thing," says Redmon, without apparent irony. "People want it, whether it's a firepit that people can sit around or fire in the pools."

A previously ubiquitous outdoor staple that has become less popular is the old reliable screen enclosure. Designers have never liked these bulky structures because they interfere with views of the yard and distract from the design of the pool. But homeowners, worried about insects and debris, insisted on them anyway.

However, the recent spate of hurricanes has changed all that. The cost of screen enclosures has increased dramatically because of demand spurred by replacing those that were damaged or destroyed and because of new building code requirements that mandate stronger construction.

"Plus, if you screen your pool, it decreases the water temperature from four to eight degrees," says Caruso. "So people are taking that 35 percent more [that a screen enclosure can cost] and better outfitting their pools with landscaping, water features and outdoor kitchens."

Jennings of Nautilus Homes is seeing the same trend. "People are thinking more about not using traditional screens on their pools, or they're opting for one of those disappearing screens," he says.

A fairly new product, disappearing screens roll up into a box and roll down at the push of a button, making it possible to have a screen when bugs are swarming, but to roll it out of the way when a better view-and an unobstructed breeze-is desired.

"We just did a major remodel of an existing home, and they wanted an open pool deck with their patio area screened in," says Jennings. "So we added an automated screen enclosure. They're more expensive than standard screens, but standard screens also limit the area you use, just like a wall in a house."

Some homeowners are simply learning to co-exist with the bugs. Others, however, are adding an array of new electronic and chemical insect-fighting products that go far beyond the old bug-zapper concept, notes Jennings, who recently discovered an insect-fogging device that releases a timed fine mist from the soffits of a home.

Whatever money is being saved on screen enclosures is often being spent on outdoor kitchens, which have begun to rival indoor kitchens in their sophistication.

"Many major appliance brands have jumped on the [outdoor kitchen] bandwagon," says Jennings, whose company also operates Summer Kitchens in Central Florida.

"You can create a restaurant-quality outdoor kitchen," adds Jennings. "It's a man's kitchen. You can have your beer on tap right there. You can have your icemaker right there. You can have an oven. You can have the rotisserie going. You can have a turkey fryer. You can have side burners. The only thing that I don't have right now [for outdoors] is a dishwasher."

Quality outdoor appliances often cost more than indoor appliances simply because they must be sturdy enough to withstand the elements. Still, there is a wide range of price points available. "You can get grills built in for between $600 and $7,000," says Jennings.

Of course, what good is the ultimate outdoor kitchen with the ultimate beer tap and bar without some tunes in the background, or without the ultimate outdoor television on which to watch the game?

No worries-weatherproof audio and video equipment is available. For instance, Mirage Outdoor Systems recently unveiled its AquaVision line of weatherproof 20-, 27- and 32-inch flat-panel LCD televisions. They don't need wires to work, and can receive transmissions from satellite dishes, DVD players or indoor cable systems. Suggested retail prices range from about $3,500 for the 20-inch model to about $4,500 for the 32-inch model.

"Don't mention that to my husband," says Marion McGrath. "He's been looking at a space we have up over the bar and saying, 'Wouldn't a flat-screen television be perfect up there?'"