Outdoor kitchens, bars and “rooms” seem to be getting a lot of attention lately. The Wall Street Journal has an article discussing the down sides to outdoor rooms. Obviously they require maintenance, and the amount of use they actually get is questionable. From the article:
Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles tracked the activities of 24 middle-class L.A. households. They found that though the backyards were equipped with pools, patios, grills and, in one case, a skateboard ramp, children spent little time playing in them and adults rarely used them. More than half of the families spent only “negligible” amounts of time in their yards, mostly doing chores; some people never set foot in them at all. Despite the considerable investments that these families had made in their surroundings, they “largely admire them from afar, from inside the house or in their mind’s eye while doing othr things.”
I think that these families should spend a few winters in the Midwest. It would help them to appreciate these outdoor spaces, and the opportunity to utilize them year round. Lately I have been thinking that it would be really nice to live someplace like L.A., Phoenix or Las Vegas for the weather (and opportunities). Winter never used to bother me, I actually used to sort of look forward to it. But for some reason I am sick of it, even though we have had fairly mild winters lately.