Custom Outdoor Room - Fireplace with wood boxes and an Outdoor Kitchen with a firepit

Catching up with all of our projects now, this family had a dying tree, some 10 year old uneven pavers,, and a space that needed some light....when I say light, I'm talking FIRE!

These progression pictures show you where they were a month ago to where we got them with their outdoor space!

We went with a 88 inch tall fireplace, a 9 foot long outdoor kitchen/bar area complete with a firepit, as well as a two color light charcoal textured concrete - take a look!

 

Big Tree Pic

Pavers Out, Tree Out, Concrete In!

Fireplace In!

Concrete Sealed !

Kitchen Profile Pic

Custom Outdoor Room - Freshly Sealed Concrete

Check out one of our most recent projects that takes you through the whole process from the tear out to the final pictures.  These folks had an unused space off to the side of their pool, they loved to entertain and grill out, and they liked our business model and how we were able to deliver exactly what they wanted.

I include here the steps from the beginning to the end because sometimes its hard to visualize where this is going until you get right to the very bottom!

This Outdoor Kitchen features Bull Outdoor as well as Fire Magic components, a radial foot rest and bar, a sink, ice maker, accent lights in the base boards as well as in the back splash, a two color texture concrete - and even a pull out trash can. Family Leisure Custom Outdoor Room!

What's cooking in your back yard?

Check out more of our work at www.familyleisure.com

Old Concrete Tear Out/ Framing

Marking Electrical, Water Drain Insert

Framing/ Materials/ Angle 2

Concrete Pour and Electric Stubs - Now we wait 30 days!!!!

Finishing Touches on the Design

Arial View

Interior View

Exterior View

Complete Full View - Concrete Seal

Saffire Smoker Grill Review

The Saffire charcoal fired ceramic grill and smoker has the most advanced features in its class. It doesn't matter if you are a championship barbecue competitor or a smoking enthusiast because the Saffire makes grilling out easy!

After smoking on the Saffire for over a year I've noticed that compared to some of the other larger brand names you might find at the larger "box" stores my charcoal usage has been between 1/4 to 1/2 less than what it used to be.  Whether its intense heat you rquire for perfctly seard steaks and seafood, or the savor of true slow smoked barbecue, the Saffir Grill could be the right grill for you.

You can even use it as a wood-fired brick oven for making pizza, bread, cup cakes, and much more. The high temperature ceramics will give you a lifetime of use. With some of the finest stainless steel alloys (304 Weight) you as the griller are ensured years of corrosion resistance and a minimum amount of maintenance. 

The Saffire comes in either black onyx or jasper red complete with a durable non-fading ceramic glaze.

The other benefit to the Saffire is that it is truly a premium smoker in that the temperatures can range from a low 200-250 degree smoke all the way up to 800 degrees with just the turn of the air flow vent.  Using lump charcoal you'll have your Saffire grill up to temperature in only 10 minutes.

You can find the lowest prices on the internet here:

http://www.familyleisure.com/Grills/Saffire-Grill-Co.

Remember to use PROMO CODE Rgrills5 at checkout to receive an additional 5% off!

Saffire Stainless Steel Vent

Saffire Heat Deflector for the true smoke flavor

             

Example of a Built in Saffire Smoker (Jasper Red)

Saffire Smoker Built in

Are you ready for some football?

Here at Family Leisure we are all about outdoor living, enjoying time with family, and making your outdoor living space as comfortable and functional as we can.  From time to time we get to see some pretty interesting outdoor spaces as well as we get to create some spaces that can also take on a life of their own.  Here is a great example of a family that just moved into town, wanted a space completed before season's kickoff of college football, and had the space to allow for some pretty creative things to happen.

What we did here was build an outdoor bar/ grill island with all the "fixin's"  including a 12 person radial bar with a foot rest, custom fit western red cedar pergola, custom backsplash behind the grill, built in shelving - with quite a view!  These folks are ready for ALL the big games this year!  I think I know where the outdoor rated T.V. should go too!!!!!

Take a look at what we did!

Before long view

Before Short View

During Build Picture 1

During Build Picture 2

+

Complete Picture 1

Complete Grill Picture 2

Complete Build Side Angle Picture

Complete Long View

Hot Summer? Add some shade!!!!!

Outdoor Living is getting pretty scientific and advanced in the materials that are being used to make your Outdoor Living Space functional and useable.    Believe it or not, we have come quite a long way in Outdoor Living in the past 30 years.

For years people would use something like this:

Basic Pup Tent 

In the 80's and 90's the big trend was something more like this:

Basic Gazebo

Which definitely was a big improvement from the tent (and of course the tent still has its natural applications).

But what we have at Family Leisure that is the "new" stuff that is really trending fast is a material called polycarbonate which is defined here:

Properties and processing

Polycarbonate is a very durable material. Although it has high impact-resistance, it has low scratch-resistance and so a hard coating is applied to polycarbonate eyewear lenses and polycarbonate exterior automotive components. The characteristics of polycarbonate are quite like those of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, acrylic), but polycarbonate is stronger, usable in a wider temperature range and more expensive. This polymer is highly transparent to visible light and has better light transmission characteristics than many kinds of glass.

Polycarbonate has a glass transition temperature of about 150 °C (302 °F), so it softens gradually above this point and flows above about 300 °C (572 °F). Tools must be held at high temperatures, generally above 80 °C (176 °F) to make strain- and stress-free products. Low molecular mass grades are easier to mold than higher grades, but their strength is lower as a result. The toughest grades have the highest molecular mass, but are much more difficult to process.

Unlike most thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo large plastic deformations without cracking or breaking. As a result, it can be processed and formed at room temperature using sheet metal techniques, such as forming bends on a brake. Even for sharp angle bends with a tight radius, no heating is generally necessary. This makes it valuable in prototyping applications where transparent or electrically non-conductive parts are needed, which cannot be made from sheet metal. Note that PMMA/Plexiglas, which is similar in appearance to polycarbonate, is brittle and cannot be bent at room temperature.

Main transformation techniques for polycarbonate resins:

• extrusion into tubes, rods and other profiles
• extrusion with cylinders into sheets (0.5–15 mm (0.020–0.59 in)) and films (below 1 mm (0.039 in)), which can be used directly or manufactured into other shapes using thermoforming or secondary fabrication techniques, such as bending, drilling, routing, laser cutting etc.
• injection molding into ready articles 

 I'm not entirely sure what all of this means, but I can tell you it looks like this!!!!! As you can see it sits right on top of the pergola offering the maximum amount of shade without taking away from the pergola structure.  It protects the folks underneath it from the rain, offers shade, and looks great!

Come check it out at Family Leisure!

Compilation of Outdoor Living Trends

Hope everyone is having a spectacular summer in their outdoor space. 

Here are a few really good articles that explain what is happening and what will be happening in outdoor living!

Enjoy the reads and see where your outdoor space fits in the trend!

http://www.indyhomespecialist.com/top-10-outdoor-living-spaces.php

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110302006103/en/Survey-Shows-Top-Outdoor-Living-Trends-2011

I like these two articles particularly because they not only identify trends that are happening, but by percentage what is important to the the people that are either looking to implement the trend and what is MOST important to them! 

Make your current home great and worry about your next house later is what I say!

Ahead of the trend here?

Economic Trending Featuring Family Leisure and Some of our work

The word is out and Outdoor Living is trending in the market in a really big way!  10,000 people in Indianapolis are calling utility companies in June??? Wow!!!! What a statistic!

Check out what one local news station is saying about Outdoor Living and what it means to you!

http://www.wthr.com/story/18710951/home-improvements-show-flipside-of-economy

What are you doing to make your house more of what you want it to be ?????