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Saturday, June 30, 2012

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?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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 ?????

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

"Hip" to be square - in Outdoor Living!

Huey Lewis, from The Huey Lewis and the News band said it best back in the late 80's....."It's hip to be square!"

Little did he know he would be way of ahead of his time in Outdoor Living.  We took a really custom concept in Outdoor Living and made it a reality.  With Custom Paint to match the house both on the roof and the custom "tapered" columns along with custom grout for the Limestone that the posts rest on I think we came out with something truly unique.  This is something that is even difficult to "google."

We even built a custom cedar cupola.  A cupola is a form of Roman architecture developed and built in the age of the Renaissance. Well - here it is again in 2012 and I think it might be making a comeback!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupola



As you can see this project still has some work left, but I like the way this is all starting!

Cad Full View

Cad Top View

Cedar Cupola



Pergola Full View
Pergola Angled View
Hip Roof Angled
Pergola Sky View
Pergola Long View



Brought to you by Family Leisure and Luxury Outdoor Living


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Radial Pergola Outdoor Kitchen

Farm Fresh Outdoor Kitchen?

In the beautiful surroundings of a country farm lies a custom outdoor kitchen w/ a twist....or more a "radial" pergola. Using Aspen stacked cultured stone, a nice western red cedar stained pergola, and a fire pit of course comes a beautiful creation that shows a lot of what we can do.  This homeowner did some extensive planning when putting this all together and you can certainly see how it turned out!  Now....where is the ice cold lemonade?


side view


front view

side view w/ decor
front view 2nd pergola w/ Outdoor Farmscape!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Fire Magic: Grill Review

When people ask me, "What kind of a grill would you recommend?

I often respond with, "What kind of grill do you have in your indoor kitchen?"

Let's face it, you can find ovens that are 500.00 dollars and you can find ovens for 5,000.00 dollars and as most of us know due to customer education through visiting the various appliance stores throughout the years when you start to look at the higher end ovens they just do a lot more right?

Well, outdoor cooking has also expanded in terms of culinary capabilities and there in lies the next series of questions:

"How often do you use your grill now?" 
"If you had a better grill would you use it more?"
"If you had a grill that allowed you to do exactly what your doing in your indoor kitchen would that change your lifestyle in outdoor living?"

Well, enter Fire Magic......

Fire Magic Diamond Echelon


I looked at a variety of grills in this price category before settling on this one.  If you look around the internet this grill ranks at least in the top 5 of most grill reviews and in a lot of cases number 1 based on its price category.

Here are some of the well documented features of the Fire Magic grill line:

Heat
FireMagic grills just get hotter than other grills.

Most talk about btu's per burner - but that has no relation to the size of the cooking surface. FireMagic grills are perfectly balanced to ensure proper cooking, so you will either get more burners or the btu's will grow with larger grills - or both.

While you get a lot of heat - you also get control. Control knobs allow for precise heat control. On low you can slow cook, on high it's infra-red. Heat and control.

Even Heat Distribution
Cast Stainless Steel E Burners are part of a whole system to ensure even heat distribution so the are no hot spots or cold spots. This gives you greater use of the space relative to others.

Flavor grids, Depth of firebox, and our cooking grids also contribute


Shallow Depth Backburner
Ours is made of Stainless Steel - unlike the ceramic of others. This allow us to both be shallow depth allowing more room for your food and is more durable - ours wont crack.

Combined with our 12" deep firebox and tall hood, this allows the greatest flexibility to cook on your rotisserie, up to 20" in diameter.

Lights Every Time
State of the art ignition ensure that your grill is ready when you are.

Echelon Diamond series use Hot Surface Ignition (shown) which will even light in the pouring rain. Aurora uses battery operated electronic ignition.

Echelon and Aurora both feature push to light technology.

Cast Stainless Burners
Our Cast Stainless Steel E Burners are 4-5 times thicker than others and are warranted for life!

 
Oh yeah...and the knobs light up with blue LED lights.....that just really cool.

You can find great deals on Fire Magic here:  




Fire Magic Profile

Fire Magic Front View

Fire Magic Grill provided by Family Leisure!








Saturday, May 19, 2012

Outdoor Movie Night?

One of the things trending right now in Outdoor Living is Outdoor Movies!

Here are some examples of some really neat Outdoor Theaters both completed and concept!

Outdoor Theater Built into the Cedar Posts
Outdoor Theater Concept
Extreme Marhmellows!
I think I could get into this movie....or in the pool?

 
I like the view!

As you can see, the materials that are being used in Outdoor Living have vastly improved over the years.  True exterior design has become an important feature to the value of your house and, more importantly, allowed folks to make more use of what they have already!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Decorative Concrete - Outdoor Living Space with ALL the bells and whistles

Side View Before
Full View Before
Custom Fireplace w/ Wood Boxes
Front View including Fireplace and Outdoor Kitchen
Posts Up
Project Complete w/ Patio Furniture

What a great space!  A 22 x 16 Pergola w/ 6 Posts, Full Stone Columns, Decorative Arches, Custom Decorative Concrete, and a great summer ahead!
Brought to you by www.familyleisure.com