Outdoor Rugs Out in the Weather All Year?
I was out on the back steps hanging a load of towels on the line, the cheap collapsible one from the corner store that always tips over if you clip…
Actually Using a Fire Pit on a Deck, Not Just Owning One
Ask ten people whether you can actually put a fire pit on a deck and you’ll get two answers, both delivered with total confidence, both slightly wrong. Half of them…
A Portable Fire Pit and a Wood Deck: Easy to Move, Easy to Get Careless
Portable fire pits have a reputation as the responsible choice for a wood deck. The story goes something like this: an in-ground fire pit or a heavy stone ring is…
Electric Patio Heaters Indoors: A Different Kind of Risk
I own five electric patio heaters. Five. I said the number out loud to myself while writing this and had to sit with it for a second, because that is…
Patio Cushions Left Out: The Slow Rot Problem
I currently own twenty seven outdoor cushions. Twenty seven. I counted them properly last week, laid every single one out on my building’s shared roof deck like some kind of…
Fire Pit on a Deck: Where the Heat Really Goes
I was out on the deck at seven in the morning, before work, doing the least glamorous task known to homeownership: sweeping ash off the boards with a dustpan that’s…
Patio Table: What Belongs on It Through the Seasons
I counted the other day, out of pure nosiness about my own habits, and I go out to that patio table roughly eleven times a day between April and October.…
Outdoor Coffee Table: Built for Weather First
My mom walked into my backyard in July, looked at the new coffee table, and said, “Chloe, that thing looks like it’s already been through a hurricane.” I told her…
Outdoor Light Color: What Suits a Yard or Patio
My sister Maddie walked onto my patio last June, looked straight up at the string of bulbs I’d just spent forty five minutes untangling and clipping to the fence, and…
Outdoor Lighting Temperature: What to Pick for the Yard
I checked my porch light app the other night, out of boredom more than anything, and it turns out I’ve adjusted my outdoor lighting temperature eleven times since April. Eleven.…