When you are running through your thoughts, options, colours, designs, etc for your new outdoor living area, deck or patio cover; we will guide you through three areas of consideration. These are: Design, Materials & Accessories. By considering these three areas whilst you are investigating the options to enhance your home, it should mean that you will ultimately achieve an outdoor living area, deck or patio cover that is function (by functional I mean an area that I can use all year round), meets your budget & lastly looks great. Today, we are going to focus on the first area – ‘Getting the Best Design for your Patio Cover Outdoor Living Area’. So, what are your design options? Flat Sillion Traditional Gable Hipped Roof Dutch Gable Curved How do you choose the best design for your home? Consider the size of the area you want to cover Why? If the area is too small a gable might look out of place for the size of the area. How will it be connected back into your home? Do you have a high eave line or do you have to fix the patio cover above your existing roof line? As an example, you might not want to then install a gabled roof line if the connection point will already be high as then the patio cover will be too high, could look funny & won’t offer much protection. What’s your budget? A gable might not fit. As a very general rule of thumb, a gable can be double the cost of a flat roofed structure, as you have more material required & it takes longer to install. As an alternative you could still get height within your outdoor living area by using a skillion design. Gables: ‘Gables’ can come in a variety of forms – Hipped Roof, Dutch Gable, but the most common is the Traditional gable. One feature that you can include within your gable is to add down lights within the ridge line. This not only cleans up a often dirty or forgotten area but can also make the area more functional so you can use the area in the evening. Think about your accessories early when designing your outdoor living area or patio cover. TIP: If you are considering any form of gable, get the balance right. Sometimes a gable can look squashed if the area is too small or too flat if you don’t get the roof pitch right. Refer back to the existing roof pitch of your home & try to match it; this way your outdoor living area or patio cover will look more integrated rather than a ‘slap on’. Flat: Its flat – pretty simple. Sometimes, people try to make it all to fancy or complicated. Remember the KISS method (Keep it Simple Stupid), as sometimes simple can sometimes be better in your design. Ensure you have enough height to play with if you are leaning towards a flat roofed pergola. If its too low the area could feel claustrophobic & might not get enough air flow. Skillion: I think that a skillion design is sometimes forgotten but can often be the most effective. A skillion is where it is higher at one end & lower at the opposite & it can work really well on a double storey brick wall or even fixed above an existing roof line. A skillion can also give similar benefits of a gable – such as good height & thus air flow, without the cost or complexity of design that sometimes follows with a gable. Curved: Curved patio covers can be used with either a Colorbond or polycarbonate roofing material. We don’t offer a curved design option within our range simply as the amount of homes we just don’t see homes which already have a curved area. To install a curved roof we feel would make it look out of place. I hope this helps you get a better outdoor living area for your home. Remember that all of our material options (detailed below) can be used in any of these design styles. 'Premium Series' Colorbond Insulated Lined Ceilings Louvers Would you like to find out more? Can you entertain our relax outside all year round? Is your BBQ & outdoor furniture always covered? Contact Usto have a discussion about the options available for your home. We highly recommend that you share a coffee with us in our office so you can have a closer look at the products available in our display. We find that this helps our clients a lot as they can get a ‘hands on’ feel for each material option. Our display is by appointment only, so use the link below to book in a suitable time for us to meet one on one to casually discuss your outdoor lifestyle. Book a private consulation in our display - click here

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Thanks bigreader, I will post when finished, I'am hoping for a soft look in an 80's tiled and timber open plan laundry which is full of sun and looks out over the pool and deck. I have some white end panels that match our kitchen to help build it in, our new $50 front loading washer which my son and husband found at a local second hand store, the lock on the door wasn't working so they being the clever guys they are improvised and we now have a very unique handle that I love made from a piece of free form timber. The bench top is only 60cm deep so the machine will protrude a bit, I'am hoping I can get it to work as a wider bench top is a lot more expensive cheers

. Concrete is fine on pinterest, it's even fine in corporate canteens but it's not a homely feel at all. If however you are sold on the look but want a more removable option I can recommend lino. NOT vinyl but real, Lino. It's a different thing, harder wearing than vinyl and can actually look very chic and more closely match concrete look without creating an unpleasant surface to walk on in bare feet. The worst thing about hard floorings like tile and concrete is they are unpleasant on your feet in winter. I live in a house with lino however and it's much warmer and a better feel on the feet than a hard surface flooring. Easy to care for and importantly easy to remove when you get sick of it. Marmoluem is a true lino, which BTW is actually a very sustainable and organic product. Lino is made from jute, seed flours and linseed oil. It's compostable. But it's unique composition is what also gives it a warm and beeswax like feel underfoot, which is very comfortable. You can get it in a some very nice concrete like shades, patterns and even raised textures. It's a sheet flooring so there are few joins, something tiles cannot offer. Tiles, once stuck to the floor are an absolute b****h to remove without a lot of damage, noise and expense. Lino can simply be lifted like carpet.