Strike a Balance with Indoor and Outdoor Living

Building your high-performance home in Silicon Valley means you get the best of both worlds – healthy and sustainable indoor living paired with warm and inviting outdoor spaces. If you’re in the early stages of planning your custom home, it’s a great time to reflect on how to get the most out of these spaces by balancing indoor and outdoor living.

At Clarum, we work with our clients to seamlessly blend indoor and outdoor areas to dazzling effect. Whether you want to expand your entertaining space or introduce more natural light and fresh air into your home, we can help you unify these areas with a design that’s chic and comfortable.

Here are a few ideas to help you bring the modern home of your dreams to life, both inside and out.

Make Use of Seamless Room Dividers

One of the many benefits of blending indoor and outdoor areas in your high-performance home is the ability to create greater access to nature. An easy way to do this is by introducing floor-to-ceiling pocket or sliding doors between indoor and outdoor living areas. This eliminates any unnecessary barriers between the spaces and creates a smooth and cohesive flow between rooms.

Try this in your dining room! Bring the dining table outdoors and add a built-in bar or lounge seating separated from the kitchen by movable doors. That way, you’ll create an expansive and dynamic entertaining space for your family and guests.

Continue Flooring and Décor Outdoors

A seamless indoor and outdoor area isn’t complete without cohesive flooring and furniture. To blur the boundary between the two spaces and create a clear sight line, ensure the flooring is consistent and level from the inside area all the way through to the outside area. For furniture and décor, consider using similar materials, decorative features, and complementary color palettes in both spaces.

Create harmony between your living area and courtyard with a minimal design that includes a neutral color palette, sophisticated lighting, and natural materials like wood, bamboo, and ceramic.

Add More Greenery

Passive homes, by nature, are built to blend seamlessly with the surrounding natural environment. Why not bring this into the design of your living space? Adding a living green wall is a great place to start – it brings the outdoors in while providing considerable benefits like cleaner air and reduced noise levels.

Planters are another great option to bring cohesion to indoor and outdoor areas. Place these near windows and doors where the interior meets the exterior to bring the spaces together and create a more unified feel. Tall plants like palms and birds of paradise add a lush vibe to the indoor area while capturing abundant sunshine.

Install Windows and Skylights

That ample sunshine simply can’t be ignored in Silicon Valley – embrace it by designing your indoor and outdoor spaces to capture as much natural light as possible. You can achieve this by installing large picture windows that add vibrancy and visual interest to the space. Skylights are another option to consider – in addition to fresh air and better ventilation, they’ll cut down your energy costs and naturally improve the comfort level in your home.

Looking for the perfect location to install a skylight? Try the bathroom. In addition to reducing the amount of moisture in the space, a bathroom skylight increases the amount of natural light and frees up more wall space for storage.

Bring in a Sound System

Create an environment that’s just right for entertaining with a sound system that extends to the outdoors. Wireless speakers make it easy to fill both spaces with entertainment that matches the activity, whether it’s relaxing jazz for a dinner party or the latest hits for lounging by the pool. You might even consider installing lighting that that can be changed to match the mood.  

Designing Harmony, Inside and Out

In Silicon Valley, seamless indoor and outdoor spaces are essential to any home and a no-brainer when you live in a place with 257 days of sunshine each year. Take advantage of the beautiful climate by designing a home that’s eco-friendly and fun for entertaining – bringing flow to your indoor and outdoor spaces while maintaining a sense of unity and harmony.

To learn more about building a custom home with indoor-outdoor spaces that inspire, give us a call at (650) 322-7069.