10 ideas to make outdoor living space inviting

Outdoor living is popular everywhere, but Arizona homeowners do it best. We're experts at turning our backyards into a second "living room/kitchen/family room" we can use almost all year.

We talked with many outdoor living experts to come up with 10 ideas for making your outdoor living room more inviting:

Fire pits — They're still building outdoor fireplaces, but the latest must-have is a fire pit. Portable ones are sold that look like mini coffee tables with places to set food and drink. Remember with fire pits and fireplaces, you can't burn real wood in many places in Arizona very often — if at all. Hook up devices to propane or natural gas.

Misters, foggers — Misters have been around forever, but the newest misters for cooling off your outdoor living room are more versatile and efficient. For a long time, misters hung in tubes along ceiling edges of covered patios.

"But today you can bring the misters in from out on the periphery of the action to where the people are," says Pete Rambo of MistAmerica in Scottsdale. "You can have misters in ceiling fans that broadcast the mist in a 360-degree radius."

You can mount the newest misters onto your existing shade umbrellas. Or have free-standing fans blow mist over your seating areas. For July and August, pumps can put out billowing clouds of fog across your swimming pool and patio. To create the perfect outdoor climate all year, try a free-standing heat lamp or two on cooler evenings.

Built-in seating — "We used to build a beautiful patio for someone and then when we left, homeowners would move in some tables and outdoor chairs and lounges," says Chris Wellborn of Vicente Landscaping in Prescott.

But now homeowners want permanent built-in seating when a yard is landscaped. Benches shaped from blocks of stone or pavers can form a semicircle in front of a fire pit or fireplace. Or they can serve as seating for a built-in table. Although they're often capped off with flagstone or slate, you might add cushions to make benches more inviting.

As for free-standing patio furniture, Stephen Ramey of Today's Patio in Phoenix says the biggest seller among today's homeowners is wicker furniture made of PVC with a UV inhibitor. It's tough and durable in the Arizona sunshine and lasts 10 times as long as wicker made from natural materials.

"Metal can be durable," he says, "but it gets too hot in the sun. You can still have the old-fashioned look in wicker, but now it's being used in contemporary styles as well."

As for cushions, the longest lasting and most durable are covered in Sunbrella fabric which is impervious to fading.

Multiple cooking options — One barbecue grill isn't enough for many Arizona homeowners, especially in July and August when they want to cook every dinner outside to avoid heating up the house. Besides a grill area, you want individual burners for side dishes. Many outdoor chefs add a smoker or an egg-shaped kamado-style cooker to their backyards. Buy a gadget or two for your grill to turn it into a pizza oven.

New ways to light up the night — Incandescent lighting is long-gone. Switch to the latest low-voltage LED fixtures in your backyard for more lighting power at less cost. To make everyone feel comfortable outside in the evening, you need several layers of lighting: overhead light fixtures on the ceiling of the covered patio; path lights to take you in and out of the house; lighting on your favorite ocotillo or saguaro; and maybe even strings of lights or a few tiki-style torches. And don't forget lanterns on the dining table.

Electronic garden-tainment — The number of all-weather outdoor TVs on the market are increasing. These are HDTVs designed to withstand extreme temps and outdoor weather. However, they are a bit pricier than regular HDTVs. If you prefer to set up just one indoor TV on the patio for special sports events, take it inside when not in use or at the hottest or coldest times of the year.

Artificial turf — For more active entertainment, consider adding make-believe grass for a miniature practice putting green to amuse golfers while the steak is on the grill. Artificial turf, used properly, can soften the landscape and you don't need to worry about watering or overseeding.

Foodscaping — Arizona homeowners love growing their own food. Why not make economical use of all that eternal sunshine? Carefully tended artichokes and purple cabbages can make great landscaping plants. But if watering, fertilizing, covering and uncovering, and killing pests seems overwhelming, try a portable foodscape of containers filled with cherry tomatoes and herbs mixed in with dwarf lemons and oranges in pots. It's a lot easier to grow things on a patio than in rock-hard soil out back.

Bed-head xeriscape — You don't really want to put in a couple tons of crushed granite surrounding a cactus or two, do you? That's a tidy solution; you might never even have to spray with pre-emergent. But it's also a yard that would make you really thirsty just looking at it. Lots of people are going for the bed-head look — lots of untidy plants that are overgrown, rumpled and easy on the water: agaves, ornamental grasses, sages, yuccas, palo verdes and a few yellow bells and fairy dusters.

Attracting birds and butterflies — Scented flowers and foliage can attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Consider red yucca, penstemon, butterfly bushes, Baja fairy dusters, lantana and autumn sage.

Next week: Developments in the solar world, from new products to changing utility rates and regulations.

For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona homebuilding- and remodeling-industry expert for 25 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday-morning "Rosie on the House" radio program 7-11 a.m. in Phoenix on KTAR-FM (92.3). Consult our Web site for other listings. Call 888-767-4348 FREE.