Ideas to Expand Your Outdoor Living Spaces

Angie Hicks, Angie's List founder: "When it comes to making outdoor living spaces they can become very elaborate these days. More of us want to spend more time outside, but if you are on a budget be very clear and upfront when you are planning the process. Potentially get your project broken out into phases so you can do parts of it in any given year maybe a fire pit this year and a new deck next year so you don't have to do all of it all at once."

Charlie Watson, The Waire Group: "The thing we are asked to do most is an outdoor living room with maybe a kitchen area and a dining room. They can get pretty extensive from some small jobs you do—decorative patios, maybe a fire pit to full-fledged areas that we do a full roof over. We have full-blown kitchens, masonry fireplaces, fire pits, they run the whole gamut."

Angie Hicks, Angie's List founder: "When planning an outdoor project and talking to contractors remember to talk to them about what you want to have as your end goal. And it might be that you are looking at a five year plan for getting this project all done. And then make sure you find someone who listens to you about your budget so that they know exactly how much you can spend and where you can make the most impact in your yard right out of the gate."

Charlie Watson, The Waire Group: "Sitting down with the clients and understand what their lifestyle is and what their lifestyle goals are. How many people do they want to entertain out there? Is it just the family or do they have guests over a lot? Do they enjoy sitting outside at night with a fire or is it more grilling and a place to eat outside? So it's really diving into those questions and understands what they want."