Main Uses | Access | Other Usage | Web Pages

Dining
  - Summer eating out on deck
    - Picnic table, or possible standard deck furniture
    - Grilling out, or carrying food out to deck
    - Place to store supplies/etc
    - Think about mosquitoes, wind
  - Next to cooking area
  - Partially covered, or fully covered, so you get some shade
    - E.g. Pergola
    - Dining part might be covered, cooking part open (at least over grill)
  - Consider covering for rain
Entertaining
  - Grilling out
  - Hanging out on deck, visiting
  - Max # people, comfortably: 15-20
    - Deck & porch accommodates this #, but not necessarily in the same area
    - Central area accommodates 10, + possible overflow area
    - Strength of deck
  - What view do they get?
    - Trees, panorama good
    - Cars bad
  - Think about where people sit, and how they converse
  - Curved area fosters conversation
  - Seating for 10-15?
    - Some permanent seating, e.g. benches
    - Much/most can be temporary seating, e.g. plastic chairs
      - Benefit that they can be moved out when not in use
      - But plan spots for where they'd go
  - Outdoor fireplace
    - For entertaining in Fall, cooler weather
    - Integrated into deck/patio or outdoor cooking/dining area
    - Either fireplace w/chimney that can double as wood oven
    - Or just simple firepit, sunken, seating around perimeter
Cooking
  - Both for family use & for entertaining
  - Area for grill
  - Storage for grill accessories/implements
  - Additional flat counter space on one or both sides of grill
    - Use while grilling, e.g. place to put meat pan
  - Wood oven  (stone-hearth oven)
    - Worth some thought/investigation
    - Another alternative is outdoor fireplace (see Entertaining for details)
    - Baking pizza/bread
    - Serves as center of outdoor kitchen
    - Faces w/rock, aesthetics tie-in with other design elements
  - Optional small fridge
  - Away from main entertaining/eating/play areas
  - Not in main traffic area
  - Room for a couple people to stand/sit--visit person doing cooking
  - Part of bigger, more general, outdoor kitchen area, incl cooking & dining
  - Tie everything in with stone
    - Stone counters
    - NC Grill on stone counters
    - Fridge tucked away under counter
    - Stone pavers/flooring
  - Needs to all sit on patio, rather than deck
Reading
  - Benches for reading
  - Think about location of sun
  - Place to put drink(s) or food
Kid playing
  - Area for kids to play in
  - Storage for toys
Relaxation
  - Shade
  - Water sounds
  - Plants
  - Panorama/vista
  - Outdoor fireplace (see Entertaining for details)
Sunning
  - Lying out in sun
  - Less common use than other uses for us
Kids' screen house 
  - Camping out
  - Can serve as playhouse
  - Storage for some toys, stuff that stays out there permanently
Kids' playhouse
  - Alternative to screen house
  - More for "playing house" than for "camping out"
  - Could be under deck
  - Toy storage
Dog cleaning area
  - Doesn't need to be immediately adjacent to door
  - Run hose to separate spigot w/short hose to use on dogs
  - Mini-tub, e.g. small lip, for dogs to stand in
  - Storage for shampoo
  - Drainage--run away from house
				

Access

Get to deck from house
  - Door from kitchen area is primary access
  - Possible future door from library
    - Into 3-season porch?
Get to yard from deck
  - Towards garage
  - Straight back to yard
  - To South side of yard (hill)
  - Hard surface at bottom of stairs (e.g. patio) to avoid wear & tear on grass
  - Tie-in w/hard surface (e.g. stone walk) to driveway
Access front porch from deck
  - Desirable, but not critical
Ramp access
  - Ramp would be nice, but not required
  - Easier to move things up to deck, e.g. dolly furniture
  - Wheelchair accessible
Outdoor "mud room"
  - Place to leave shoes outdoors on deck
  - Place to sit while taking shoes off or putting on
  - Enclosed shoe storage?  (so not unsightly)
  - Helps avoid tracking dirt/mud into house when entering via deck

Other Usage Considerations

Noise level (AC)
  - Need to figure out how loud the compressor is
  - Areas for reading/relaxation/dining should be further away from AC unit
  - Cooking area could be closer, since noise is less of a problem
Sun/shade
  - Need to assess which areas of back yard receive sun, at which hours
  - At least partial shade desirable for: dining, reading, relaxation
  - Sun required for: sunning
Area size
  - Main area about the size of a typical room in house, e.g. family room
Area separation
  - Distinct areas should be at least slightly separated, e.g. step or railing
  - Not totally closed off, but separate enough to provide feeling of separate area
  - Traffic pattern shouldn't run through main part of area being used
  - Consider traffic patterns in moving from one area to another
Identify main area that we'll use most
Furniture
  - Typical deck table & chairs, nice design
  - Possibly additional table for dining area--or just use main table
  - Built-in benches, optionally, e.g. for reading
  - Other chairs, relaxing
Storage
  - Firewood storage somewhere
    - Could be stored under deck, accessible from cooking area, stacks of firewood
     
  - Possible storage under deck (screened from view)
    - Garden tools/stuff 
    - Grill, in off season
    - Shouldn't be too visible from yard
  - Some storage of yard toys (e.g. balls, etc).
  - Small bookshelf would be nice, fully enclosed 
    - For storing stuff like a couple magazines, etc.
    - Would have to be weather-proof
Plants
  - Plants add color, add to relaxation factor
  - Lots of planters/plants surrounding deck
  - Place to hang plants
  - Possible use of planters, to add color/interest by having plants on deck
    - Or could achieve the same things using planter boxes on railings
  - Stone frize, old-world feel, spot for one or more frizes/hangings
Water
  - Sound of water adds to relaxation
Materials 
  - From user perspective, wood is desirable because of feel/texture and ambience
  - Should try to minimize maintenance efforts, but don't need to eliminate entirely
Aesthetics
  - Should be a thing of beauty to some degree, rather than just utilitarian
  - Beauty not just by virtue of physical aspects (e.g. stained wood), but also by virtue of it's design
  - Harmony with rest of backyard and house
    - Serve as tie-in or bridge between the house and the yard
    - Somehow harmonize with natural beauty of yard, Oak trees
  - Stone frizes, old-world feel
Sound/music
  - Wired speakers desirable, but not required
  - Possible uses
    - Listen to news, weekend morning
    - Hanging out listening to music, or radio program, evenings, e.g. PHC
    - Background music while entertaining
  - Speakers need to be weatherproof
  - Driven by stereo system in Fam Rm
Building code info
  - Scott Cty uses MN State building code
Lighting
  - For nighttime use of deck
  - Soft, rather than glaring
  - Multiple light sources, rather than single spot
  - Where would switch go?
Clearance
  - Room to get tractor past on both sides--by garage, and from South hill
Mowing
  - Easy to mow around, or get to areas that need mowing or trimming

Interesting Web Pages for Outdoor Ovens

http://www.homemag.com/article.asp?print_page=y&section_id=3&article_id=376&page_number=1
- Stone hearth, outdoor kitchen

http://www.avalonrecords.com/brickoven/buterasoven.html
- Diary of building outdoor brick oven (large)

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/hm_other/article/0,2085,DIY_16808_3836986,00.html
- Good article on outdoor kitchens

http://www.fornobravo.com/pompeii_oven/oven_overview.html
- Overview of building outdoor oven

http://mha-net.org/msb/html/bakeoven.htm
- Incredible collection of links on bake oven info

http://www.traditionaloven.com/
- Rado, building gorgeous ovens

http://www.quarterbyte.com/brian/brickoven.html#books
- Brian, brick oven project

http://www.ovencrafters.net/
- Alan Scott plans

http://www.deltabluesfestival.net/pizza_oven.htm
- Gorgeous photos of rock-faced oven

http://www.woodstone-corp.com/cooking_basics_wood_or_gas.htm
- Stone hearth as gas-fired?

http://www.deltabluesfestival.net/ovens.htm
- Very good place to start, tons of photos