If you enjoy entertaining during the summer months and are contemplating an upgrade to your concrete patio or pool deck area, consider incorporating elements in the design that will make grown up parties more enjoyable for you and your guests. This article offers suggestions for improving the design of your concrete patio or pool deck area in a way that sets you up for successful entertaining. We've also included helpful party ideas (even though you may already have that covered).
Is Your Concrete Patio Party Ready?
If you're looking for a stylish outdoor space where you can entertain family and friends, stamped concrete is a great option. Why?
Concrete patios last longer than wood decks that can be damaged by termites or water.
Stamped concrete is usually less expensive than the materials and labor needed for pavers, flagstones, or bricks.
Stamped concrete gives you lots of choices for designs. You can make it look classic or go for a more modern style.
There are a variety of textures and looks to choose from, such as slate, cobblestone, wood grain, and more.
Another reason to consider a stamped concrete patio is that you can choose colors and textures that complements the style of your home and landscaping. When selecting color and texture options, consider the colors of your home's exterior and your patio furniture and accessories.
Party Space Ideas: If you love to entertain, consider creating adding a patio bar. Having a structure that covers your bar area is a great way for those who aren’t sun worshipers to get out of the heat and cool down over a tropical drink and friendly conversation. This can be achieved in many ways such as installing a temporary canopy, building a pergola, or creating a structure that totally covers your entertaining space. For the ultimate patio entertaining area, add an outdoor kitchen. We build those also!
Stamped Concrete Pool Decks
Concrete pool decks are no longer just about offering safety from slippery wet surfaces around your pool. Give your guests a great excuse to look down as they walk onto your pool deck to party with stylish stamped concrete. Trendsetters are choosing to create stunning pool decks and patio areas using stamped concrete masonry techniques. Stamped concrete is at the height of its popularity – not just because of its durability, practicality and ease of maintenance, but also because of the many beautiful patterns, textures, and materials it can resemble for a lot less cost than using actual stone, wood, brick, or concrete pavers.
Textured Concrete Pool Decks
Broom Finish, Sponge Finish, and Exposed Aggregate Concrete Patios
Hand-crafted concrete surfaces never go out of style. They offer traction and if done with artistic skill, the end result is a beautiful, slip resistant, cost-effective option—especially for pool decks. Read more about our hand-finished textures surfaces by visiting our website.
Party Ideas: No pool party is complete without lively music and even a little dancing. If your party has a theme, such as a Mexican Fiesta, play music to make your guests want to salsa all night and put that concrete pool deck to good use! If your party has a tropical theme, you can always count on island steel drum music, which will make everyone feel like they’re partying somewhere in the Caribbean.
When hosting your pool party, don’t feel like it’s necessary to have a fully stocked bar. Keep things simple by creating a unique signature party cocktail with a fun, thematic name. Or, make some traditional island favorites: a pitcher of Sangria made with tropical fruits, Rum Punch, fresh fruit Margaritas, spiked lemonade/iced tea, or Hurricanes. Don’t forget to serve plenty of non-alcoholic hydrating drinks. Of course, you can’t go wrong also serving a pitcher of lemon water, soft drinks, beer, and wine.
Magical Water Features and Decor
The sound of water outside while you're in the yard, on the patio, or poolside helps everyone chill out and relax. If you're thinking of adding a permanent water feature to your pool area, there are many ways to do so. Stone boulders can be made to incorporate a water feature–either as a stand-alone rock or a boulder wall complete with a waterfall.
Party Ideas: If you want to transport your guests from a backyard pool party into more of a resort experience, adding floating water decor will make it hard for your guests to want to leave. Encourage your guests to get into the pool and mingle by adding floating food and drink trays. If the party goes on into the evening, floating candles will offer a
more relaxing vibe to the party. For a more whimsical and fun pool party atmosphere, add inflatable pool toys, colorful pool noodles, inflatable beach balls, colorful balloons, and even rubber duckies. Pool games requiring a ball and a target (like water basketball) will draw your competitive guests into the action fast. And if your pool has a slide, you won’t need many extra pool paraphernalia to get your guests splashing.
A Chef's Outdoor Kitchen Dream
If your budget and yard space allows, building a custom outdoor kitchen into your outdoor living space will make entertaining easy and enjoyable. Guests can interact with the chef who is usually isolated inside in the kitchen. It also eliminates those annoying multiple trips in and out of the house.
Party Ideas: When hosting a backyard party, think about serving easy-to-eat finger foods as appetizers so that eating utensils are not required. Fresh cut fruits and veggies with dips, assorted cheese and crackers, and mini cold-cut sandwiches are easy to prepare and are traditional crowd pleasers. When serving dinner food, consider setting up various ‘stations’ around the patio or pool deck instead of having all of your food on one long buffet table. This will avoid guests having to wait in line to get to the food. Some ideas for what to serve as main courses that are hearty enough without being heavy include: grilled fish or shrimp, chicken and meat on skewers, or a self-serve taco bar. Avoid heavy entrees and keep food light to keep your guests from wanting to take a nap, rather than splash in the pool.
Conversation and Gathering Areas
An outdoor party or event requires ample lounge space and seating. Thinking ahead when designing your patio and pool deck can make your backyard a warm weather place where everyone wants to be. Adding a pergola in your patio, putting up a temporary tent just for your party, and adding additional outdoor chairs to accommodate more guests will help make your patio or pool deck the neighborhood entertainment destination. Arrange outdoor furniture in small groups of three or four, spaced so that guests can easily move throughout the party and interact with each other. You might also want to consider adding permanent patio or pool deck seating with natural stone boulders.
As evening rolls around and temperatures cool, having a fire pit or outdoor fireplace surrounded by comfortable seating keeps the party going well into the night. Whether you and your guests gather around a sunken fire pit and lounging area, or cozying up to roaring flames of an outdoor fireplace, nothing adds nighttime magic like a fire feature on a cool summer night.
Party Ideas: Sometimes all you need is a stick and marshmallow to keep guests happy. But, why not elevate your fireside fun? Try making campfire favorites using recipes that call for cooking your entrée or desert in foil or in a grilling pot and placing them right on the hot embers. Some classic dishes include corn-on-the-cob, chicken or fish bundled with vegetables in foil, potato slices covered in melted cheese, diced sausage and potatoes with onions and peppers, campfire peach cobbler, and many more.
Party Ideas: In the event that your pool party lingers into the evening hours, be sure to plan on lighting the main gathering areas – either with electric string lights draped over your conversations areas, or votive candles and lanterns flickering in every corner of your pool deck and yard.
Tiki torches that offer dramatic lighting and a tropical jungle atmosphere give a tribal feel to your pool area. These lighting options offer more of a friendly atmosphere, than using harsh floodlights. Be sure to add small food stations to your various seating areas and bug-repelling products as the sun sets.
Living Party Decor
You can design your pool deck area by incorporating landscaping elements interwoven throughout your outdoor living space. Or, consider having planter boxes built into retaining or sitting walls. You also may want to consider incorporating stone sitting walls and piers into your pool deck design, which are great areas for placing ferns, tropical plants, and lighting features.
Party Ideas: If you don’t want to invest in permanent hardscape/landscape features, a simple way to add greenery to your pool party is to bring your live potted indoor plants outside for the event. If you plan on doing a lot of poolside entertaining, you can invest in large pots and plant annuals for the warmer weather and place them around seating areas.
Conclusion
Stamped concrete patio and pool deck design and installation are best left to professional masonry contractors like those at Gruttadaurio Masonry, serving Rochester, NY, masonry customers, as well as those in Monroe, Wayne, and Ontario counties. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment for a free estimate. Call (315) 310-7193.
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