Outdoor entertaining means different things to different people.

What do you think of when you think about entertaining? For some people, entertaining is having friends over for dinner. For others it’s an intimate evening for two. And for a lot of us entertaining is about family gatherings and kid’s birthday parties.

Over the span of our lives we typically experience them all. And if we’re really lucky, we manage to squeeze in a few quiet moments to entertain ourselves.

So, when you’re thinking about building a new outdoor space or revamping an existing one, it helps to think about your lifestyle and how a new space can add to it. Try not to limit your imagination by what used to be possible. Better building materials and outdoor accessories have opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Adding focal points and visual interest creates welcoming spaces.

Great spaces for entertaining make you and your guests feel welcome. By adding a fireplace, water feature or incorporating a simple garden area for example, you can take some of the welcoming duties off your shoulders and let the environment invite your guests in and make them feel comfortable.

The example you see here shows how inviting an environment can be. All you have to do is imagine a starry sky above and your evening is taken care of. This is a second story deck that wraps around two sides of the house. The fireplace area is situated right outside the master bedroom. Just around the corner is a hot tub that puts the finishing touches on this wonderfully intimate space.

The materials used not only add to the aesthetics of the design, they were selected because they made construction and maintenance easier. StoneDeck was used around the fireplace. Beyond the obvious advantage of natural stone’s wonderful textures and layered coloring, this product can be used on second story decks without the need for additional structural support. It can be installed directly onto a standard 16 inch on center deck frame. Stone is also the perfect material to be used next to any type of fireplace or cooking area. The rest of the decking is Xtendex–a composite board made with rice hulls. It was an ideal material for around the hot tub because it’s naturally resistant to water and you can forget about wood splinters ruining an otherwise sublime evening.