With Christmas just around the corner, excitement and anticipation are building and households are preparing for the festive season. With all this in mind, there has never been a better time to prep your deck or outdoor living spaces for a Great Aussie Christmas. Here are some of our favourite outdoor entertaining tips for your deck to re-invigorate your outdoor living area, ensuring you’re prepared for long summer days spent on your outdoor area entertaining family and friends.
- Ensure you have sufficient seating for everyone – If you love to entertain, and who wouldn’t given the Australian weather, what seating arrangements will you need for your Alfresco / outdoor area. More may not be better; planning and utilising the space you have is an important part of selecting your seating arrangements, so you can utilise this space all year round.
- Add some decorations – Often overlooked when it comes to outdoor entertaining tips is the use of outdoor decorations. These might not be strictly festive decorations, but subtle touches that will help you create a relaxed atmosphere perfect for those longer summer days. Soft furnishings in the form of new cushions, plants, ambient lighting, rugs etc all work.
- Touch of paint – if you haven’t already converted to an eco-friendly, low-maintenance, composite COEN deck, it might be timely to re-stain / paint your deck. A little touch-up will completely revamp the area making it look refreshed for the festive season.
- Refresh your green area – having greenery around your deck or alfresco area gives a fresh feel and with the right plants, a nice perfume smell. Head to your local nursery or home hardware store and select some seasonal or fragrant plants. Fresh smells and colours will awaken your other senses, and create a beautiful ambience.
- Cooking outside – with Aussie summers typically being hot, cooking on the BBQ is a given. So time to clean the BBQ ready for the seasons festivities. Positioning your BBQ, or outdoor cooking appliances, is also key for practically and not to smoke out your guests.
- Electrical / Audio equipment – we all love a few tunes while entertaining. Making sure your electrical equipment is suitable for the outdoors and appropriately tested, will ensure there are not hidden dangers when it rains.
- Changing weather – in the norther parts of our great country, storm cells and cyclones are a part of life. Make sure your outdoor areas can be easily and quickly packed away / stored when storms or cyclones warnings are broadcast – and listen to your local ABC radio for weather updates.
We hope the above outdoor entertaining tips help and starting now will ensure you get some well-deserved R&R over the festive season. The entire composite wood team at COEN wish all of our customers, suppliers, and fellow Australians a very happy and healthy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and trust that your days are filled with lots of laughter and outdoor fun.