Turning your deck into a tropical sanctuary

Kelly Deck

This week, we’re turning over a new leaf. Although we’ve talked a lot about creating a West Coast look for your patio that blends subtly with the B.C. landscape, we don’t want to run the risk of making the aesthetic a caricature of itself.

Some people — and yes, I’m occasionally guilty of this daydream — are more switched on by pungent, exotic locales: the Thailands, Moroccos and Indonesias of the world.

Unfortunately, few of us are often jetting off to those places, but, with some intelligent selection of seating, tables, textiles and plants, we can have the best of both worlds: the spice and fantasy of a faraway destination and the great luxury of proximity. Here are a few principles for turning your deck into a tropics-inspired sanctuary.

SEATING: GO DEEP

The chair as we know it in the West was once an object foreign to Asian cities such as Bangkok, Mumbai or Bali. There, you’ll be more likely to find seating that’s deep and close to the floor, and for your outdoor space, you’ll want to mimic this design.

For your main sofa, consider something long and deep, with a low centre of gravity–the furniture equivalent of a submarine, not a double-decker bus.

To accomplish this, you want a seat lower than 17 inches, with a depth of 30 inches or more (48 inches is ideal if you can afford the space). Use a bunch of those cylindrical cushions called bolsters; they’re easy to move around and pile up for maximize comfort.

TABLES: DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

A smart pairing for deep seats are tables in dark, earthy woods and woven textures. Go with teak, mango and rosewood — all are available at local import stores and many have elegant hand-carved details. They’re rustic, yes, and supposed to be — but you still need to oil them regularly. Even a well-cared-for table will crack and fade in the elements. Regard this as a boon: an air of faded glory gives much to a space. When in doubt, think of Havana.

An alternative to store-boughts is custom-making your own furnishings in cedar. Cedar has a couple of big advantages in our climate: being indigenous to the West Coast, it’s full of natural pesticides and anti-fungal agents. It also has one big problem: its orange hue, which is an ugly match for a backyard mood aiming for ethnic exoticism.

I don’t often do this, but here I’m advising you to take the Rolling Stones’ advice: Paint it black. For a rich look, I favour a couple of coats with a dark semi-transparent stain — General Paint’s Black Pearl and Oriental Teak are two good ones. Through the years, a few light sandings and restainings will give your cedar table the gorgeous patina of an old leather coat. Some pieces of furniture, like some people, reveal their true dignity only when they’re beaten up a bit.

TEXTURES: SPICE UP YOUR SPACE

Colour and pattern are the chilies in this exotic recipe. When your seating and surfaces are in place, layer on the bright, beautiful textiles and fanciful accessories. Decorative cushions come in all shapes and colours, of course, so your options are wide open. If you’re going for a Moroccan theme, say, choose embellished cotton in a palate of burnt reds, oranges, and yellows. Remember, though: Left outside, natural fibres fade quickly, and anything not clothed in outdoor materials needs to be taken inside when the weather turns.
If you’re not keen on a patio set-up and tear-down with each vagary of the weather, you may want to custom-order pillows and throws in outdoor fabrics. These, you’ll be able to leave outside from late spring until early fall without thinking twice.

For accessories like lighting and dishware, go sparkly, shiny, and ornate. Choose lanterns of pounded metal and rich stained glass, plates with baroque patterns and sumptuous mosaic motifs, and baskets woven from sea grass or rattan as a home for books and magazines that, like you, will come inside when the day is done.

PLANTS: BOLD AND BRIGHT
Plants are the living backdrop for your backyard oasis, and the exotic look requires tropical — or tropical-looking — foliage. The keys here are strong forms and bright colours; there’s no room for wispy grasses. If green is what you want, fatsia and banana plants are an excellent choice; for an eruption of colour, go with canna lilies or tiger lilies.

To incorporate true tropical plants you have a couple of options. The first is to pick up West-Coast-friendly tropicals from your nursery and plant them as annuals. You’ll need to plant them in early summer and they’ll last until the first freeze. Plants in the pineapple family do particularly well in a south-facing backyard with partial shade.

The second option is for avid plant people only: incorporating palms and other delicate tropicals into your yard. The trouble with these is the labour — at the end of the summer, you’ll have to either protect them or dig them up and bring them inside for the winter.

A little escapism never hurt anyone, did it? While we should be proud of our burgeoning tradition of West Coast design and architecture, there is certainly room in that movement for flights of imaginative and decorative fancy. As much as they are spaces, our homes are also ideas — and we’re free to make of them what we will.

Taken From The Vancouver Sun.