Outdoor living spaces refer to an outdoor area (or space), usually a backyard, that has been renovated with patios, outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces, and much more—all for enhanced outdoor living and leisure. Traditionally, this includes areas like patios and decks, but it’s come to mean a lot more. Now those features are just the foundation for more sophisticated renovations.

They’ve become quintessential to homeowners in Calgary thanks to early springs, later summers, and plenty of chinook weather throughout winter. For Edmontonians, summer air and sun are just as valuable. If you’re considering exterior renovations, you should know that outdoor living spaces are one of the hottest trends in that area in recent years, and that popularity isn’t waning any time soon. But how has an outdoor living space come to be the epitome of a luxury home?

Increase Home Value

As you can imagine, the extensive work done to a backyard can often require the expertise of a complete home renovation company or even a custom home builder, depending on what you’re going for. That kind of investment will certainly show on your next appraisal, and you can drive a harder bargain upon resale. It can also encourage buyers in your neighbourhood to keep up.

Outdoor living spaces effectively increase the habitable square footage of the home in practical terms, and are a great option to add appeal and value to your home.

Helps to Improve Your Health

An outdoor living space provides homeowners with a chance to spend some time in the open, where they can enjoy the fresh air and natural light. This can improve their mental health as it is known to relieve stress and relax the body—and there’s even some evidence that suggests it can increase the body’s resistance to infections. Other studies have shown that exposing yourself to natural light for at least 15 minutes each day can also improve your sleep patterns and mood.

So whether you’re building a space with motorized screens and privacy walls or inviting the neighbours over for backyard cocktails, staying connected to the outdoors has its benefits.

It Creates More Space For Entertaining

An outdoor living space, combined with a kitchen, provides a perfect setting for entertaining. A hose and tap are all that’s needed to convert it into a private beer garden, where guests can mingle, lounge, sit, drink, and eat outside the house. With the proper exterior renovation, you can even enjoy an audio/visual setup to watch movies or television outside. Enjoy wood burning fireplaces, overhead heaters, chef-style barbeque areas, hot-tub retreats and more!

How Does Demand for Them Increase as People Spend More Time At Home?

The number of people who are choosing to spend more time at home has significantly increased over the years, for reasons you might be able to guess. People are no longer spending most of their days at work and only coming back home to enjoy the summer evening before retiring indoors for rest or sleep. There’s been a work-from-home revolution, and backyard living spaces are looking like tantalizing places to set up your laptop for work from home.

Having an outdoor living space could be that breath of fresh air for those homeowners who do not have enough space to create separate rooms for work or play, regardless of whether it’s workday or weekend lounging.

Further, with the growing trends of home automation and sensor-based technology, homeowners may spend more time at home. For example, you can use motion sensors to turn on lights when someone enters a room, an automatic system that opens the garage door with remote control, and others. That way, you can set up your home to adapt itself to your lifestyle preferences.

Outdoor living spaces provide a solid (and potentially weatherproofed) base of operations for all sorts of technology, from barbecues to televisions. And with proximity to your Wi-Fi router, the smart home revolution can roll into your backyard. None of this is possible on a bar’s patio without first asking the manager to accommodate you.

Design & Feature Options for Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor living spaces can come with a variety of different design/feature options. It depends on what your home’s style is and what you would like to achieve from the outside. Some homeowners prefer to have areas solely dedicated for entertaining, others prefer a more casual space, while some would like their space to mimic a cafe on their patio area.

Areas For Hobbies & Games

For homeowners who do not have enough space to create separate rooms for their children to play in (like a playroom or basement), outdoor living space is the perfect solution. It offers children enough room to enjoy seated games and provides a place for air-hockey tables, ping pong tables, or even old arcade machines if there’s adequate cover. They’ll really get a kick out of playing indoor games outside, as will most adults!

Outdoor Kitchens

Backyard barbecues with family and friends are transformed when you’re sitting in an outdoor kitchen, whether you’re the pitmaster or a guest enjoying the feast. Outdoor kitchens take the grilling experience and add the core amenities found in your kitchen. Barbecues, wood fire ovens, embedded fire tables – just about anything is possible.

How Pergolas & Patio Covers Enhance Outdoor Living Spaces

Four seasons in a day is almost as much of an Edmonton phenomenon as it is a Calgary thing. For extensive patio furniture and finer things like fire tables or A/V setups, cover is essential. A little drizzle shouldn’t send you out throwing covers over everything.

Pergolas provide light cover, and they serve as a great base for vines and other climbing plants. They’re much more geared towards aesthetics than weatherproofing, for that reason, but they provide a good deal of shade at least, so you can spend hours in direct sunlight underneath one with reduced UV hazards.

On the other hand, overhead cover, possibly with full-fledged roofing, is another option and partially rainproofs your outdoor living space. You can even include skylights! With full overhead patio covering, moderately rainy days are no reason to pack it in and head inside.

Our goal is simple: to bring your dream home to life. Contact us about exterior renovations in Calgary or Edmonton and learn more about how a new outdoor living space can help your exterior property transcend “backyard-hood”, bringing nature and luxury together.

Ultimate Homes & Renovations is Calgary’s only 11-time “Renovator of the Year”. Our mission is to bring your home to life. For over 42 years, we have established ourselves as the industry’s elite team of contractors for complete home renovations in Calgary and Edmonton. Our quality craftsmanship, superior customer service and our ability to exceed expectations are how we have established ourselves as the renovator of choice for homeowners. Contact us at (403)-287-3122 (Calgary) or (780)-430-6441 (Edmonton).

Outdoor renovations, especially in Calgary, tend to take the backseat next to interior renovations. The outside of a person’s home and the backyard is oftentimes not prioritized as much as upgrading or reshaping the interior to dramatic effect. However, exterior renovations serve multiple purposes and can seriously amp up your living space making it a great option on your home improvement wish list.

Trends in outdoor living and the constant evolution of home exterior fashion demand a serious look at your options; it’s good to consider what you can do to make your home look like the one in your dreams, inside and out. Exterior renovations can also strengthen your home’s curb appeal, so house guests are impressed before they even walk in.

Exterior Renovation Trends in Design

Outdoor living spaces top this trends list. Calgarians are getting wise to the expansive opportunity that creating an outdoor living space provides. An outdoor living room provides not only outdoor seating but a full complement of other outdoor living elements. Imagine a wood fire oven, a barbecue cooktop integrated with tiled stone, brick, or cement countertops, overhanging trellises or a fully roofed shelter surrounding a patio with seating.

This type of exterior renovation requires serious thought because it’s such a dramatic transformation. Plus, like any renovation, it’s also an investment in your property. But the kind of patio living and entertaining you dream about is possible with outdoor living spaces. Moreover, with the right mix of design features and materials, you can even enjoy it throughout all four seasons of Calgary weather.

Mixed materials design is also a burgeoning trend, providing 2022 renovations with the chance to be unique. Merged or composite styles can come from a novel combination of complementary materials.

When coordinated with the colour trends mentioned below, you have the potential to craft a breathtaking exterior aesthetic for curb appeal or for a trendy backyard living space. Declining trends include the farmhouse look, on the exterior and interior alike. Thematic trends, in general, are taking a back seat in 2022. It’s all about mixing quality materials for delightful textures with moving colour contrasts.

Exterior Renovation Trends in Materials

Painted brick is one of the more visually striking aesthetics on the rise, especially in light or white shades. Brick exteriors have a seemingly everyday look—but painting them in trendy colours brings a rich texture out, visible even from afar. One advantage it affords is coordination. You can keep to a strict colour scheme by painting the brick in a complementary or supplementary colour aligned with emergent styles.

Stone exteriors, including rough-hewn cladding, have enjoyed popularity for years, and it looks like this is a great year to go for it. But rougher textures are less popular, so you may want to opt for smoother cladding if you go this route.

Warmer colours are gaining traction, so you may like copper accents for outdoor living spaces. Flashes of gold or brass do best for indoor spaces. Still, with Calgary weather, copper or bronze would better weather the elements—as long as you don’t mind the resulting patina from oxidization of these metals. Brass or gold would just flake off in the outdoors, so it might be better to opt for bronze.

Finally, natural wood siding has a unique texture that you might want on your siding or overhanging trellises. This material stands out even without a coat of paint, but it can undoubtedly compliment your chosen colour palette if you elect for painted wood.

Exterior Renovation Trends in Colours

Trendy 2022 exterior of home with rough stone cladding and dark trim

Darker accenting is becoming quite trendy, notably with the look of black, navy blue, or charcoal soffit and fascia. Black, navy blue, or charcoal bannisters, door trim, or window trim can further complement the colour scheme to create a rich aesthetic. And that touches on an overwhelming trend for 2022.

As for the dominant colour palettes emerging this year, there’s a clear trend towards those of the earth or those of the sky. Rich, dark browns with verdant greens and stark patinas are growing strong. At the same time, black and charcoal accents are pairing with navy blues nicely.

But the night sky is also serving up some inspiration as we’re starting to see contrasting shades, with the whites favouring warmer tones rather than cooler ones. Warm white exteriors with black trim are beginning to define trendy curb appeal just as much as palettes inspired by earth and sea. If you look for inspiration in the most meaningful places, you can create your own trendy colour palette. Give us a call and ask to speak with our designers about your possibilities!

Ultimate Homes & Renovations is Calgary’s only 11-time “Renovator of the Year.” Our mission is to bring your home to life. For over 42 years, we have established ourselves as the industry’s elite team of contractors for complete home renovations in Calgary and Edmonton. Our quality craftsmanship, superior customer service and our ability to exceed expectations are how we have established ourselves as the renovator of choice for homeowners. Contact us at (403)-287-3122 (Calgary) or (780)-430-6441 (Edmonton).

Interior renovations are a big decision, and the benefits are tremendous. You can upgrade your home not just for function but for striking visual and aesthetic effect, making your home new, beautiful, and fresh—if you bring in visionary professionals. Ultimate Renovations is a company that can help you decide on a direction and can execute your vision for home renovations. In particular, Calgarians looking for kitchen renovations have some unique choices that will wow dinner guests and make your kitchen a foodie Mecca.

While we can certainly create a stunning design for those who are open to any style or aesthetic, most homeowners already have an idea of what they want to see. Still, you might want to keep an eye on the design trends hitting Alberta in 2022 to get some ideas going.

Trends are a bit subjective; there’s no accounting for taste, after all. But we keep up with trends to show customers which way the [chinook] wind is blowing. You never know when you might see a trendy kitchen reno style you want to impress upon your home, lasting for decades to come. Without further ado, here are some fantastic styles lighting up kitchen renovations as of 2022.

Stylish Trends in Kitchen Renovation

Indoor-Outdoor style living, made possible by bi-folding or sliding back doors, opens tremendous space from the kitchen out through the back door. It can dramatically increase your kitchen space by bringing the indoors directly into the outdoors. Think of the extended patios of bars on 17th Ave., and imagine that in your kitchen!

Closed floorplan kitchens are also poised to become popular. The working-from-home requirements in recent years have made it more difficult to find more private do-not-disturb spaces. While joining dining rooms or living rooms and kitchens by taking walls out has been a common theme for some time—this recent need for secluded nooks has even reached the kitchen.

Kitchen Renovation Trends in Colours

All-white surfaces have been trendy for a few years. But whether that pattern continues to hold remains to be seen. Still, it’s a lovely aesthetic. From countertops to cabinetry, perhaps even to white appliances, a few cool shades of white bring out a stunning effect. It should have the effect of blending seamlessly in with your wall colour for maximum appeal. While your appliances could blend in nicely as a uniform shade of white, stainless steel provides a softer, indirect contrast, far more gracefully than black appliances could.

If you want to stay on top of the trends, however, consider adding flashes of very bright or warm colours like gold or even pink on cabinet handles and backsplashes to add some character to the expansive white shades.

Another newer colour trend for spaces like your kitchen revolves around nature. Nature-inspired colours like dark greens, teals, lighter greens could make your kitchen renovation imitate the kind of greenery we have less of in Calgary after the spring and summer months. It can also follow the latest aesthetic trend of bringing the outdoors inside.

Calgary Kitchen Renovation Trends in Materials

Consistent with the nature-inspired and indoor-to-outdoor movement seen in colours and styles is the 2022 trend for renovation materials. If you’re getting into earthy or plant-like tones when colouring your cabinetry, the obvious next step is to return to varnished wood highlights on walls or trim. Nevertheless, cooler white granites or marble could provide a nice blending effect with the stark whites that have been popular in past years.

With its cast-iron materials, unvarnished wood, and even pottery, the farmhouse aesthetic may be waning in 2022. But distressed or unvarnished wood could provide the preferred look, even when coupled with stark whites that have already had their day in the sun.

Trends come and go, so whatever you choose, it should be something that you love. If you ever need a second opinion on the benefits of following any given renovation design trend, feel free to contact us!

When it comes time to renovate your home, there may be times when building custom from the ground up is a better option. In most cases, renovating will meet and even exceed your expectations of what’s possible. But when it comes to site constraints, structural integrity, and building safety, starting from scratch can be the better option.

If you opt for this route, working with an experienced contractor is important to ensure the job gets done right. Luckily, there is a great custom home builder in Calgary who can help you decide what option is best for you.

With lumber prices now down almost 70% compared to prices seen earlier this spring, there’s no time like the present to begin such an exciting project! But if you’re still not convinced, here are a few reasons building a custom home might be the way to go.

5 Advantages of Custom Home Builds

Fewer restrictions

If your existing house has a small original footprint, especially one with a wood frame basement or an abundance of load bearing walls, your ability to rework the floorplan and create unique customs spaces will be limited. While renovating can offer you the chance to improve your functional living space, or even increase the size of it by building an addition to your existing home, some options simply won’t be available due to existing site conditions.

In this case, pouring a new foundation will allow you the flexibility of designing upwards in a way that you otherwise might not be able to achieve. If you’re really in love with the space you have and just need to update your home, consider working with a team of architectural and interior designers who can get creative on ways to make your current space work.

Less compromise

One of the most appealing aspects of building a custom home is that you can make design and finishing decisions without the need to consider existing elements. We all know how important flow is in today’s homes, and building new means you don’t have to consider how current decisions meld with past ones.

You get to choose every single detail and create a space that works perfectly for where you or your family might be now, as opposed to where you were 10+ years ago. Regardless of whether you prefer modern, traditional, or somewhere in between, there’s nothing stopping you from creating a home that represents the present “you”. From the layout to the materials, you can feel proud that each and every aspect of your home was hand selected to suit your style and needs.

Ensures Safety

While a thorough inspection is part of every good renovation, sometimes it’s what’s behind the walls that can impact your ability to renovate safely and efficiently. If it turns out that there is asbestos in a large percentage of the home, the cost of remediation can quickly turn a budget upside down. Similarly, if the guts of the home, namely plumbing and electrical, no longer meet building code, you’ll be looking at the labour intensive process of replacement. Rerouting pipes can also become cumbersome and expensive if an old plumbing stack doesn’t offer an easy connection to your new floor plan.

By opting for a custom build, you can be sure your entire home is safe and structurally sound, and not just to the space you’re updating.

Location, Location, Location

You’ve put roots down and established a community that you’re happy with! From the kids’ school to the neighbours that have become friends, why risk losing all your connections in an effort to find a different house?

If renovating isn’t an option, don’t give up on your dream lot; instead, consider building new. This way, you get the best of both worlds: the perfect location and your ideal home. Moving won’t guarantee that every box on your list will be checked off, but custom building your home will!

Energy Efficiency & Recycling

Now more than ever we are aware of our impact on the planet. Fortunately, renovating or building with the latest technology can help us reduce our footprint. Using energy efficient appliances, triple-pane low-E windows, and cutting edge materials is just one advantage to updating your living space. Did you know you may even be able to recycle your existing house in the process of building your new one?

There’s also ways to incorporate pieces of your old home in your new one, like repurposing brick from a front façade to construct an outdoor fireplace, for example. So whether you’re choosing to renovate or build new, helping the planet in the process will always be achievable.

Ultimate Homes & Renovations is Calgary’s only 11-time “Renovator of the Year”. Our mission is to bring your home to life. For over 40 years, we have established ourselves as the industry’s elite team of contractors for complete home renovations in Calgary and Edmonton. Our quality craftsmanship, superior customer service and our ability to exceed expectations are how we have established ourselves as the renovator of choice for homeowners. Contact us at (403)-287-3122 (Calgary) or (780)-430-6441 (Edmonton).