No matter how much room there is, taking advantage of your outdoors can not only further personalize the space but create the perfect oasis that fits your needs. From the atmosphere and design to the fun accessories that are customized for you, these fun pieces are crafted to help you indulge in the warm months.
For the Lounger
The Swing Lounger by AMAZONAS combines floating comfort with modern, stylish design as an eye-catcher for the home, both outside and inside. The stylishly curved lying surface is exactly adapted to the body and allows comfortable reclining, relaxing and enjoying.
Photo courtesy AMAZONAS.
Swing Lounger is made in carefully handcrafted weatherproof treated spruce. The high-quality layer bonding ensures maximum stability and safety. The extra thick, water-repellent and extra fast-drying mattress guarantees perfect relaxation. The extremely resistant agora fabric cover is as soft as cotton, has high resistance to light and weather, is water-repellent, mold-resistant, dirt-resistant and easy-care.
For the Late-Night Entertainer
To enjoy the sweetness of summer until late at night, online store Nedgis offers lovely yet versatile lighting fixtures and pieces, perfect for any corner of your outdoor space from the terrace to the garden. For a dinner, a party or a conversation in a low voice, these mood lights provide high-performance lighting. Fixed or mobile, discreet or more imposing, each lamp brings with it its atmosphere and its little decorative touch.
aGlow offers a trendy, lightweight design that defies the boundaries between the inside and the outside of the house. With aGlow, you have both a lamp and a wireless speaker with Bluetooth capabilities, a battery life of up to 20 hours and a short charge time. It’s perfect for hot summer evenings on the terrace, in the tent, at festivals, on vacation or in the living room when darkness arrives. The design is simple and elegant, ready to dance! The lamp is delivered in a beautiful wooden box, ideal for a gift.
Created by the designer Tristan Lohner, the Moon walker lamp is strongly inspired by the 19th floor lamps with its fluid lines and harmony between matter and color. Practical, functional and decorative, Moon decorates and illuminates your exterior in a friendly and efficient way. The portable light has a battery life of 8 hours and its USB cable allows it to recharge easily! To put on your table, in mood light or as a bedside lamp, Moon finds its place inside as well as outside! It offers two lighting temperatures to best fit your mood and your desires.
All light photos courtesy Nedgis.
For the Master Chef
Brand new to Cuckooland, the Ooni Koda Gas-Powered Outdoor Pizza Oven is lightweight, compact, gas powered and ready to use straight out of the box! Live in pizza paradise with this luxurious accessory that includes an Ooni Koda pizza oven, a stone baking board and a propane tank gas regulator. Impress your guests by cooking and serving a delicious pizza in just 60 seconds at your garden party. This pizza oven is compact and light and can also cook fish, vegetables and steaks, making it the perfect camping companion to cook a memorable outdoor banquet.
Photo courtesy Cuckooland.
Winter nights are often welcomed as an opportunity to stay inside under blankets until warmer, brighter days return. For those who do decide to host a gathering in the winter months, parties are almost exclusively held indoors to shield guests from the cold. While a traditional indoor winter gathering can be both elegant and entertaining, there is no reason to fear hosting an outdoor gathering during winter.
With the right decor, menu and activities, an outdoor party in the winter is the perfect way to connect with your guests. For those living in regions prone to snow, standard outdoor furniture may not be suitable, but sturdy picnic tables, hay bales, and pine-themed decorations with pops of color from holly berries stand up well to winter weather. Having adequate lighting is crucial, since the sun sets relatively early during winter. Maintain a cozy ambiance with string lights, or have a bonfire double as a source of both heat and light.
Whether you choose to have everyone sit by a fire pit or instead encourage people to spend time in a hot tub, make your guests comfortable in the cold by offering an outdoor heat source. Even in places like Florida, where temperatures do not drop as low as they do in the north, outdoor heating is crucial to creating a cozy atmosphere. A cast iron chiminea gives off significant heat while contributing to a wintry aesthetic, while structures like gazebos help block wind and can be decorated with pillows and blankets.
Warm food and drinks should be on the menu for any outdoor winter gathering. Swap out salad in favor of soup as a first course, and serve a hot, filling entree such as lasagna or pot roast. If you have a grill, try using it to prepare both the main and side dishes — not only will it allow you to create a hearty meal for your guests, but it will give off heat to help keep them warm. Serve warm drinks like hot chocolate, coffee and tea. If you plan on serving alcohol, consider drinks that pair well with warm spices.
While swimming or lounging in the sun may be out of the question, some warm weather activities, like lawn games, can still be enjoyed in the winter. Set up cornhole, horseshoes or a ladder toss station to entertain your guests. If you plan to host your party at a snowy destination and would prefer to more closely adhere to a winter theme, encourage guests of all ages to participate in a snowman-making competition or snowball fight.
Photos Courtesy of Hootsuite.
The wildly popular social movement “farm-to-table” encourages sourcing food locally, so that consumers know exactly where their food came from. Knowing the origin of your food encourages the freshest dining, and that can be found in these three dining options. These farm-to-table experiences have taken sustainability to a luxury level.
OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD
Originally staging a handful of events in 1999, luxury farm-to-table dinner service “Outstanding in the Field” today stages 100+ multi-course feasts every year, from coast to coast across North America to all around the world.
Founded in 1999 by artist and chef Jim Denevan, “Outstanding in the Field” originally was a radical idea to switch up the traditional convention of dinner. Rather than sourcing ingredients and bringing them to the restaurant, Denevan’s vision was to create a restaurant at the source, where guests would enjoy a communal meal and the farmer’s story could be told and celebrated. A single long table is set at an extraordinary site, and guests dine outdoors on the food grown at the source.
“Our mission is to get folks out to the places where the food comes from and honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table,” says chef and artist Jim Denevan. “Our roving restaurant without walls may be located wherever good food comes from. There are no boundaries.”
“Outstanding in the Field’s” culinary caravan has visited all 50 U.S states and 15 countries around the globe. The #TabletoFarm tour season runs May through November, with a smaller winter tour in January/February to warm-weather spots like Florida, Hawaii and Mexico.
STUDIO IN MONTAGE LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach, Studio is Montage Laguna Beach’s five-star free-standing fine dining restaurant. Studio prides itself on serving innovative modern cuisine. While Studio is known for its tasting menus and incredible service, it is also a Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, with approximately 2,500 wine selections and 30,000 bottles in inventory.
Studio’s showstopper is the 1,000-square-foot raised bed garden, which provides many of the ingredients for the restaurant’s signature cuisine. The garden is currently growing cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, Valencia oranges, artichokes and edible flowers, to name a few. The culinary team at Studio uses the garden’s bounty in everyday cooking, especially in the restaurant’s gourmet vegetarian tasting menu, and also for fresh cocktail garnishes throughout Montage. The garden can seat up to 50 guests.
FLORA’S FIELD KITCHEN, MEXICO
Flora Farms is a 25-acre organic working farm at the foot of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, and is home to Flora’s Field Kitchen, a field-to-table restaurant set amongst idyllic organic fields and gardens.
The original Flora Restaurant was in San Jose del Cabo, but after 5 years in town, the owner decided she would rather bring the restaurant to the farm instead of the other way around. Flora’s Field Kitchen prides itself on serving only what it has grown, even nixing beef from the menu, as it is not sustainable in the Baja region.
Flora’s has an onsite bakery firing up artisan breads, a butcher-shop, a brewery, and a wood-fired oven that serves up 15 types of Neapolitan-style pizza.. The restaurant also offers cooking classes several days a week.
Flora Farm is available for private gatherings and special occasions, with customizable event menus.
AGRICOLA FORE PORTA, ITALY
Only accessible on foot, this organic agriturismo, or farm resort, only uses seasonal, organic products, with the famous Amalfi lemons at the forefront of the fresh cuisine.
For Italians, the idea of combining agriculture with tourism is an old tradition, and this agriturismo started generations ago, when the farm was an old papermill. Agricola Fore Porta today offers a daily menu, which includes traditional courses prepared only with seasonal products picked freshly every morning, and Mediterranean cooking lessons, where participants will learn how to prepare local recipes.