Homeowners who want to extend their living space to include Mother Nature are getting creative in pursuing the latest trend — outdoor rooms.

Jill Barger of Adams Township, who is a Master Gardener, chose a shady spot next to her house for her simple but soothing outdoor room.

The lattice wall below her home's deck and the exterior basement wall serve as two sides of the Barger's outdoor room, and a garden bed with shrubs and trees comprises the other two walls.

A simple bench, a carpet of manicured lawn and a lot of perennials completed the shady spot where Barger likes to sip her coffee in the cool of the morning.

“It's pretty, and I do feel like I'm enclosed and I enjoy my garden in this area,” Barger said.

Her outdoor room has no ceiling save the canopy created by the dogwood, swamp magnolia and fringe trees on the room's periphery.

To maintain the space in her outdoor room, Barger must keep her trees and bushes pruned.

The perennial plants in the space include two ninebark bushes, a large rhododendron, azalea bushes, a rocket plant, two types of ferns, hosta, astilbe, lungwort, Japanese ginger, hydrangea and brunnera.

“I didn't want to see my neighbor's property,” Barger said of her outdoor room's flora and fauna. “I wanted privacy.”

With the exception of the ferns, everything in the outdoor room flowers at various points between May and July.

“I love flowers,” Barger said.

She uses her outdoor room every day during the growing season, usually in the morning.

“I wanted a nice place to sit and relax on the cooler side of my house,” she said.

Rose Romboski of Cranberry Township has two outdoor rooms at her home.

One is a covered patio with a grill and table and chairs, but the other is used for entertaining, family functions or just enjoying the flowering plantings in her yard.

Romboski said she recently added a pergola to her patio with mechanical louvers on the top to keep out rain or glaring sun at certain times of day.

The sides are always open, and she has placed deep-seating furniture and a fireplace in the outdoor room.

“When it rains we were in and out of the house constantly, so this way we don't have to cover the furniture all the time,” Romboski said.

A founding member of the Southern Butler County Garden Club, Romboski's entire backyard is heavily landscaped, including a 25-foot waterfall that is visible from the outdoor rooms.

“All the spring bloomers are out and the summer flowers are starting to grow,” Romboski said of her yard.

The bird feeders and birdbaths that dot her yard also provide a pleasant summer experience.

“We spend a lot of time outside enjoying the landscaping and being closer to nature,” Romboski said. “It's an extension of our indoor living space, but we can be outside whenever we want.”

Her favorite use of the room is after church on Sunday, when she comes home and sits down with the newspaper to relax.

“I also love the rainfall on the roof,” Romboski said. “That is such an amazing feeling to be outside like that.”

Ryan Waltman, the co-owner of Waltman Furniture in Chicora, said he has had customers shopping to furnish outdoor rooms of all types.

He said a traditional outdoor room would be a sunroom or Florida room where occupants are out of the weather but still in the open air.

Other types can be cement patios that serve as an extension of the indoor living space, as well as patios with a grill and eating space.

Waltman said outdoor rooms can have firepits, bars, free-frame swings or table sets.

“Outdoor sectionals have become very big lately,” he said. “A lot of young people are looking for that outdoor look.”

He said outdoor furniture should have weather-resistant framing and bleachproof cushions that are mildew resistant and drainable.

He said while other areas of the country with more sun and less precipitation have had outdoor rooms for decades, the trend is fairly new in Western Pennsylvania.

“We area seeing a lot of younger people who want to extend their living space and use it for entertaining,” Waltman said.