When fair weather arrives, who wants to stay inside? To make the most of it, create an outdoor living space that will enhance both your enjoyment of your home and its value. Here are some guidelines that have served us well:

• Think convenience. Keep the seating area close to the back door. You can start with an existing patio or deck or create a new one. Where possible, site your outdoor living space away from neighbours and orient it toward attractive landscaping or views. And take design cues from your house — for  example, echoing its paint colors or materials to make the outdoor space an extension of your home.

• Define the space to achieve a sense of enclosure. Your outdoor room’s “floor” could be thin stone slabs laid on concrete or big concrete pavers with grass or pea gravel in the spaces between them. Often the house will serve as a wall for the outdoor room, which can be further defined with elements such as latticework, low stone or brick walls, trunk-style benches (a good place to stash cushions) or an arbour structure. Latticework can provide shade and privacy. You can give a deck a more roomlike feeling by incorporating benches and planters into railings and adding a roof. Even a partial roof (from a shingled shelter to a retractable awning) will make any outdoor space more useful in all weather.

• Extend your outdoor season with a firepit, fireplace or gas heater (the kind you see on restaurant terraces). You’ve already got earth and air, so why not add fire, which makes an outdoor room feel cosy. And while you’re at it, add the fourth element, water: whether it’s a fountain or an ornamental pond  with aquatic plants, a water feature can be a focal point or simply a source of pleasing sounds and space for reflection.

• Furnish the space for durability and low maintenance but treat it like a real room. Today, attractive outdoor furniture is available in every style and material, and outdoor fabrics and rugs come in an ever-growing range and look (and feel) better than ever. Substantial furniture pieces and distinctive pillows and accessories will make the space feel homey. Pick a bold accent colour, perhaps drawn from flowers in your garden. Candle lanterns and candelabras work well outside, and so do tiki torches filled with citronella oil, which help keep the bugs at bay. But it’s also worth having the space wired for outdoor-rated lighting. A wired pendant light or sconces can complement landscape lighting, all of it working together to create a festive mood for alfresco entertaining.

• For some, nothing less than a full-fledged outdoor kitchen, with grill, sink and compact refrigerator, will do. Consider simply adding more presence to your grill by building an island next to it or around it that can double as an outdoor bar and buffet (tip: top it with stone left over from the floor).

• Enhance the neighbouring area with additional landscaping, such as ornamental trees or bushes that can serve as a focal point or privacy screen. Vines can embellish an arbour or turn latticework into green walls. Adding plants to the outdoor room itself, in containers that complement your outdoor decor, can provide pops of colour and connect it visually to the garden.

Make your outdoor living space as inviting as an indoor space and it will be like adding a room to your house, at a fraction of the cost.