Last week I shared some ways that you can use landscaping to create a healthy indoor environment.  This week I’m sticking with this outdoor theme since the weather is beautiful and I’m spending as much time outdoors as I possibly can.

Spending time is so important to our bodies.  It not only gives us a break from the indoor toxins we face for the majority of the day, but it also allows our bodies to reap the benefits from sunshine and naturally filtered air outdoors.  One of the best ways to get motivated to spend more time outdoors is to create a space that you can truly enjoy outdoors. An outdoor living space is a space that you can use outside as you would an indoor space.  The idea of entertaining, cooking and playing outdoors can be enhanced by a beautiful space that’s comfortable too.

Living in the Midwest, it can be tough to get outdoors all year-round, but that means in the summer we really take advantage of that outdoor space and outdoor area to entertain, cook and play.

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Outdoor spaces that are intended for cooking and eating are a great addition to any home.  Not only is the space a fairly easy one to create, it also has many benefits to the interior of your home as well.  Many people don’t think about the ways that cooking outside can actually save the inside of their homes from some burden that cooking produces.  You can use a grill or outdoor stove to cook your meals outside when weather allows:

• No Added Moisture:  Cooking often produces moisture from heat as well as boiling and simmering dishes.  This moisture can affect the indoor air quality and allow many of the VOCs inside your home to off-gas at a higher rate.
• No Combustion Gas:  If you use gas appliances inside your home, like a gas stove, you’re adding combustion gas, or carbon monoxide (CO2) to the air inside your closed up home.  When you cook outside, this just isn’t the case, as it’s expelled to the exterior of the home.
• No Added Heat:  During the warmer months, when the air conditioning is on, it’s counter-productive to turn on the stove or cook on the stove top.  However, we don’t necessarily eat only raw and cold foods in the summer months. By cooking food outside, it allows the heat from cooking to be expelled outdoors, instead of warming the interior of your home.

Pinterest is full of ideas to create a comfortable, attractive cooking and dining space outdoors if you need ideas.  My board below has some of the ideas I’ve found particularly useful that also don’t use or add harmful chemicals or products to your yard.

​Here are some of my tips and tricks to create a fantastic outdoor dining and eating space:

Having a space that you can entertain guests in outdoors is a great idea to make spending time outdoors enjoyable.  If you can have a space outdoors similar to that of a living room indoors, you’ll more likely spend extra time outdoors.  In some areas bugs can become a problem if you’re spending time outdoors in the evening, but there are healthy and safe ways to combat this.

Think of the items you have indoors to make a space comfortable and enjoyable and replicate that outdoors as much as possible.  Some things you can add to an outdoor living space:

• Comfortable outdoor seating such as chairs or sectionals
• Small side tables for drinks or potted plants
• Hanging lights to make allow for outdoor time in the evenings
• Outdoor rug (make sure it’s in a spot that allows the rug to dry out after rain)
• Potted plants to make the space feel homier

You can also create a fire pit in your yard if you live in an area that allows these.  There are many easy ideas to landscaping your own, or you can buy an elevated fire pit from Amazon, like these:

Many older homes have a porch on the front with screened windows which can allow for plenty of fresh air into the house.   This is a great tool to have when it comes to naturally ventilating your home. Some modern homes are adding this feature back into the plans in different parts of the country as a step in the right direction for healthy homes.

There was a reason these screened in porches were originally added to homes and we’ve lost that true need for it over time.  A screened in porch will help ventilate your home rather quickly as it has many windows on different sides of the room and home.  It can also help cool your home off by letting night air inside during the summer months.

You can turn a screened in porch into a lovely sitting area to enjoy throughout the day and evening. This allows your body time to be near fresh air and gives it a small break from the toxins and chemicals that are in most homes.

If you do keep your windows open frequently with a screened in porch, you may notice you’ll have to dust more often.  The dirt and debris from outdoor plants, roads and dust will travel in through screens and settle indoors. You can simply vacuum screens off, clean your windows and wet dust your house with these non-toxic versions:

Making outdoor time part of your daily habits will not only help you, but help your whole family.  Giving our bodies a break from indoor time has incredible benefits that affect our mind and body. It gives your bodies some time to heal and to recover from the harmful chemicals we come in contact with while working and spending time indoors.

Would you share with me YOUR favorite way to get outside?