patio

Patio furniture for eating in the pool

Summer is officially here and that brings with it one thing for sure: heat. From time to time we cover outdoor grills and other alfresco food-related entertaining. A dining table for the backyard is still a dining table after all. Considering the heat is just getting started, I am drawn to this Swimming Pool Bistro Set from Hammacher Schlemmer.

Designed to be submerged in the shallow end of your pool, the patio furniture set seems to me long overdue. Tiny perforations are docked in the table and chairs, allowing water to get in and submerge the set. If used properly … Read more

Bake one honey of a pizza with a Beehive

Pizza is an amazingly complex thing for a food item so seemingly simple. Bread, cheese, sauce, that's it. That's enough to get you going. Oh sure, you can drown your pizza in a sea of toppings, but the essential structure starts from basic everyday ingredients. The deceptively complex nature of pizza is both a good thing and a bad thing. Endless varieties abound, and there are certainly great pizzas to be found, but it is all too easy to order up a lousy pizza. Good thing you can bake your own.

But don't pick up that pizza … Read more

A table that thinks it's a storage shed

The summer months are waning, but if you're anything like me, you'll continue eating outside until the evening frost calls for winter coats. Whether I'm on vacation, on my day off, or on my lunch break, it's tough to find anything as instantaneously liberating and relaxing as eating outdoors.

If you have a deck or patio and you share my sentiments about al fresco dining, then, chances are, you own deck furniture. But, what happens to your blessed table and chairs in the winter months?

I don't have a deck, or a patio, or a … Read more

Outdoor lighting that sounds good

If you're about to install outdoor speakers and patio lighting, your thoughts may be turning to feeble solar Malibu lights and those tacky speakers hidden in plastic rocks. Allow me to help before the neighbors stop speaking to you: Consider the Ibiza speakers from Italian lamp maker Oluce.

Standing 21 inches to 45 inches in height on a brushed-steel pole, they integrate a 20-watt compact fluorescent bulb and a small speaker just sufficient for background music. The opaline polyethylene housing and machined-metal speaker face make for a cool look, evoking the 1970s, but in a kitschless way. You can … Read more

Turn the backyard into a theater

It may not seem like it, but winter will end someday. And when it does, you'll wish you'd gotten an "Ultimate Outdoor Theater." Cal Spas, a hot tub manufacturer that's almost synonymous with the California lifestyle, has taken a giant leap into the upscale realm with this all-in-one system. And we do mean all in one. In addition to an anti-fog, anti-glare 63-inch LCD television, surround sound, a DVD player, iPod docking station and satellite radio receiver, BornRich says the setup includes a five-burner grill, wet bar, weather-proof recliners and two fire pits--with everything built … Read more