Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
Speaker 1: house Whisper on demand of the iHeart Radio app, live
Speaker 1: streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Did you
Speaker 1: know that this very program is also what's known as
Speaker 1: the house Whisper Podcast that you can listen to anytime,
Speaker 1: anywhere on demand, hundreds of episodes, all searchable by topic.
Speaker 1: It is your very own home improvement reference library. And
Speaker 1: one more thing. If you're thinking that's all great, Dean,
Speaker 1: but what we really need is Dean and Tina standing
Speaker 1: in our house trying to figure out that problem right there,
Speaker 1: Well you can do that too. You can book an
Speaker 1: in home design consult with me and Tea. You just
Speaker 1: go to house Whisper dot Design, and you also get
Speaker 1: to while you're there read some really cool quotes things
Speaker 1: that have been the theme of our design careers together.
Speaker 1: It's a good little website to check out house Whisper
Speaker 1: dot Design. All right, back to the subject of making
Speaker 1: more space for yourself for the least amount of money.
Speaker 1: Yesterday we talked garages. Today I am talking about getting outdoors,
Speaker 1: but I'm approaching it from this perspective. What's it going
Speaker 1: to take to get you outside, you land lubber you.
Speaker 1: And basically the angle that I'm approaching this from is
Speaker 1: the opposite of the ultra luxurious stuff that you hear
Speaker 1: and see all of the time. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: it isn't pleasant and beautiful and lovely and enough. That's
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. What is enough to get you
Speaker 1: outside and really start enjoying the space around your home.
Speaker 1: We've already discussed the idea that the first and foremost
Speaker 1: thing is a comfortable place to sit, and that is
Speaker 1: the right kind of furniture. And it doesn't have to be,
Speaker 1: you know, crazy expensive patio furniture. What it has to
Speaker 1: be is for you to take the time and find
Speaker 1: the right kind of chair or chairs that are going
Speaker 1: to allow you to relax comfortably without all the maintenance
Speaker 1: and the upkeep and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: I know this, and I had referenced the the you know,
Speaker 1: I'm prone to thinking this way because I'd referenced the
Speaker 1: fact that, you know, spent most of my life as
Speaker 1: an avid backpacker and doing mountaineering and all of that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. My idea of camping is not folding
Speaker 1: down the tailgate of the truck and putting the tent
Speaker 1: ten feet away from the car. Nothing against that, super fun.
Speaker 1: But my idea is like getting out, getting away miles
Speaker 1: and miles and miles away from the nearest road, the
Speaker 1: nearest car, the nearest anything. And so that means you're
Speaker 1: carrying it all on your backpack, everything in and when
Speaker 1: I get there, you know what, I'm not planning on
Speaker 1: just sleeping on the hard, cold ground. We've got tents,
Speaker 1: and we've got bedpads, and we've got camp chairs, all
Speaker 1: ultra light. But that provide comfort and make setting up
Speaker 1: camp pleasant. Okay, so that's not what I'm suggesting for you.
Speaker 1: But in the spirit of that, the fact that even
Speaker 1: when I am surrounded by nothing but hundreds of miles
Speaker 1: of wilderness in every direction, the spirit of being able
Speaker 1: to sit comfortably, to stay warm, to stay dry, or
Speaker 1: to stay cool from the heat of the sun, all
Speaker 1: of these things are things to take into consideration in
Speaker 1: that kind of extreme environment. You would think, if we
Speaker 1: can figure out how to do that, all we need
Speaker 1: to do is get you outside on your patio to
Speaker 1: spend a little bit more time outside of the house
Speaker 1: and enjoy a little bit more space. Can that be
Speaker 1: done inexpensively, Yes it can. So First before I talk
Speaker 1: about shade and warmth, okay, because those are factors, absolutely factors.
Speaker 1: Let's just talk about the floor beneath your feet. Okay,
Speaker 1: what is it going to take to get you outside?
Speaker 1: What it takes most people to get outside is to
Speaker 1: be able to walk outside and not get their feet wet,
Speaker 1: not get their feet muddy if it's been raining or
Speaker 1: anything like that, or dirty. In other words, you want
Speaker 1: to clean safe surface to walk out on. And for
Speaker 1: a lot of people, they imagine that's a concrete patio,
Speaker 1: or it's a you know, a paved of some kind
Speaker 1: of paved patio with stones and flagstones and mortar, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's a wood deck or a composite deck. All
Speaker 1: of these things are wonderful, but what would be the
Speaker 1: bare minimum. The bare minimum is, in my opinion, one
Speaker 1: of the most beautiful elements that can go oh into
Speaker 1: a backyard setting, by the way, and that is pea gravel. Now,
Speaker 1: stop those of you who are saying, well, listen, you
Speaker 1: know you can't walk into pea gravel in high heels.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not inviting you to, you know, wear
Speaker 1: your stilettos in the backyard. It's time to you know,
Speaker 1: relax a little bit, you know, put on your slips,
Speaker 1: put on your tennies, or just put on your flip flops.
Speaker 1: And no, it is a misnomer from a lot of
Speaker 1: people that a pea gravel area is unsafe or difficult
Speaker 1: to walk in. I can understand there are certain, you know,
Speaker 1: extreme conditions in which you know you'd rather be walking
Speaker 1: on a hard surface, which, by the way, is when
Speaker 1: you simply set paving step stones within the pea gravel
Speaker 1: in order to ensure that somebody who needs to get
Speaker 1: out there, who has a little bit of trouble with that,
Speaker 1: can walk on the stepping stones with the pea gravel
Speaker 1: around you. But the fact of the matter is a
Speaker 1: beautiful pea gravel area for chairs, for a fire pit,
Speaker 1: for who knows what a dining set and table is.
Speaker 1: It has a very zen feel to it. It has
Speaker 1: a very natural, organic feel to it. And the cost, well,
Speaker 1: what do you think the cost is of that?
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: We're talking about getting more elbow space for your home
Speaker 1: today by spending more time outside, but I'm specifically talking
Speaker 1: about spending more time outside inexpensively as possible save in
Speaker 1: the budget. So now we've entered into this area of
Speaker 1: simply creating patio space for you to walk on, clean,
Speaker 1: dry patio space to extend the comfort level of your home.
Speaker 1: And yes, of all surfaces possible to put out there,
Speaker 1: the least expensive and in my opinion, one of the
Speaker 1: most gorgeous and most organic and most enjoyable is simply
Speaker 1: using pea gravel. Now, gravel comes in all different sizes.
Speaker 1: For those of you who are curious and wondering big
Speaker 1: road based gravel and the kind of gravel that we
Speaker 1: put into main concrete, you know, structural concrete structures can
Speaker 1: be you know, three quarters of an inch to an
Speaker 1: inch big, big, big particulate rocks. Pea gravel is exactly
Speaker 1: what it is describing. We're talking about smooth, the little
Speaker 1: pieces of gravel at the most about three eighths of
Speaker 1: an inch in diameter that are about the size of peas,
Speaker 1: you know, peas like frozen peas. So pea gravel is
Speaker 1: comfortable to walk on, even in bare feet. If it's
Speaker 1: the right kind of soft, smooth gravel it is, it compresses,
Speaker 1: it stays in place, It does not blow around with
Speaker 1: the wind. Because it is rocks, by the way, and
Speaker 1: heavy enough to stay in place. It is easy to maintain. Here.
Speaker 1: Can I get a little nature boy on you? At
Speaker 1: the same time, one of the things that you've heard
Speaker 1: me talk about when it comes to hardscape on our
Speaker 1: properties is that almost everybody's house in southern California has
Speaker 1: too much hardscape, too much stuff, and then water hits
Speaker 1: this non permeable hardscape that means concrete and stone and
Speaker 1: all of that, and it has to run somewhere. So
Speaker 1: we have to add to that a whole layer of
Speaker 1: drainage considerations, and we've got to get all that water
Speaker 1: conveyed into drains, and then that drain system has to
Speaker 1: take it out to the curb. And then water falling
Speaker 1: on our property, a large amount of it gets conveyed
Speaker 1: off of our property into the storm drain system, which
Speaker 1: then just gets flushed out to the ocean. And the
Speaker 1: whatever rain we do get in southern California doesn't end
Speaker 1: up stick with us. And that starts at the home owner,
Speaker 1: individual lot level. I am a huge proponent of allowing
Speaker 1: as much water that falls on your property to stay
Speaker 1: on or I should say, underneath your property, to feed
Speaker 1: your plants, to become part of the water table, to
Speaker 1: become part of the aquifer that feeds the entire region.
Speaker 1: And one of the ways we do that is by
Speaker 1: creating pathways and entertainment and spaces that are permeable hardscape.
Speaker 1: Permeable hardscape in other words, hardscape that allows water to
Speaker 1: fall through it and still soak into the ground below
Speaker 1: without having to convey it out into the street. Pea
Speaker 1: gravel is the ultimate example of that, because a two
Speaker 1: inch thick layer, and that's usually what I recommend, is
Speaker 1: about two inches thick layer of pea gravel allows water,
Speaker 1: even in the most torrential of rains, to fall right
Speaker 1: through it and soak into the ground below. And yet
Speaker 1: you go walking across it and you are dry. I mean,
Speaker 1: your feed are as dry as when you're walking on
Speaker 1: cement during the rain, except cement can get slippery. Pea gravel.
Speaker 1: Never does you get better traction in inclement weather with
Speaker 1: pea gravel than you do with cement. Now, it's not
Speaker 1: the universal answer for everybody, and so again universalists out
Speaker 1: there who take everything I say, and say, well, I
Speaker 1: can think of three situations where pea gravel isn't the
Speaker 1: best thing, Dean, well, good for you. I can think
Speaker 1: of eighty situations where pea gravel isn't the best thing.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't change the fact that in a lot
Speaker 1: of applications it should be used far more than it
Speaker 1: is getting used. And it is without question, if we're
Speaker 1: talking about a hard serve, safe, clean, dry environment, it
Speaker 1: is the least expensive of all the paving scenarios for you,
Speaker 1: and the most attractive and the easiest to maintain. How
Speaker 1: inexpensive is it, Well, it depends on where you live.
Speaker 1: You know, prices vary by region. But I will tell
Speaker 1: you nationally right now, the average cost of a scoop
Speaker 1: or a cubic yard or a ton of pea gravel
Speaker 1: is the average cost is hovering somewhere in about the
Speaker 1: fifty dollars range. So here in southern California, I can
Speaker 1: tell you this. Let's say we want to spread two
Speaker 1: inches of pea gravel over an area of maybe one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty square feet, a ten by twelve rectangle,
Speaker 1: ten feet deep, twelve feet across. What's that going to
Speaker 1: run you. It's going to run you about sixty dollars.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna run
Speaker 1: you about sixty bucks for a ten by twelve area
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty square feet of pea gravel two
Speaker 1: inches deep. That is not a lot of money, now,
Speaker 1: Is that the only consideration when you're putting together a
Speaker 1: pea gravel area? No, you know, it's it's good idea
Speaker 1: to put some borders on it to contain it, you know,
Speaker 1: especially if you're gonna make a little patio area. So
Speaker 1: there's the cost of a little bit of bordering material
Speaker 1: which could be made out of wood or other materials,
Speaker 1: and some staking into the ground. Or you could build
Speaker 1: a concrete curb and contain it that way. They're all
Speaker 1: different ways to approach this problem. But the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is, I'm just going to tell you my experience.
Speaker 1: As I told you, I don't have a big, grand home.
Speaker 1: I have a little home. But we are sitting on
Speaker 1: about a third of an acre. And if you think
Speaker 1: that I'm going to pave all the pathways to get
Speaker 1: everywhere I want to go on my third of an
Speaker 1: acre in concrete and spend that kind of money. Then
Speaker 1: you got another thought coming. It is pea gravel paths,
Speaker 1: garden paths and areas all over the place here, And
Speaker 1: I love it when I got up this morning to
Speaker 1: walk out to the hen house to let the chickens
Speaker 1: out and give them their mourning meal worms and all
Speaker 1: of that. You know, in the quiet of the morning,
Speaker 1: here's my feet crunch and crunching, crunch, crunch, crunch across
Speaker 1: the pea gravel. Sometimes I'm barefoot. Sometimes you know, I've
Speaker 1: got my flip flops on or slippers or shit, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. It's just a lovely experience. And the point
Speaker 1: being not for those of you who are looking for
Speaker 1: ultimate luxury, but those of you who are looking for
Speaker 1: a beautiful way of getting outside. What's it going to
Speaker 1: take you to get outside? What's it going to take
Speaker 1: you to get out on to the patio to spend
Speaker 1: some more time outside. Well, one of those preconditions is
Speaker 1: I don't want to get messy. I don't want to
Speaker 1: get dirty. I want to be able to walk in
Speaker 1: and out of the house without dragging in you know,
Speaker 1: mud and clay and stuff on my feet. The least
Speaker 1: expensive way to go to do that here is pea gravel,
Speaker 1: and pea gravel is beautiful, it's what zen gardens are
Speaker 1: made out of. And pea gravel is in expensive and
Speaker 1: so so flexible, And talk about the ultimate DIY. If
Speaker 1: you build the borders and get a rake and a shovel,
Speaker 1: you can do your own garden pathways and patio areas
Speaker 1: all by yourself, and you can get it done. And
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful thing. And by the way, it is
Speaker 1: not just an economic or it's not just a product
Speaker 1: for people who don't have a lot of money. I
Speaker 1: design pea gravel pathways into multi million dollar landscape jobs
Speaker 1: because it's such a beautiful material. It also happens to
Speaker 1: be incredibly inexpensive at the same time, and those are
Speaker 1: projects in which cost is not even a part of
Speaker 1: the consideration. We simply do it because it's gorgeous and
Speaker 1: it's wonderful and it's zen and it's natural and it works.
Speaker 1: And so I say to you, the second condition, other
Speaker 1: than a comfortable place to sit, is going to be
Speaker 1: a comfortable surface to walk on. Consider it. And if
Speaker 1: you need to put some stepping stones in it in
Speaker 1: order to make it easier to walk on, for somebody
Speaker 1: who's older or somebody who's not quite as stable on
Speaker 1: their feet. Then there you go. You can mix pee
Speaker 1: gravel with decking, you can mix it with hard scape,
Speaker 1: you can mix it with concrete, you can mix it
Speaker 1: with stepping stones. It's just a beautiful approach to it,
Speaker 1: all right. So where do we go from here? Now? Well,
Speaker 1: what's it going to take to get you outside? A
Speaker 1: comfortable place to sit and enjoy yourself, A comfortable surface,
Speaker 1: a clean surface so you can move in and outside freely.
Speaker 1: We got those two covered. How about now? Temperature, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the environment itself. We need to stay dry, we need
Speaker 1: to stay warm, and sometimes we need to stay cool.
Speaker 1: All of those we will address right on the other
Speaker 1: side of.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: Live streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You
Speaker 1: are Home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper. That's me.
Speaker 1: I design custom homes, and I am here on the
Speaker 1: weekend to help you understand how to take your home
Speaker 1: to the next level. And I understand that we're in
Speaker 1: a time right now where a lot of budgets are
Speaker 1: very tight. Inflation has not left a lot of room
Speaker 1: funds are tight, but so is the house as far
Speaker 1: as elbow room, and we're looking for a little bit
Speaker 1: more space without having to engage in the full on
Speaker 1: remodel or room edition or all of that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And so just an approach this weekend for those of
Speaker 1: you who happen to benefit from this kind of thinking
Speaker 1: that there are two off overlooked spaces where we can
Speaker 1: get the biggest bang for the smallest buck. One of
Speaker 1: them is looking to the garage and which is already
Speaker 1: an interior room structure. That's about three quarters of the
Speaker 1: way there. We just need to take it over the top.
Speaker 1: That's what yesterday's program, or the previous episode of our
Speaker 1: podcast was all about, So go back and check that out.
Speaker 1: On the podcast today, we're talking about outdoors, spending more
Speaker 1: time outdoors. Now. This is true anywhere you live in
Speaker 1: the country, truly, anywhere you live obviously right now, certain
Speaker 1: seasons not outdoor living for everybody, obviously. But the fact
Speaker 1: of the matter is spring is right around the corner here.
Speaker 1: The thaws are beginning everywhere soon enough, and before you
Speaker 1: know it, we're going to be in that time where
Speaker 1: being outdoors is going to be an option for everybody,
Speaker 1: and how do we do that as inexpensively as possible. Well,
Speaker 1: we have to answer this question, what's it going to
Speaker 1: take to get us outside. We've talked about comfortable seating,
Speaker 1: We've talked about hardscape areas that are inexpensive, like utilizing
Speaker 1: materials like pea gravel instead of concrete and paving and
Speaker 1: specialized stone and decking materials and everything that goes into that.
Speaker 1: And there's absolutely nothing wrong with those things. But if
Speaker 1: we're talking budget mindedness, then pathways, even patio areas in
Speaker 1: pea gravel is inexpensive as a beautiful and safe and
Speaker 1: clean area can get your home. And yes, the question
Speaker 1: came up, what about decomposed granite, Dean, I've heard that
Speaker 1: that can also be inexpensive. It can be decomposed, granted,
Speaker 1: has its own set of challenges though, just know that,
Speaker 1: and it's a little bit more involved. And so the
Speaker 1: reason it didn't make the very very first item on
Speaker 1: my list is that decomposed granite is almost i mean
Speaker 1: practically speaking, in most cases installed by contractors who know
Speaker 1: exactly what to do with it. Because it has to
Speaker 1: be laid down just right. It has to be compacted
Speaker 1: just right for it to last, and it also degrades
Speaker 1: faster than just pea gravel. Pea gravel is literally you know,
Speaker 1: you dump it out, you rake it out, and pretty
Speaker 1: much you're done. And that's why it falls at the
Speaker 1: very very top of that list. All right, But there
Speaker 1: are other considerations, as I mentioned before the break, when
Speaker 1: it comes to spending time outside, what's it going to
Speaker 1: take to get you outside? Well, I need to comfeeding,
Speaker 1: not only in my seat and in my walking space,
Speaker 1: but also I need to be warm enough, I need
Speaker 1: to be cool enough, and I need to stay dry. Okay,
Speaker 1: so where do we go there, Well, we could talk
Speaker 1: about patio covers, we could talk about shade structures. When
Speaker 1: it comes to shade, by the way, I'm all in
Speaker 1: favor of a nice, big, old, beautiful tree. I've got
Speaker 1: an ash tree, which here in southern California, by the way,
Speaker 1: is one of our native trees that grows unbelievably fast.
Speaker 1: So you can buy an inexpensive, smaller ash tree and
Speaker 1: in just a handful of seasons have a big, beautiful
Speaker 1: shade tree in your yard. I've got an ash tree
Speaker 1: sitting sort of right smack dab in the middle of
Speaker 1: my yard that now provides shade for our outdoor dining
Speaker 1: deck because we love eating outside whenever we can. And
Speaker 1: how is it that it provides shade, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's big, and we built the deck in the right
Speaker 1: place relative to the tree, which brings up this one thing.
Speaker 1: The most invaluable tool for outside living planning that a
Speaker 1: lot of you have just not really thought about is
Speaker 1: a compass. A compass which you can just dial up
Speaker 1: on your phone, by the way, these days, that's the
Speaker 1: one I use every time we go to a console,
Speaker 1: and every console we go on, inevitably people will see
Speaker 1: me take my phone out and I let them know
Speaker 1: I'm paying attention to you. I'm not taking a call.
Speaker 1: I'm pulling up the compass because I always want to
Speaker 1: see for myself exactly how a house is situated on
Speaker 1: a property. That's one of the troubles with tracked housing,
Speaker 1: by the way, is that the you know, the four
Speaker 1: or so model floor plan models that went into your
Speaker 1: housing tract that you're living in one of them. Your
Speaker 1: house has been you know, rep heated multiple times throughout
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. Sometimes it's facing north, sometimes it's facing east
Speaker 1: west south. I mean, who knows it's the end of
Speaker 1: a cul de sac or it's sandwiched in between other
Speaker 1: houses kind of soldiered along the orientation of the house.
Speaker 1: I was just having this conversation with a young architectural
Speaker 1: student this week. The orientation of a tract home is
Speaker 1: one of its biggest deficiencies. Now, maybe your house lucked
Speaker 1: out and your house got positioned just perfectly in regards
Speaker 1: to where the sun rises and sets and how it
Speaker 1: travels through the sky during the day. But the point
Speaker 1: is every other house that's oriented differently handles it differently,
Speaker 1: and yet the windows and door locations aren't moving because
Speaker 1: they weren't designed with any consideration about whether it's going
Speaker 1: to maximize its view or take in the sunlight the
Speaker 1: right way. That's just one of the things about tracked housing.
Speaker 1: So the point is when we go to customize a house,
Speaker 1: a tract home, and we're starting to make changes to it,
Speaker 1: I always want to know where is the sun midday,
Speaker 1: where is it in the morning, where will it be
Speaker 1: in the evening in regards to this room, or for
Speaker 1: today's discussion, in regards to this yard, this outdoor space.
Speaker 1: So knowing that my house is oriented the way that
Speaker 1: it is, and knowing that the space I had on
Speaker 1: the north side of my ash tree was the perfect
Speaker 1: place to build our little dining deck and put our
Speaker 1: outside dining table. Why because I live in the Northern
Speaker 1: Hemisphere and the sun is always always traveling across the
Speaker 1: southern sky. Even at the peak of summer, when it
Speaker 1: almost seems like the sun is directly overhead, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's just a few degrees still to the south. So
Speaker 1: the point is the north side of your home, the
Speaker 1: north side of a big, beautiful feature tree, always shady,
Speaker 1: always in the shade for the most part of the day.
Speaker 1: And as it is true, the only time our dining
Speaker 1: deck gets direct sunlight is in the early morning hours,
Speaker 1: when number one, we're not out there, and number two,
Speaker 1: when even during the summer, that direct sunlight is not
Speaker 1: burning hot sun. By the time that the sun gets
Speaker 1: to it's kind of a well, right about now in
Speaker 1: the eleven ish hour, the dining deck is already in
Speaker 1: the shade and it will stay in the shade well
Speaker 1: into the late afternoon, which is the perfect time for
Speaker 1: it to be in the shade and to be completely cool.
Speaker 1: So when you are planning coolness for your outdoor experience.
Speaker 1: You know what it Get the compass out on your phone,
Speaker 1: the Compass app, and start taking into account where the
Speaker 1: sun travels across the sky. It it amazes me that
Speaker 1: I still regularly run into homeowners where I say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, the sun is always traveling on that side
Speaker 1: of the house and this side of the house is
Speaker 1: always in the shade, and they think, well, I guess
Speaker 1: that's true. I never really thought of that before. It's
Speaker 1: incredibly important information when you're planning how to take advantage
Speaker 1: of light and or shade when it comes to your home.
Speaker 1: So understand what that is. And a lot of you
Speaker 1: already know very very well what that is. But that's
Speaker 1: going to affect how we and where we position shade structures. Okay,
Speaker 1: the most problematic of which are when it comes to
Speaker 1: the house at least, is when you know your backyard,
Speaker 1: the backside of your house is facing due south, because
Speaker 1: you get blasted with that direct southern sunlight all day
Speaker 1: long when the sun is out and shining in the
Speaker 1: sunshiny parts of the year. As a result, the shade
Speaker 1: that even a patio cover or creates is going to
Speaker 1: be offset from that cover location quite a few feet
Speaker 1: and so you need to get out and do a
Speaker 1: little shade testing. You need to hold a broom up
Speaker 1: in the air to about the level of where you
Speaker 1: imagine that shade structure is going to be and see
Speaker 1: where its shadow is falling on the patio, because way
Speaker 1: over there, that's where the shade's going to be, not
Speaker 1: where you're standing where you build the shade structure. So
Speaker 1: all of this to say, all of this to say,
Speaker 1: the least expensive and the most effective way to bring
Speaker 1: shade regularly into an outdoor space is with an umbrella,
Speaker 1: an umberella. Okay, yes, why because they can move, two
Speaker 1: because they are the least expensive forms of shade, and
Speaker 1: three because we live, whether you know it or not,
Speaker 1: in the golden age of patio umbrellas. And there is
Speaker 1: an umbrella, a shape, a size, and a configuration that
Speaker 1: will work best for you. Let's talk about that. Right
Speaker 1: on the other side.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: Here we are wrapping up another three hours together. Can
Speaker 1: you believe it? I can? I can. It's always a
Speaker 1: great time to be with you. But we're not done.
Speaker 1: Yet I've got a lot more to share with you here,
Speaker 1: so hang tight with me. Okay, Right before the break,
Speaker 1: I had broken open the subject of shade and the
Speaker 1: least expensive way, the least expensive way to stylishly but
Speaker 1: effectively get outside, get yourself out into the yard is
Speaker 1: with no not a new patio cover, awning, not a
Speaker 1: California room, not a new roofed shade area, nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with those. But by the way, you know everything I
Speaker 1: was just saying before the break about southern sun orienting it,
Speaker 1: understanding your orientation of your yard to the compass, understanding
Speaker 1: where the sun rises, where it sets, what's in the
Speaker 1: shade already, what's not. All of these things only are
Speaker 1: compounded by the fact that the sun moves across the sky.
Speaker 1: And you're like, yeah, I Dan, we are aware of that.
Speaker 1: I know you're aware of it. But strangely enough, not
Speaker 1: a lot of people give that thought when they're thinking
Speaker 1: about investing in that big, rigid patio cover structure, because
Speaker 1: we only imagine, oh, I build a patio cover, then
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get shade underneath it. Well, not exactly, maybe
Speaker 1: at some point point during the day you pretty much
Speaker 1: get shade underneath it. First of all, if it's facing south,
Speaker 1: then the offset of the shade is going to be
Speaker 1: you know, a couple three feet in the summertime, and
Speaker 1: maybe several feet or maybe no shade at all when
Speaker 1: the sun is at its lowest point across the sky
Speaker 1: in the winter, okay, because the angle of the sun changes,
Speaker 1: and as it gets lower in the southern sky, then
Speaker 1: that shade is going to be thrown much closer to
Speaker 1: the house and not actually where you want to be sitting.
Speaker 1: It's something to think about, and the fact that that
Speaker 1: rectangle of shade keeps moving. In the morning, when the
Speaker 1: sun is just rising, it may be twenty feet over
Speaker 1: there to the left, and in the evening when the
Speaker 1: sun is setting, it may be twenty feet over there
Speaker 1: to the right. And only during two or three hours
Speaker 1: of the height of the sun during the day is
Speaker 1: the shade actually where you want it to be. And
Speaker 1: that might be okay, But just understand that these more expensive,
Speaker 1: luxuriant structures sometimes have inherent weaknesses their inability to adapt
Speaker 1: to the movement of the sun. Hence the ultra luxurious
Speaker 1: movable closable kind of shutter styled patio covers that companies
Speaker 1: like Structure make Right where you can open and close
Speaker 1: and adjust the shade level. Up there. Now we're getting really,
Speaker 1: really luxurious. But the point is even those have limitations
Speaker 1: when it comes to the movement of the sun across
Speaker 1: the sky. Far easier and considerably less expensive to have
Speaker 1: a lovely umbrella next to you that can be simply
Speaker 1: tilted and adjusted, opened and closed. And that's a choice
Speaker 1: that Teena and I have made for our home. We
Speaker 1: love sunshine, we love open air living, and when it's
Speaker 1: not too hot outside, I don't want anything in the way.
Speaker 1: I also want to be able to go out and
Speaker 1: sit on my deck when the rain is pouring and
Speaker 1: still feel comfortable and in doing so. In order to
Speaker 1: do so, we have a couple of cantilever style umbrellas
Speaker 1: that are that are sitting on our deck. Cantilever style
Speaker 1: umbrella simply means that instead of the umbrella being concentric
Speaker 1: to the pole right in the middle of a round
Speaker 1: kind of shaped umbrella, that the pole is offset, you know,
Speaker 1: it's off to one side, so that the whole area
Speaker 1: that the umbrella is shading is free and open, free
Speaker 1: and open to move furniture around or to have chairs
Speaker 1: sitting under and there's no pole. You're not like a
Speaker 1: pole in between you and the person sitting across from
Speaker 1: you that you're trying to talk to. A market umbrella
Speaker 1: is a very very simple umbrella that works like a
Speaker 1: typical umbrella, where the pole is in the center. Also,
Speaker 1: by the way, a market umbrella can sit next to
Speaker 1: you if it's a personal umbrella, no problem whatsoever. And
Speaker 1: market umbrellas you can pick them up at a big
Speaker 1: box store for about forty five or fifty dollars. We're
Speaker 1: not talking about a lot of money when it comes
Speaker 1: to creating some shade in the backyard, okay, But for
Speaker 1: larger groups and for bigger entertaining or just a bigger
Speaker 1: amount of protection, cantilevered umbrellas with an offset post are brilliant.
Speaker 1: Now they come with really big bases on them, really
Speaker 1: heavy bases. That may be something that you don't like
Speaker 1: because it's not easy to move around. But if you
Speaker 1: plot out the location of where you want your umbrellas
Speaker 1: and you want to fix them in place, they can
Speaker 1: also be And that's what we've done to our deck.
Speaker 1: I don't have the big bases on the bottom of
Speaker 1: my umbrellas, because I actually designed my deck with the
Speaker 1: wood superstructure right where it needs to be, so that
Speaker 1: I bolted these umbrellas directly into the deck, and they
Speaker 1: are just coming up right out of the deck, and
Speaker 1: right now they're folded away because it's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1: I don't need an umbrella to keep me cool, and
Speaker 1: I don't need it getting in the way of the
Speaker 1: sky for me. But these two market umbrellas happen to
Speaker 1: be eight foot by thirteen foot rectangles. That's the other
Speaker 1: thing about I'm sorry I called it a market umbrella.
Speaker 1: These two cantilevered umbrellas. That's the other thing about cantilevered umbrellas.
Speaker 1: They can be roundish in their cannabies, but they also
Speaker 1: these days, because we live in the golden age of umbrellas,
Speaker 1: they can be rectangular. Mine are two rectangles, and they
Speaker 1: sit on opposite sides of our deck with the fire
Speaker 1: pit right in the middle. And so when I open
Speaker 1: up these two two eight foot by thirteen foot umbrellas,
Speaker 1: I get a sick sixteen by thirteen foot area because
Speaker 1: I've set them up so that they just touch in
Speaker 1: the center and they shade out the entire zone as
Speaker 1: if I had a big, expensive patio cover up above us,
Speaker 1: but I don't, and they also recede and go away.
Speaker 1: Now how much did these cost? I think I picked
Speaker 1: these up for about eleven hundred dollars a piece. That's
Speaker 1: not cheap when you think you can get a market
Speaker 1: umbrella for forty bucks, but twenty two hundred dollars to
Speaker 1: completely flexibly cover an entire area around my fire pit
Speaker 1: on my deck compared to building a patio cover. Try
Speaker 1: building a patio cover for twenty two hundred dollars. It's
Speaker 1: not going to happen. So the point is, shade is
Speaker 1: not that hard to come by these days. There are
Speaker 1: creative ways to do it and saving a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And I again I would argue, this is not just
Speaker 1: a cost saving thing for people who you know are
Speaker 1: budgetarily challenged. We do these kinds of umbrellas all the
Speaker 1: time on a state level homes because it's just the
Speaker 1: right solution for some of these places on an estate.
Speaker 1: It's just the right idea. Okay, So don't be adverse
Speaker 1: to it. Think about again, what's it going to take
Speaker 1: to get you outside? And then on that's the cool
Speaker 1: side of things. If you need to bump the cool up.
Speaker 1: Think of a personal mister system that you can hook
Speaker 1: up to a hose or mounting a misting system. You
Speaker 1: know it will drop the temperature under those mists by
Speaker 1: twenty degrees instantaneously, inexpensive to buy, easy to install. Or
Speaker 1: there are freestanding little misters that you can run down
Speaker 1: and pick up very very shortly at the big box
Speaker 1: and the hardware stores that just to hook up to
Speaker 1: a garden hose and give you your personal experience. When
Speaker 1: it comes to heat, of course, fire pits. They come
Speaker 1: in every shape and size and expense portable ones, propane
Speaker 1: driven ones. You can hook one permanently into your gas line. Again,
Speaker 1: far less expensive than you would think on the low end,
Speaker 1: and of course they can cost gabillions on the high end.
Speaker 1: But you don't need that, just a little flame and that,
Speaker 1: And if that's not even in your realm, then a
Speaker 1: portable infrared heat dish heater that doesn't attempt to heat
Speaker 1: the air around you outside, but you just point it
Speaker 1: at you and you plug it in, run a little
Speaker 1: extension cord to it, and you point it in your
Speaker 1: direction and it heats up you and that's all. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day. That we're really looking for, right,
Speaker 1: is that level of comfort. Infrared heats you under your skin,
Speaker 1: it doesn't heat the air around you, and it keeps
Speaker 1: you snugly and warm. And of course, when I say
Speaker 1: snugly and warm, the all to omit. The easiest way
Speaker 1: to stay warm outside is to have a comfy coat,
Speaker 1: a comfy pair of warm shoes, and a blanket. And
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, that's all
Speaker 1: we really need to be able to get outside, to
Speaker 1: get some elbowroom, to get out of the house, to
Speaker 1: have more space, to take advantage of all the space
Speaker 1: that's around you without breaking the bank. Now, there's a
Speaker 1: final component to this which we're not talking about today,
Speaker 1: and that is how to create an outdoor landscape environment
Speaker 1: worthy of you wanting to be out there and enjoy
Speaker 1: it with birds and bees, flowers and trees and everything
Speaker 1: that is potentially amazing about your yard. That, my friend,
Speaker 1: is another show, and that show good news is coming
Speaker 1: very very soon. But until then, I am going to
Speaker 1: leave you with this very very simple thought today, all
Speaker 1: of these things are aggregates. Just like in life, one
Speaker 1: tiny thing builds upon another, one tiny thing makes a
Speaker 1: little difference, and then we build from there and from
Speaker 1: there and from there houses, homes, estates. It does not matter.
Speaker 1: They are all built from the smallest of components, one
Speaker 1: after the next, after the next, after the next, And
Speaker 1: so is a beautiful life. And so what I wish
Speaker 1: for you today is that you take a moment, whether
Speaker 1: you the temperature is zero degrees outside right now, or
Speaker 1: whether it is sixty five like it is in my
Speaker 1: yard at the moment, but take a moment, step outside
Speaker 1: and consider, when everything is optimal out here, how can
Speaker 1: I better take advantage of this space, and how for
Speaker 1: the rest of today can I take advantage of the
Speaker 1: life that I've been given and build myself a more
Speaker 1: beautiful life. All right, everybody, that's it for me today.
Speaker 1: We will see you right back here next weekend. Until then,
Speaker 1: get out there, build yourself a beautiful life, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you soon. This has been Home with Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI
Speaker 1: AM six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight
Speaker 1: Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon
Speaker 1: Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.