Outdoor living ‘central’ to how consumers experience their homes

AT A GLANCE

• Outdoor living now central to home design, not just a luxury
• Resort-style features like daybeds, kitchens and firepits trending
• Modular designs offer flexibility for various space constraints
• Sunset West, Boxhill and Crescent Garden highlight lifestyle focus

ATLANTA — As Atlanta Casual Market approaches, outdoor furniture manufacturers and designers are honed on a trend that began during the pandemic but shows no signs of slowing. Outdoor living is no longer an ancillary afterthought for consumers. Increasingly, it’s central to how people understand and experience their homes.

The industry has evolved alongside those expectations, with buyers seeking products that reflect how their customers aspire to live, with commercial spaces playing a surprising role in shaping those aspirations.

Those changing expectations have led to a surge in products that support experiential outdoor living, with items like fire features, oversized daybeds and modular seating surging in popularity.

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Wellness is a key function

Consumers are increasingly viewing their patios and decks through the lens of commercial environments like health spas, private clubs and resorts, and outdoor furniture design is rising to meet those expectations.

For California-based Sunset West, part of the Hooker Furnishings family of brands, lifestyle-driven design has always been part of the company’s DNA, according to Vice President of Marketing Aliena Klaus-Squire.

“We’re not just talking about a dining set and a seating set on a patio anymore; it’s a full resort build-out, as much as people can manage,” Klaus-Squire told Furniture Today. “Everyone goes on vacation, they get inspired — they stay at a resort, a winery, wherever — and want to bring a piece of that experience home.”

This aspiration has fueled demand for multifunctional, resort-style features like modular daybeds, outdoor kitchens and firepits. Materials and silhouettes are evolving as well. According to Klaus-Squire, the industry is moving away from clean, industrial lines and toward “something more fun and handcrafted.”

“Imperfection is being celebrated. There’s patina, texture and personality in the materials. People want products that don’t feel precious, that are meant to be lived in and enjoyed,” she said.

That sentiment is echoed by designers such as Elizabeth Przygoda, founder of outdoor furnishings resource Boxhill, which serves both hospitality and residential clients.

“Luxury is becoming as much about form and function as price point, and wellness is part of that,” she told Furniture Today. “We’re doing a project in Puerto Rico with a pool that’s not just for swimming. It’s tiered and designed for underwater kettlebell workouts, as part of a wellness program.

“This kind of design — where aesthetics and function meet wellness — is a big trend I’m seeing in both high-end residential and hospitality spaces.”

From resort to residence

The design pipeline between commercial and residential outdoor spaces is increasingly impossible to ignore. As hospitality spaces embrace high design and immersive experiences, homeowners are taking notice, and they want in.

“That shift really started during COVID, and it’s completely entrenched now,” said Przygoda. “We hardly do any backyards that don’t include a firepit or an outdoor kitchen and dining area.

“People see these experiences in hospitality settings and want to recreate them at home. It’s about leveling up—bringing resort-quality living into everyday life.”

Klaus-Squire said Sunset West has been tracking the same evolution.

“We saw people gravitating toward products that were originally designed for commercial settings — our pergolas, our resort king daybeds — and putting them in residential backyards,” she said. “And it hasn’t slowed down. These are no longer ‘nice extras’; they’re essential to the way people are living and entertaining outdoors now.”

It’s a feedback loop of aspiration and availability. Guests experience standout design at boutique hotels or destination resorts, then bring those ideas home, driving demand for more stylish, durable, and lifestyle-centric products.

Customizability a growing priority

A related factor in the lifestyle-driven outdoor trend is modularity. Today’s consumers often face space constraints, even as they expect more from their outdoor areas.

This has placed a premium on flexibility, space efficiency and longevity.

Paula Douer, cofounder and vice president of Crescent Garden — which recently launched a sustainable upcycled modular line called InOu — said the brand’s approach to modularity was rooted in real-life scenarios: smaller outdoor footprints, changing needs over time and the desire for furniture that can adapt to new homes or evolving lifestyles.

“It’s not so much just about, ‘Oh, I’m going to change it around today because I have a party’,” said Douer. “It’s more about, ‘let me fit it into the design and exactly what I want’.”

That might mean adapting to a narrow balcony or expanding into a larger garden. Because modular pieces can be added or rearranged, they offer more confidence to those investing in high-quality furniture, even in rented or transitional living situations.

“There’s not a lot of outdoor seating that fits comfortably in small spaces,” she said. “So by making it modular and piecemealing it, you’re able to meet the needs of a wide swath of consumers in a way that fits today’s lifestyles.”

Atlanta around the corner

Buyers can expect to see that resort-meets-residence influence across the Atlanta showrooms this July.

Sunset West will be expanding several of its bestselling collections with new pieces that reflect the growing prevalence of lifestyle in the category.

“Every single one of our introduction collections is getting line extensions,” Klaus-Squire said. “Our Playa collection is a key one. It has this large-scale, organic feel. The resin wicker weave has this amazing weathering and variation in diameter. And showing it in vibrant colors — sky blues, celery greens — that really made people stop and fall in love in High Point. We think it will do great in Atlanta as well.”

The company is building on that momentum with line extensions for Playa, as well as for its Cabo, Cambria and Malibu collections.

“Malibu in particular is getting a new daybed, which speaks to that resort-at-home demand,” Klaus-Squire added. “And we’ve got an entirely new collection called Encinitas coming: a transitional, contemporary group that’s very much in the Sunset West design DNA.”

As the outdoor category continues to evolve to meet consumer preferences, product features like handcrafted materials and hospitality-grade construction aren’t going away anytime soon.

“People don’t go to hotels expecting the same stuff they have at home,” said Przygoda. “They want to feel transported. You can’t create that with basic design; it has to be intentional, experiential and unique. If it’s done well, the customer will be so bought into that story that they come to desire it in their own home.”

This summer at Casual Market, expect to see that philosophy in action. It may manifest differently across manufacturers and market segments, but it’s a shared story across the category: Today’s consumers live and entertain outdoors — and they expect their spaces to be more than just beautifully designed — they should be flexible and truly livable.