Adding More Outdoor Fun to Your Patio

What would you say if we suggested an evening of pizza and movies...on a beautiful June night? During the summer, most of us in Wisconsin prefer to capitalize on our outdoor time as much as possible and leave the couch-surfing and movie-watching for winter time. But! What if you could comfortably and safely bring your next Netflix binge outside? Imagine gathering your family and neighbors on the patio to watch a baseball game on TV on a balmy summer night. It's less of a hassle than you might think, thanks to some recent trends in hardscape enhancements.

One new trend we've been excited about lately is a retractable TV for your patio. Built inside of a stone knee wall, the TV is housed on a remote control lift kit, which brings it out of the wall when it's time to watch and safely tucks it away when you're done.

The wall creates a weatherproof (and winterproof!) home for your electronics at about one-third of the cost of just weatherproofing a TV that would sit outside all the time. The "tuckaway TV" is a cost effective way to add another element of fun to your outdoor living space.

And while you're watching your outdoor TV, you can enjoy a pizza made right on the patio in an outdoor, wood-burning pizza oven from Italy. As an alternative to your grill, the pizza oven is a great way to prepare pizza, roasts, chicken, fish, or anything you want to cook over a wood fire.

Both the pizza oven and a retractable TV can easily be added to any existing patio or deck to expand the versatility of your outdoor living and entertaining space. You talk to our landscape designers about these or any other hardscape additions to your backyard!