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With good planning and smart purchases, having a small patio doesn’t have to be a major barrier to outdoor-living enjoyment It’s easy to get discouraged paging through outdoor-living magazines or watching home-d¨¦cor shows when you have to deal with the confines of a Vancouver-scale condo patio. Oversize recliners, dining tables that seat eight, plus end tables, ottomans, and canopies? In your dreams. But it turns out there are ways to outfit your postage-stamp-size piece of paradise so it becomes an oasis in the city. Yes, Virginia, there is a way to entertain on a condo balcony. It just takes a little design know-how and an eye for some of the new condo-scale furniture that’s out there. Andrew Bockner, the long-time Canadian patio-furniture designer at Andrew Richard Designs, has been targeting the market, particularly with a new collection called Condo. It’s a bit ironic, considering he and brother Richard got their start supplying hotels and resorts with outdoor pieces. “There, space was never an issue, and in that case it was ‘We need larger-scale pieces,’ ” he tells the Straight, speaking over the line from his Toronto showroom. Bockner still outfits those places around North America, but he’s also started filling a niche for people who want chic, smaller-scale pieces. “Why should people be unable to entertain and enjoy a six-foot or eight-foot or even five-foot space?” he says. “I saw people were trying to shove some of the bigger pieces into their small spaces. Outdoor time is gold, because we all work hard and have commitments, but to feel cluttered and bothered in the space ruins that. You have to be able to walk around.” Nowadays, Bockner sells several city-friendly collections, including the Condo line, through his retail stores in Toronto, and via his website(http://www.spring1998.com) and interior designers out here on the West Coast. |
