The trend of having your own outdoor living space is growing stronger every day. When the snow melts, the day's temperature begins inching up on the thermometer and the daffodils begin peaking through the soil we are ready to come out of our hibernation, unpack the lawn and garden furniture and live a few months of the year outside. Some of us are blessed to live in areas where those few months are not just seasonal but year round. Whether you live on your lawn furniture 3 months a year or all year long, the outdoor living space has become a very important part of all of our lives. Our patios have now become our outdoor living rooms filled with beautiful patio furniture accented with containers overflowing with mounds of color.

Here are some suggestions for turning your patios into lavishly decorated retreats:

1. Lay a new flagstone floor. You can find flagstone in a variety of colors so you should be able to easily match your patio furniture. If flagstone doesn't appeal to you, try a concrete stain. Create your own design.

2. Add a fire pit or a chimminea. Having the fire and warmth element will allow you to enjoy your patio well into the cooler evenings of fall.

3. Install a water feature. A decorative fountain is an inexpensive and easy way to achieve the relaxing sound of rippling water on a small patio. If you have a larger area you might install a waterfall or a coi pond.

4. Fill you lawn and garden furniture with big, fluffy pillows for those afternoons of naps.

5. Install an outdoor ceiling fan to keep the breeze going even on those hot, sultry, still afternoons.

6. Arrange the outdoor patio furniture into conversation groupings and make sure you have plenty of garden tables. You will need places to set all of the iced tea and lemonade that is required with outdoor living.

7. Don't forget lighting. Hang a candle chandelier, add lamps on your garden tables or add groups of candles all around the patio.

Now that you have finished remodeling your patio, grab a glass of lemonade and a good book, build a fire in the fire pit, sit back in your lawn and garden chair with those big, fluffy pillows and relax in the little piece of paradise that you created.