Academics - Build Your Outdoor Space
Build an Outdoor Space
You'll Actually Live In This Summer
I spend a significant amount of my professional life thinking about environments. As a professor at Belmont University, I study how environments shape behavior. As a REALTOR® with The Anderson Group, I walk through homes every week watching how people actually live in their spaces. One pattern keeps repeating: people dramatically underuse their outdoor spaces — not because they don't value being outside, but because those spaces haven't been designed to invite them in.
1. Add Seating You Actually Want to Sit In
This is the single highest-impact change you can make to an outdoor space, and the first thing I notice when touring homes. The ones that feel most lived-in almost always have outdoor seating someone deliberately chose — not lawn furniture they tolerate, but furniture they wanted.
It doesn't need to be expensive. Two comfortable Adirondack chairs and a side table. A sectional on a patio. A bistro set by the back door. The principle is simple: comfortable, inviting spaces get used.
2. String Lights Change Everything
I tell every client with any kind of outdoor space the same thing: get string lights. They're inexpensive, install in an afternoon, and extend your usable outdoor evening by four to five hours.
Without outdoor lighting, your backyard closes when the sun goes down. With it, evenings become the best part of the day. Warm white string lights over a patio create an atmosphere genuinely hard to recreate indoors — and in Nashville's summer evenings, there's nothing better.
3. A Fire Pit Is Worth Every Dollar
In years of real estate work, I have never once heard a homeowner say they regret getting a fire pit. It becomes the center of outdoor life almost immediately — a gathering point, a reason for people to stay, a focal point that transforms a yard into a destination.
- A portable fire pit starts around $60 — no installation required
- Add a few low chairs or a curved bench to complete the zone
- Keep firewood nearby so there's zero friction to getting it started
4. Create Shade and You Create Usable Hours
The most underrated outdoor upgrade — and the main reason people don't use their spaces on summer afternoons — is the absence of shade. The solution isn't to wait for cooler weather. It's to build shade now.
- A large cantilever umbrella over your seating area ($150–$400)
- A sail shade anchored between posts, fence, and wall
- A hammock between two trees — still the most elegant low-cost option
- A pergola, freestanding or attached, with retractable canopy or climbing plants
Shade changes the hours during which your outdoor space is genuinely enjoyable. A shaded patio at 2pm in July is a joy. An unshaded one is not somewhere you're going to linger.
5. Plant Something — Anything
Outdoor spaces feel alive when something is growing in them. You don't need to become a gardener. Three pots near the back door will do it: basil, mint, and something with color.
As a REALTOR®, I can tell you buyers notice when outdoor spaces feel tended. There's something about a living plant — even a modest one — that communicates care. It signals that someone actually lives here and pays attention.
The Bigger Picture
I teach my students that environments shape behavior — that the spaces we occupy send signals to our brains about what kind of thinking and feeling is appropriate in them. A well-designed classroom invites focus. A great living room invites connection. A beautiful outdoor space invites rest.
For anyone whose home has become primarily a place of work and obligation, a well-designed outdoor space may be the most important thing you add this year. Not just for resale value — though it helps — but for what it does for you every single day you live there.
You don't have to do all five at once. Pick one. Do it this weekend. Then notice what changes.
Thinking About Buying or Selling in Nashville?
Chris Barnhill brings the patience of a professor and the expertise of an experienced REALTOR® to every transaction. Let's have a conversation — no pressure, no agenda.
