I found an interesting news story at The Daily Journal.  It talks about creating living spaces outside, including waterproof rugs and wall art.  One idea mentioned was making family photos waterproof to hang on the walls.  They suggested taking your prints to a local copy center and asking for them to be weatherproofed.  If the copy center does not offer that service, you can coat your prints with a thin layer of polyurethane.

Also, Joanie Richard wrote that we should embrace the outdoor living room.  I agree!  When the value of your home becomes less than you payed for it, you should maximize every inch of space that you’re paying for, including the outdoors.  And being outside lets you get to know your neighbors.

Is it even possible?  If you have a modern or playful style and need to conserve water, you might be interested in this neat little gadget.  This rain collector (RC-1) holds 45 gallons of rainwater.  You can also attach it to your gutter to collect the runoff, and it has a screen on the top to filter out leaves and such.

My favorite feature is a spigot on the front, which lets you pour the water into a watering can, or even attach it to your hose to water the plants.   Inhabitat wrote that “the RC-1 is the perfect example of an accessible and sustainable gardening tool.” 

They also make a drying rack (DR-1) which doubles as a garden screen.  I could see using it to cover your air conditioner while airdrying a few items, though it does not look like it would hold that much.