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How to Upgrade Your Outdoor Area for Maximum Enjoyment

So, you’re thinking about giving your outdoor space a bit of a makeover, huh? Whether it’s a backyard, a patio, or a small deck, upgrading your outdoor area can transform it into your favorite spot to relax, entertain, or just soak up some sunshine. But where do you even start? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. From choosing the best stain for a cedar fence to adding cozy seating, let’s walk through some simple, yet impactful ways to upgrade your outdoor area for maximum enjoyment—without breaking a sweat.

Assess Your Space: What’s Your Outdoor Potential?

First things first: take a good look at your space. What’s already working? What’s not? Maybe you’ve got a nice patch of grass but no place to sit. Or perhaps you’ve got an awesome view, but no way to enjoy it comfortably. The key here is to figure out how you want to use the space. Are you dreaming of outdoor dinners with friends? A peaceful spot to read and sip coffee? Maybe a place where the kids can safely play while you relax nearby?

Once you know what you want from your outdoor area, it’s time to start planning the upgrades. The great thing is, that no matter the size of your space, there are always ways to make it more functional and enjoyable. You can look for more inspiration on this page.

Designing for Comfort and Style

When it comes to outdoor living, comfort is key. Think about adding cozy seating, whether it’s a set of lounge chairs or a cushioned bench. If you want to make things even more comfortable, throw in some outdoor pillows or a soft rug. Want a little extra shade? A pergola or umbrella can provide shelter from the sun while keeping the vibe casual and inviting.

And speaking of vibe, don’t forget about the deck! If you already have one, maybe it’s time for a refresh. Or, if your yard is looking a little plain, consider hiring professional deck builders to install a multi-level deck that blends seamlessly with the rest of your home. A well-constructed deck not only adds to the aesthetic but also creates more usable space for lounging or entertaining. According to EBD Studios, thoughtful design is about harmonizing functionality with aesthetics to create spaces that inspire and connect people with their environment.

Bringing Nature to Your Doorstep

Now, let’s talk about greenery. You don’t need to have a green thumb to add a touch of nature to your outdoor area. Even a few well-placed plants can make a world of difference. Think about potted plants or hanging baskets if you’re short on space. Or, if you’ve got a bit more room, consider adding some raised garden beds for herbs, veggies, or flowers.

Vertical gardens are another great option if you’re working with a small space. They’re trendy, they look amazing, and they don’t take up much room. Plus, having more greenery around just makes everything feel fresher and more relaxing. Who doesn’t want that?

Creating a Focal Point with Unique Outdoor Elements

Want to make a statement? Adding a unique focal point, like a water feature or a fire pit, can do just that. Imagine the soft sound of running water from a small fountain or the cozy warmth of a fire pit during a cool evening. These features not only look great but also add an extra layer of enjoyment to your space.

A fire pit, for instance, can instantly become a gathering spot for roasting marshmallows or simply staying warm on chilly nights. And water features? They add a soothing vibe that’s hard to beat. Whether it’s a small bubbling fountain or a larger pond, water elements can turn an ordinary yard into a peaceful retreat.

Outdoor Cooking and Dining Areas

If you love entertaining (or just eating outside), then an outdoor kitchen or dining area is a must. Setting up a small grill station or even a more elaborate outdoor kitchen can transform your backyard into a hub of social activity. But even if you’re keeping it simple, make sure to invest in some quality outdoor furniture.

Durable, weatherproof tables and chairs are essential, but they don’t have to be boring! Look for pieces that fit your style and match the overall aesthetic of your home. And don’t forget—comfort is key. So, find seating that’s not just stylish but also cozy enough to make your guests want to linger long after dinner is done.

Technology and Modern Comforts

Why not take your outdoor space into the 21st century? These days, there’s a ton of tech that can enhance your outdoor experience. Think outdoor speakers for music, smart lighting that adjusts as the sun goes down, or even a weatherproof TV for movie nights under the stars.

But if you’re also conscious about your energy consumption (and who isn’t these days?), look into energy-efficient options like solar-powered lights or eco-friendly outdoor appliances. This way, you can enjoy all the comforts of modern technology without feeling guilty about your environmental footprint.

Create Zones for Versatility

Here’s a pro tip: create different zones in your outdoor area. This makes your space feel bigger and more versatile. For instance, you can have a dining area in one spot, a lounging zone in another, and maybe even a small play area for the kids or pets.

To separate the zones, you don’t need to build walls or fences. Something as simple as using planters, hedges, or outdoor rugs can visually divide the space without making it feel cramped. Plus, creating zones makes your outdoor area feel more organized and purposeful.

Finishing Touches: Make It Your Own

Now for the fun part—decorating! The finishing touches are where your personality can really shine. Add outdoor pillows in fun patterns, hang some string lights, or even lay down an outdoor rug to tie everything together.

These little touches may seem small, but they can totally transform the vibe of your space. And don’t forget—this is your outdoor retreat, so make it feel like you. Whether that means quirky garden sculptures or a color-coordinated theme, the choice is all yours.

Conclusion: Your Outdoor Haven Awaits

Upgrading your outdoor space doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start by thinking about how you want to use the space, then gradually add elements that suit your style and needs. Whether it’s adding a comfy seating area, sprucing up your garden, or incorporating modern tech, these small upgrades can make a huge difference.

Style revival: The comeback of flared jeans

We all have a idea of what fashion looked like in the 1970s as this era was know as the disco era. A time of hippies with sleek night clubs and long greasy hair. Following the free-spirited rebellion and counterculture, flared jeans were more common than ever in this time period. This was a shift from the previous iconic slim-fitted bell bottoms.

Like any other fashion trend, flared jeans disappeared in the 1980s but have been back since the early 2000s. They are a popular choice for those who are more edgy, but this style of jeans has been see making a bigger comeback than anyone is realizing.

The trend has been embraced by musicians and celebrities alike and has solidified flared jeans as a fashion staple once again and have quickly become a must-have for both men and women.

A fashion statement commonly worn with platform shoes and colorful tops in the 70s as they were more popular during music festivals and disco clubs.

The flared jeans trend was adopted in the 2020s, and different celebrities and influencers were seen wearing the style frequently. For this reason, the style has received more attention and has become a classic in the evolving world of fashion. Not just in the form of jeans however as it became increasingly popular to wear legging material flares.

The Return of Flared Jeans in Modern Fashion

Flared jeans are a perfect example of how trends fade and then come back with modifications. As though the style is being reborn every time it is being introduced to a new generation of people.

Its resurgence draws attention from every corner of the music industry. In 2024, the flared jeans you get have a modern twist, blending it with the contemporary style, offering comfort and an effortless chic look.

The new flared jeans come in different forms:

  • High-waisted cuts with elongated legs
  • High-waisted cuts with wide legs

Stacked Flared Jeans, A Modern Twist on a Retro Classic

A notable style is the stacked flared jeans, featuring long hems that stack up at the ankles. This style gives you a laid-back vibe, perfect for a street style.

Combining retro flair and modern streetwear, it makes you look elegant.  These jeans offer infinite styling possibilities for all types of occasions, a casual daytime look or evening out.

Cultural Influences Behind the Revival of Flared Jeans

Why did flared jeans make such a strong comeback? It can be attributed to the music industry and other cultural movements. They are mainly done by music artists in genres like.

  • Pop
  • Rock
  • Hip-hop

These singers use flared jeans as part of their signature looks, bringing out the free-spirited energy of their songs.

A great example is that rock musicians often wear flared jeans and are known for the look and if they’re not wearing that, dare I say they even wear flared one pieces. Similarly, the film industry is contributing to the revival. As you watch retro-themed shows like Stranger Things, you will notice this iconic style.

As a result, as a viewer, you are inspired to add these styles to your daily fashion. Also, stars like Laura Whitmore and Anne Hathaway often rock flares, bringing them back into the mainstream.

What about fashion influencers? They are also not left behind in ensuring you are updated about this fashion trend.

The versatility of this style is all over the internet; it’s hard for you to miss out.

Interestingly, the trend is more embraced by a generation that has not experienced it before. In an article by Vogue, Christina Allaire recognized how hard it was to shift from skinny jeans to flared jeans. However, the runways and street styles have proven that flared jeans can work with anyone.

Unlike in the past, when flared jeans were associated with hippie-dippy style, they are now more sophisticated. They are the perfect to give you an alternative for an effortless, polished look.

Conclusion

The style as mentioned before is ever evolving as you can upgrade your flared to stacked flared jeans now as the style can be modified to suit your own style. The style is versatile, owing to their image in the social media, film, and music industries. Consequently, they offer everyone something to work with.

Flared jeans are not just a passing trend; they are a staple style that will continue to affect the fashion world for many more years to come. It’s exciting to see what new creations they will inspire.

Yesness Announce Debut Album, Share New Song ‘Not So Sorry Now Are You?’

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Kristian Dunn (El Ten Eleven) and Damon Che (Don Caballero) have formed a new band, Yesness, whose debut album, See You at the Solipsist Convention, will arrive on November 22 via Joyful Noise Recordings. Check out the lead single, ‘Not So Sorry Now Are You?’, below.

Karl Hofstetter, founder and curator of Joyful Noise, introduced the pair via email in April 2023. “We were ships in the night of the musical variety until Karl found a way to merge our paths,” Che commented. “There are very few comparisons in the aesthetic approach to how we created the music. We worked remotely for eight months before physically meeting for the first time at the recording studio.”

About the new song, Dunn said: “This is one of the first songs I decided to add a bit of piano to. The part is ridiculously simple but seems to add some gravitas and still leave plenty of room for Damon to do his thing!”

“Aped the double heart throb bass drum pattern from the drummer in my dad’s band I always admired when I was a teenager,” Che added. “I’m glad Kristian put the piano passage in this one. It takes me back to when music was classy without even trying.”

See You at the Solipsist Convention Cover Artwork:

See You at the Solipsist Convention Tracklist:

1. Not So Sorry Now Are You?
2. Occasional Grape?
3. Nice Walrus
4. If You Say So
5. People Don’t Like It When You Call Them Ace
6. Fire, When It’s Broken
7. Your Reverb Is Showing
8. Horror Snuggle
9. You Didn’t Need Those Pencils Did You?
10. There’s No One on Board
11. See Through Wolf Costume
12. Non-incredible Visitor

NHL 25 Player Ratings Revealed

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EA Sports has officially released the top player ratings for NHL 25, highlighting the elite talent across the league. Featuring the game’s biggest stars, the list includes top performers in every position, from goalies to centers.

To no one’s surprise, the ratings are led by names like Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, and Nikita Kucherov, who top their respective categories. Below is a breakdown of the highest-rated players across all positions curated by John at Finestcasinosonline.com:

Top 5 NHL 25 Player Ratings by Position

Goalkeepers:

  1. Connor Hellebuyck – 93
  2. Igor Shesterkin – 92
  3. Andrei Vasilevskiy – 92
  4. Thatcher Demko – 91
  5. Jake Oettinger – 90

Left Defensemen:

  1. Quinn Hughes – 94
  2. Roman Josi – 93
  3. Miro Heiskanen – 92
  4. Victor Hedman – 92
  5. Rasmus Dahlin – 91

Right Defensemen:

  1. Cale Makar – 95
  2. Charlie McAvoy – 92
  3. Adam Fox – 92
  4. Noah Dobson – 89
  5. Alex Pietrangelo – 89

Left Wingers:

  1. Artemi Panarin – 95
  2. Kirill Kaprizov – 93
  3. Matthew Tkachuk – 92
  4. Jason Robertson – 91
  5. Kyle Connor – 91

Right Wingers:

  1. Nikita Kucherov – 95
  2. David Pastrňák – 95
  3. Mikko Rantanen – 93
  4. Sam Reinhart – 91
  5. Mitchell Marner – 91

Centers:

  1. Connor McDavid – 97
  2. Leon Draisaitl – 96
  3. Nathan MacKinnon – 95
  4. Auston Matthews – 94
  5. Sidney Crosby – 93

These ratings reflect the top-tier players in the NHL, showcasing a balance of seasoned veterans and rising stars.

Source: https://www.ea.com/games/nhl/ratings

Thom Yorke Adapting Radiohead’s ‘Hail to the Thief’ for New Production of ‘Hamlet’

Thom Yorke is adapting Radiohead’s classic 2003 album Hail to the Thief for a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The show, titled Hamlet Hail to the Thief, was adapted by directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, with arrangements by Justin Levine. It will have its world premiere at Aviva Studios in Manchester from April 27 to May 18, 2025, before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from June 4-28, 2025.

“This is an interesting and intimidating challenge!” Yorke said in a press statement. “Adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet, using the music as a ‘presence’ in the room, watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.”

Jones added:

The first Radiohead concert I ever saw was the Hail to the Thief tour in 2003. It changed my DNA. Not long after, I was reading Hamlet and listening to the album. Paying attention to the lyrics, I became aware of how many songs from Hail to the Thief speak to the themes of the play. There are uncanny reverberances between the text and the album. For years I’ve wanted to see the play and album collide in a piece of theatre; eventually I shared the idea with Thom, who was intrigued. I wasn’t sure what we would make, but I knew I wanted to make it with Steven and continue experimenting and building on work we have done together over many years.

We’ve found that the play haunts the album, and the album haunts the play. Both reflect the internal disquiet and rage that result from despair—in particular despair arising from scrutiny of dominant power structures—whether within governments, communities, or families. The text and music probe us relentlessly to question what we are made of, and how to discern right from wrong.

Earlier this year, Thom Yorke provided the score for Daniele Luchetti’s Confidenza.

Watch MJ Lenderman Perform ‘Wristwatch’ on ‘Fallon’

MJ Lenderman & the Wind made their full-band TV debut on last night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing ‘Wristwatch’ from his new album Manning Fireworks. Watch it happen below.

Manning Fireworks, which follows the North Carolina-based singer-songwriter and Wednesday guitarist’s 2022 breakthrough Boat Songs, came out earlier this month. Back in March, Lenderman joined Waxahatchee on Colbert to perform their collaboration ‘Right Back to It’.

Tess Parks Shares New Single ‘California’s Dreaming’

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Tess Parks has released a new single, ‘California’s Dreaming’, the latest single from her upcoming LP Pomegranate. It follows previous offerings ‘Crown Shy’ and ‘Koalas’. Check out a video for it below.

Pomegranate is scheduled for release on October 25 via Fuzz Club.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Joe Goddard Announce ‘Neptunes’ EP, Share New Song

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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard have joined forces for the Neptunes EP, which is due November 22 via Smugglers Way. Today, they’ve shared the EP’s title track, alongside an Aron Sanchez Barada-directed video. Check it out below.

“I loved what the rhythm made me feel when I first heard it,” Smith said of ‘Neptunes’. “I actually thought he was tapping into Neptune as a planet, and the qualities I felt it possesses. So my side of things brought out more space-themed sounds as a result.”

Neptunes EP Cover Artwork:

Neptunes EP Tracklist:

1. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Joe Goddard – Neptunes
2. Joe Goddard – Rapid Fire [feat. Laima]
3. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Around You
4. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Around You (Joe Goddard Remix)
5. Joe Goddard – Rapid Fire (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Remix)

two blinks, i love you Announces New EP, Shares New Song ‘better the knife you know’

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two blinks, i love you – the project of Liverpool songwriter Liam Brown – has announced ep 2, sharing the song ‘better the knife you know’ along with the news. The EP, which includes the recent single ‘my girl’, arrives November 22 via Heist or Hit. Check out the new track below.

Speaking about ‘better the knife you know’, Brown said:

‘better the knife’ was the first track we recorded together and it kind of set the standard of how fast we ended up working. When I wrote the demo (which essentially is how you hear it on the ep) it was probably the quickest I’d ever written a song before, I felt like I knew exactly how it was going to sound. It was a really exciting moment, and a very focused level of creating something – which I hadn’t felt that intensely before. The demo was written, recorded, and sent over to the label within an hour!

Thematically, there’s quite a lot of post relationship feelings in there, going back to your old life after leaving somebody and becoming a kind of island again, there’s also lots about coming back from New York and feeling a bit flat and desensitised from such a strange trip. It’s a kind of diary entry for a lot of feelings at that particular time I think.

Brown recorded the EP at Nan’s House in Liverpool with Sophie Ellis. “She facilitated and transferred all my creative decisions and ideas practically without any friction, which was super important to me,” he explained. “We worked rapidly, how I like to work, and it felt like there existed so much alchemy in our spontaneity.”

ep 2 as a whole is combing through a lot of different feelings over the past year,” Brown added. “Some of the songs on here are quite retrospective about loss. It presents itself in different ways that I didn’t even recognise until listening to them back; at the time I thought it was hidden in lots of subtext but in actuality it wasn’t. Some of the other songs however, are more love songs. I always love how direct and charming a plain and simple love song can be, not particularly the most poetic or the most dramatic by any means, but speaking of the smaller insignificant things and the idiosyncrasies of moments unique to your experience with love and everything surrounding that, whether that be friendship, the city you live in, or the city you visit for a week.”

ep 2 Cover Artwork:

ep 2 Tracklist:

1. better the knife you know
2. alright
3. amends
4. my girl
5. for good
6. baby drums

Beach Bunny Share Video for New Song ‘Clueless’

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Beach Bunny have put out a new single, ‘Clueless’. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by Bertie Gilbert. Check it out below.

“I wrote this song in February reflecting on the passing new year,” frontperson Lili Trifilio explained in a statement. “It took me 5 minutes to write, in a lot of ways it wrote itself – it’s not supposed to be sad, I just hope it makes you feel something. Time & changing are complicated subjects, I didn’t write this track with the intention of forming any conclusions, I really just needed to get my thoughts out – I still don’t understand it all, but that’s the fun part of being alive: figuring it out along the way.”

Earlier this year, Beach Bunny returned with the song ‘Vertigo’ and joined Hank Heaven on ‘Beloved’. Their last album was 2022’s Emotional Creature.