Our home grows a little bit at this time of year. We gain a whole extra room -- the one on our deck just off the kitchen. It's where my husband and I like to drink our coffee and read the paper on weekend mornings.

Our son, a student at the U, has decided that our deck is the perfect place to study -- quieter and sunnier than anywhere on campus, plus he can work on his tan and hit the books at the same time.

Jim Rash, the screenwriter/actor who most recently made headlines for mimicking Angelina Jolie's leg thrust at the Academy Awards, turned his patio into a complete outdoor office.(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/03/jim-rash-house-garden.html).

Rash lives in L.A. where outdoor living happens year-round. But I like our seasonal approach to the outdoor room, because it gives me the chance to redecorate every year. Unlike the rest of my house, which looks basically the same for years at a stretch, my outdoor room gets a radical personality change every May, depending on what I decide to plant.

One year I was in an exuberent mood, and put bursts of hot-pink blooms in every container. Another year I went nuts for tropical foliage plants like elephant ear and canna, and turned my deck into a jungle. Two years ago, our outdoor room became a small farm, with veggies and herbs planted in almost every container.

I haven't come up with this year's redecorating plan just yet. Maybe this weekend. In the meantime, if you need inspiration for your outdoor room, landscape designer Jamie Durie of HGTV's "Outdoor Room," has tons of gorgeous al fresco spaces on the show's website. (http://www.hgtv.com/designers-portfolio/room/arts-and-crafts/outdoors/3009/index.html#/id-2997/room-outdoors) (Durie is coming to town next month for a seminar and book-signing at Bachman's www.bachmans.com)

MCT - MCT, Star Tribune

How will you be decorating your outdoor room this year? And what activities do you like to move outside once the weather warms up?