The Great Outdoors at Maroochydore Homemaker
John Caruso discovers options aplenty for outdoor entertaining areas, whatever end of the scale you’re shopping.
For years the Australian backyard was where furniture went to retire. The op shop banana lounge, the plastic table with the sun-bleached top, the old couch and a barbecue with more character than heat output. It did the job for a Sunday snag and not much else.
That job description has changed. On the Coast, where the weather does most of the entertaining for you, the outdoor room is no longer the poor cousin to the lounge room. It’s an extension of the living, entertaining, dining and relaxation room all in one alfresco space.
Spring is when the shift becomes obvious: the humidity hasn’t yet arrived, the sun’s up a little later into the evening, and every conversation that used to happen at the kitchen table ends up on the deck instead.
Maroochydore Homemaker is the go-to for finding the perfect outdoor solution whatever the budget. From boujee backyards to gourmet getups and zen zones – it’s the one stop destination for backyard sensations.
Boasting Australia’s first showroom for this lifestyle brand, is the newest kid on the block, Mocka. Their new range brings a Mediterranean flavour with stylish design, versatile functionality and affordable price points.
Browse the Marin lounge seating, Ravello dining and lounge pieces, and Palma outdoor accessories. It’s furniture with a passport, or at least the good sense to look like it has one, priced so the holiday look doesn’t require an actual holiday budget to match it.
Remarkable Outdoor Living stakes its reputation on smart solutions that survive the Queensland climate. Its durable, weather-resistant products are constructed from materials such as teak, aluminium and resin wicker are built to survive a Queensland summer rather than surrender to it after one wet season.
The breadth and quality of the range covers everything from premium outdoor lounges, dining settings, sun loungers and umbrellas to outdoor accessories. Basically everything a resort pool runs on, minus the resort mark-up and the need to compete for the perfect spot to enjoy a cocktail or read a book.
Then there is Domayne, which has decided the outdoor room should not just match the indoor one, it should outclass it.
Modular lounges and designer occasional furniture sit alongside dining settings built for gourmet gatherings, finished well enough to blur the line between the kitchen inside and the alfresco outside.
For anyone who takes entertaining seriously, the range extends to outdoor kitchens, premium barbecue setups and DIY louvred gazebos, which is another way of saying ‘a second kitchen, without the dishwasher noise and with better light to eat by’. The range is made for those who want to embrace a lifestyle centred around relaxation, connection and entertaining.
Fantastic Furniture can level up your outdoor area for an entry level budget. Combining contemporary design, relaxed coastal influences and practical weather-resistant materials, the range includes everything from spacious family lounge settings and outdoor dining suites to compact bistro sets perfect for apartment living.
With natural finishes, woven textures and neutral colour palettes proving popular this season, the collection offers versatile solutions suited to both modern and classic Queensland homes. Designed with comfort, durability and value in mind, Fantastic Furniture’s outdoor range makes it easy to create an inviting outdoor retreat without stretching the budget.
None of this is really about furniture, of course. What people expect from a house has shifted over the past decade, and the outdoor room is the latest place that shift shows up.
The renovation shows made the kitchen the heart of the home for a while, then the ensuite had its turn, and now the great outdoors is having a go at the title, helped along by three years of Aussies working out that staying home is not the consolation prize it once looked like.
Retailers have simply caught up to where people already were – on the deck at six in the evening, wondering why the furniture out there was never treated as seriously as the furniture inside.
Where you land depends on what you’re asking the backyard to do, and that’s worth working out before setting foot in the centre.
Someone after a place to enjoy the morning coffee has different requirements to those hosting eighteen for Christmas lunch, or planning long lunches alfresco on weekends.
Maroochydore Homemaker, whether by design or by a curated range of retailers each doing their own thing well, has ended up covering all three without anyone having to compromise on the one that matters to them.
There’s also reason to make the trip worthwhile beyond the furniture itself. Shoppers browsing the outdoor range go into the draw for a $1,000 gift voucher, which is either the cost of a very good dining setting or a solid down payment on the outdoor kitchen. Either way it’s the kind of incentive that turns a browse into a decision, which is presumably the idea.
Spring moves life outdoors before you notice it happening. Coffee tastes better with a splash of sunshine, meals follow, and by November nobody’s eaten indoors in weeks.
The good news is that making your outdoor area the new favourite place in the house is easy with inspiration and solutions in one, easy-to-access centre. Maroochydore Homemaker has the answer for whatever budget you walked in with.
Plus, as smart home technology continues to transform the way Australians live, Harvey Norman Maroochydore is bringing the future of outdoor living to the Sunshine Coast with an exciting new range of robotic lawn mowers designed to take the hard work out of garden maintenance.
With more than 20 stores, onsite café, free undercover parking with 900+ spaces and open seven days, Maroochydore Homemaker is the destination for inspired living!
WIN a $1,000 gift VOUCHER
Thanks to Maroochydore Homemaker, you have the chance to win a $1,000 voucher to spend in store!
Visit the website and enter your details.
Maroochydore Homemaker:
Featuring 20+ stores for inspired
living; more than 900 freeundercover parking spaces.
Open 7 days:
Monday to Wednesday: 9am – 5.30pm
Thursday: 9am – 7pm
Friday: 9am – 5.30pm
Saturday: 9am – 5pm
Sunday: 10am – 4pm
11-55 Maroochy Boulevard, Maroochydore.
www.homemakergroup.com.au/maroochydore
