Room for Improvement: Balcony

WSVN -- Martin Amado: With so many apartments and condos in South Florida, which most of the time offer limited space inside, means even a small area such as a balcony can be turned into an outdoor room. We'll show you how on today's Room for Improvement.

Martin: "Room for Improvement. Hi, Miriam."

Martin: "All right, Miriam, you have a beautiful home inside, I can tell, but then this honestly doesn't compare."

Miriam: "This is my patio, and, as you can see, it is a small one."

Martin: "So I have some ideas. It's going to happen in one day. Go to work, and I'm going to get to work right here."

Martin: "All right, so even though we have no furniture, as you can see, the first thing that Miriam looks at when she walks onto the balcony is this ugly barbecue."

SMALL WONDER:

And there we go, by placing a floor screen in front of it, it keeps it out of sight, out of mind when not in use.

Martin: "Now, because we're dealing with a balcony that's on the first floor we don't have much privacy to begin with, so the trick is to place plants on pedestals."

CHEAP FIX:

Now,  just to weigh the pots down a bit more, notice I've placed some river rocks, and that way they don't topple in the wind."

Martin: "Abracadabra, Hocus Pocus and voila, my own version of a floating wreath."

MARTIN'S MAGIC:

What I basically did is use some fishing wire and some S-hooks to suspend the wreath from the ceiling."

Martin: "What else do we need? A table, some other decorative touches, and we're almost done."

Martin: "Here's a great idea to add lighting on your balcony, even if you don't have electricity." 

What I did is I bought some solar lights, and I'm going to go ahead and place them inside these small ceramic pots, fill them up with river rocks and place them on the border of my cement wall of the balcony. It's going to look awesome.

Martin: "So the finishing touch is a hurricane sconce here with a candle inside, and we're done."

This morning a first floor balcony was neither functional nor private, but, by using plants, creative ideas for lighting and decorative touches, it's now become an outdoor retreat for under $1,000."

Martin: "Open your eyes, go ahead."

Miriam: "Oh, my God. Martin, it's so beautiful, I like it. This is my dream, yes."

Martin: "Do you love it?"

Miriam: "Yes, I like it, everything."

Martin: "So who has the nicest balcony right now out of the entire complex? Miriam, right? You do all right. Well, listen enjoy. Thanks for watching. This is another Room for Improvement. Until next time."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact: room@wsvn.com  
Miami-Dade: 305-576-HOME
Broward: 954-962-HOME
Martin Amado's Website: http://www.martinamado.com