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Jun 25, 2023

Carisha Swanson of House Beautiful on creating an outdoor oasis

Carisha Swanson, director of editorial special projects for House Beautiful, is an expert on how to create a beautiful place to relax and host friends on your patio or porch. After starting a career

Carisha Swanson, director of editorial special projects for House Beautiful, is an expert on how to create a beautiful place to relax and host friends on your patio or porch. After starting a career in publishing, she spent five years as a manager at Crate & Barrel, where she sold melamine plates, outdoor teak dining tables and more. Since joining House Beautiful, she has helped produce five designer showhouses, all with a keen focus on outdoor living and entertaining. Swanson enjoys using the outdoor kitchen at her home outside of Charlotte when hosting friends. Ask her about how to set up storage for party supplies, the ideal patio surfaces for kids or budget-friendly ways to add style to outdoor table settings.

Every Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern time, Jura Koncius helps you in your quest to achieve domestic bliss. She and weekly guests — whether it’s Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, Marie Kondo, Jasmine Roth of HGTV or Paula Sutton of Hill House Vintage — answer your decorating, decluttering, design, entertaining and home-keeping questions. For more than 20 years, our Q&A has hosted conversations about how to make your home comfortable, stylish, organized and fun.

Recent Q&As have covered whether it’s okay to replace a tub with a stand-alone shower, how to keep mice out of your house, what to do with a collection of costume jewelry and how to use the steam settings on your washer and dryer.

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