Repurposing your outdoor furniture to be used indoors is sort of a strange concept to digest if you haven’t yet thought about it, but the results are surprisingly breathtaking.

This week, we sat down with home lifestyle expert and Associate Architect, Ronique Gibson, to ask her our top five questions on bringing outdoor furniture in. Ronique is a regular contributor to high-profile outlets like Houzz.com, Better Homes and Gardens and Stagetecture.com.

Q: Bringing your outdoor furniture inside is a hot trend right now. Did you ever imagine it would be?

A: I think that outdoor living and the lifestyle behind it has always been one that homeowners and designers loved, but didn’t know how to tastefully bring the concept inside. Within the last few years, an emphasis on a relaxed and casual lifestyle, but also a greener organic approach to architecture and design has welcomed the desire to bring outdoor furniture inside. We all love to blur the lines between the indoors and outdoors and what better way than with outdoor furniture inside?

What’s your favorite piece of furniture to bring outside in?

I love wicker resin furniture because it’s durable and also comes in a variety of colors from the lightest of neutrals to deep espresso browns and blacks. When paired with comfortable cushions that you can change seasonally, love seats, sofas and chairs in this versatile and casual material is by far my favorite.

Do you have any tips for our readers? I imagine you don’t want to bring EVERYTHING in!  

Great point! I think scale is a big component of choosing what furniture fits well inside and what should remain outside. Large tables and sectional sofas that use up a lot of space outside may swallow up a room visually inside. Also, any type of furniture that swings, such as porch swings, rocking chairs and even gliders do better outside as they could damage interior walls and surrounding decor inside.

2015 is coming up quick. What interior design/outdoor living trend do you see coming in style?

I love how designers are recreating the entire outdoor room with elements from the interiors and vice versa. For example, using hanging casual chandeliers and all-weather throw rugs outside, but then bringing large potted plants inside to mimic the outdoors is lovely. In 2015, I think we will see more creativity in how homeowners continue to bring the best of both worlds together.

Favorite outdoor furniture piece?

My favorite outdoor furniture is a porch bed swing. My neighbor used to have one that me and my daughter enjoyed lying on, but after we moved we never recreated one at our house. It is still on my very long “to-do-wish-list”!

Now that Ronique has given us some great advice on the do’s and dont’s of using outdoor furniture inside, visit fifthroom.com to get started on shopping for the perfect wicker furniture to bring into your home!