Your Private Rooftop Terrace: Making the Most of Outdoor Living at Zen Towns

Every Zen Towns townhome includes a private rooftop terrace with gas BBQ connection. Unlike shared rooftop amenities where you compete for space and follow condo rules, this terrace is yours alone – a blank canvas for outdoor living just steps from your living room.

But how do you transform this space into something you’ll actually use, without investing thousands in furniture you can’t take with you? Here’s a practical guide for making your terrace work through all four seasons, plus how to take advantage of current resident perks.

Start with Your $2,000 Advantage

New residents signing 12-month leases qualify for a $2,000 furniture credit at The Brick. This isn’t just a discount – it’s your terrace transformation fund. The Brick’s outdoor collection includes everything needed for a complete terrace setup: weather-resistant seating, dining sets, shade umbrellas, and heating solutions.

Smart Choices for Renters Using This Credit:

• Modular seating you can reconfigure and eventually move
• Portable fire tables that don’t require installation
• Folding furniture for flexible layouts and easy storage
• All-weather wicker that looks expensive but weighs little

Your $2,000 goes further than you’d expect when you skip permanent installations and focus on portable comfort.

Shopping Local: Beyond The Brick

While your furniture credit covers The Brick, Cambridge-Kitchener offers several outdoor furniture options worth exploring for accent pieces or future upgrades:

Nearby in Cambridge:

• Urban Barn (60 Pinebush Road): Modern designs, 8-minute drive. Known for stylish accent pieces and outdoor cushions that refresh your look seasonally.
• Dot Furniture (28 Pinebush Road): Same plaza as Urban Barn. Good for both indoor and outdoor pieces if you’re furnishing your entire townhome.

Worth the Drive:

• The Patio Place (Cambridge): Specializes in Canadian-made recycled poly furniture. These pieces are heavy enough to stay put in wind and come with long warranties – ideal if you plan to stay multiple years.
• Hauser (330 Weber Street North, Waterloo): Higher-end Canadian-made options. Their factory showroom offers custom orders if you want something specific.

Canadian Tire at Cambridge Centre (7-minute walk) covers basics like planters, cushions, and BBQ accessories without requiring a car trip.

Understanding Your Terrace Environment

Your rooftop sits above Cambridge’s prevailing west winds, which peak from October through April. Instead of fighting this with complicated windscreens, work with it:

• Position your main seating area on the eastern side of your terrace
• Place taller items – planters, privacy screens, your BBQ setup – on the western edge as a buffer

This simple arrangement means your dining area stays comfortable on breezy evenings, and your BBQ smoke blows away from where guests gather.

BBQ Season Starts Now

Your terrace comes equipped with a gas connection specifically for BBQ use – yes, it’s allowed and encouraged. No propane tanks to haul through the building. No running out of fuel mid-steak. Just connect a natural gas BBQ and you’re ready for four-season grilling.

Natural gas BBQs are available at:

• The Brick (making good use of that credit)
• Canadian Tire at Cambridge Centre
• Home Depot

The connection is standard fitting – any natural gas grill will work. Professional management by JD Properties can confirm the specifics of your terrace’s connection if needed.

Container Gardening for Renters

You don’t need permanent planters to create a garden. Lightweight resin containers from Canadian Tire or Walmart work perfectly and move with you later. Focus on easy-win plants that survive Cambridge’s Zone 5b climate in containers:

No-Fail Choices:

• Cherry tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets: fresh produce all summer
• Herbs in window boxes: basil, mint, chives for BBQ season
• Sedums in shallow containers: drought-tolerant, zero maintenance
• Ornamental grasses: instant privacy and movement

Skip expensive soil mixes. Regular potting soil with added perlite from Bulk Barn (12-minute walk) works fine for single-season growing.

Extending Your Season

October through April doesn’t mean terrace closure. A portable propane heater (under $200 at Canadian Tire) extends your outdoor season by months. Position it in your sheltered eastern zone for fall dinner parties or winter stargazing.

String lights create ambiance without installation – command strips or furniture-weighted poles hold them perfectly. Battery-powered LED versions eliminate cord management entirely. Add weather-resistant cushions and throws from Urban Barn or HomeSense at Cambridge Centre, and your terrace becomes a cozy retreat even on cool evenings.

Privacy Without Permanence

Creating privacy doesn’t require installing anything permanent:

• Tall planters with bamboo or grasses create natural screens
• Outdoor curtains on tension rods between existing structures add soft barriers
• Strategic furniture arrangement creates intimate zones without any installation

The Brick and Urban Barn both carry freestanding privacy screens – no mounting required. Your $2,000 credit easily covers these alongside seating.

The Daily Reality

Here’s what terrace life actually looks like at Zen Towns:

Morning

Coffee outside while checking emails, protected from wind in your eastern seating area. The Chaplin Family YMCA is visible just 1 minute away – motivation for that workout.

Afternoon

Weekend BBQ lunch using your gas connection. Farm Boy’s meat counter is a 4-minute walk for last-minute ingredients.

Evening

Drinks around a portable fire table with friends. No rushing to pack up furniture – this is your private space with no shared-amenity time limits.

Year-Round

Your terrace becomes overflow storage (in a deck box), a winter herb garden (cold-hardy varieties), or simply a step-outside retreat when your 1,976 square feet feels too contained.

Making It Happen

Walk to Everything. Escape to Nature. 2 Minutes to Highway 401. Your private rooftop terrace adds another dimension to this lifestyle. It’s not about creating a magazine-perfect space – it’s about having outdoor square footage that’s genuinely yours in a rental market where private outdoor space is increasingly rare.

Ready to see these terraces yourself? Book your private tour to check out the gas connections, test the wind patterns, and visualize your own setup. Bring your tape measure – knowing exact dimensions helps you shop smarter with that $2,000 Brick credit.

Current pricing and floor plans showing terrace access can be found on our floorplans page.

Some rentals offer shared rooftops. Yours is private, gas-connected, and ready for your personal touch.

The $2,000 furniture credit at The Brick is available for new residents signing 12-month leases. Visit our current promotions for full details and terms.