There is something inherently enjoyable about eating, drinking, and just being outdoors during the summertime. The sunshine suggests magical stretches of time — those elusive afternoons when lunch includes three hours, two bottles of wine, and one nap to follow.

For people living in urban areas, outdoor space is alluring because there’s so little of it for private use. Even penthouse apartments with garden terraces feel more compact than a home of the same square footage in the country.

But suburban homeowners with acres of yard still feel the need to build giant decks, wide patios, shaded gazebos, and outdoor spaces of all kinds in which to enjoy the fresh air. “People are spending more time creating outdoor rooms and outdoor kitchens,” the editor in chief of Elle Décor, Margaret Russell, said. “It’s a way of stretching the space you have.”

On the cover of the June issue of Elle Décor are three little words that can make anyone stop and swoon: “The Good Life.” What does that include? The cover lines — “Sunny Spaces,” “Be Carefree!” — give some hints. But nothing quite makes the case for pleasure like the photo: In the middle of a wooden deck is a six-sided wooden table, set for four, with a wooden canopy overhead and tall, green foliage all around providing shade. Melons, flowers, candles, and two bottles of wine are poised for a casual dinner party. It’s a scene that looks too good to be true.

“The reason I put it on the cover is that I sort of wanted to sit at that table and have a glass of rosé,” Ms. Russell said. “You get the feeling that something fun is going to happen.”

That can be a rare feeling in these busy days, and that’s what the cover photograph, shot by Roger Davies, captures: free time in a beautiful private space. It is part of the Long Island weekend home of Kevin Carrigan and Tim Furzer. Their 1920s Cape Cod-style cottage is photographed in the magazine, and the interior is quite formal compared with the outdoor space. The kitchen and living room are modernist and white, dotted with simple pieces of furniture. The pool area is surrounded by lush trees and bushes, as is the deck. “The rooms were well-scaled and formal,” Ms. Russell said. “When they redid the pool deck, they added this small outdoor room.”

Enjoying summer also suggests a way of connecting with that one thing no one ever has enough of: free time. In a world where most of us work indoors, spending time outdoors suggests that there’s nothing to do but enjoy. It connects with that old feeling — seemingly lost on today’s children — that if you go outside and play, you’ll have a good time before you know it. True, cell phones and BlackBerrys function outdoors, but working on a computer under the open sky is harder — as it should be.

For urban dwellers, the idea that outdoor space is reserved for good times and relaxation is used as a marketing tool — and can be the justification for charging a premium. On the Upper East Side, the OC61 Salon provides outdoor manicures and pedicures on the terrace of the salon’s duplex brownstone. For 90 minutes (and $80), you can enjoy milk and honey soaks, exfoliation, and hot towel treatments in the sun.

Outdoor bars certainly know they’ve got a good thing going. The bar atop 230 Fifth Avenue has a line longer than the one in front of the Empire State Building. At Rare View, atop the Shelburne Hotel in Murray Hill, a mixed drink costs $15, but, inexplicably, the choice of what drink you can have is limited. When I asked for a Mai Tai, I was handed a menu and told that I could only have what was on it. (I settled for a Watermelon Breeze, but how hard can it be to make a classic cocktail?)

That’s all part of what makes having your own outdoor space so special. There are no lines or velvet ropes. If you want to make a Mai Tai, you buy the rum. You design the look, the feel, the drinks, the food. The same is true indoors, but being outdoors raises even more choices. It suggests time you can spend as you like — with people you want to, rather than have to, see.

pcatton@nysun.com