Home and garden magazines, catalogues and television shows are all pushing a hot “new” trend: expanding the home through the creation of outdoor rooms.

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello illustrates the ultimate in outdoor living space, which comprises nearly half the square footage of the estate’s interior main floor.

Two long terraces extend from each side of the house, offering views of the surrounding countryside which Jefferson’s granddaughter Ellen said were “sublime,” according to a new book, “Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello” by William Beiswanger (University of North Carolina Press, $45).

Jefferson’s own private living quarters has three separate outdoor rooms.

Folding glass doors open into two porches enclosed on all sides with Venetian-style louvers. Another set of doors open into a middle loggia that connects the porches and is enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass windows with sashes that can be raised to door-level height.

The porticoes at the front and rear of Monticello were also designed as outdoor living spaces.

Jefferson’s original plans called for the placement of benches along the open sides of each porch, in addition to adjustable louvered blinds to be placed between the columns.

Monticello’s design was like none other in America, Britain or Europe, writes Beiswanger, Monticello’s restoration director, and much of that owed to the blending of outdoor and indoor space.