It’s the time of year when the weather warms up and we start to look forward to spending more time outside in our gardens. Did you know that Create Perfect offers garden design services?
Time to get inspired and think about sprucing up your space to create an outdoor room. By outdoor room I mean creating the perfect garden living space that isn’t contained within four walls allowing you a comfortable space to enjoy eating, relaxing and entertaining outdoors. Here’s my tips for 5 essentials to create the perfect outdoor room.
1. Structure
The starting point for all rooms. Lets take a look at the space you have to work with and how to transform from a simple garden area to an outdoor room. Most gardens have a patio area made of decking or tiled with stone, cement or just laid out with a layer of gravel. This immediately defines the area that you have to work with - a solid surface to support all the elements such as seating and tables that you need to create your outdoor room.
In the UK we are used to having open patios because the weather is usually not so hot that we need permanent shade. However in warmer countries it’s more common to see roofs or structures such as pergolas covering patios to create an instant outdoor room.
Image credit: Lights4fun.co.uk
A pergola is something that is definitely on my wishlist for the perfect garden. It really defines a space and provides a structure to decorate your outdoor room grow climbing plants. It is also great for hanging lights, planters and decorations.
Some patios are located away from the main house in order to make the most of a spot that receives the most sunlight. Without the supporting walls of the house it can be harder to define the space for your outdoor room. These planters from cuckoo land are a great way to define your outdoor room area without having to embark on any building projects. They add height and come in corner or flat versions (with or without bench seating) to create a screen for privacy, windbreak and have an attractive planter.
Rawlinson garden planter and screen corner set available from cuckooland.com
2. Seating
Whether it is designed for dining or eating, your choice of seating is a very important factor in your garden room design. In a previous blog I wrote about how much I hate brown plastic rattan garden furniture. I still do and not least because there are so many better choices of sustainable garden furniture out there.
The St Ives outdoor furniture collection from John Lewis and Partners made from FSC certified eucalyptus wood
It really breaks my heart to see garden centres filled with this bland plastic furniture. Whether your style is traditional or modern when you start your research you'll discover there is so much better looking furniture to be found out there.
For example this real rattan sofa which is so beautiful. Rattan is a fast growing sustainable material that recently seen a surge in popularity recently with much choice of beautifully crafted rattan furniture available.
Sara Rattan Sofa by Woood available from Cuckooland.com
Speaking of sustainable the palette sofa is making a comeback in outdoor rooms all over instagram at the moment. Keep an eye out for this trend!
Frame woven garden chair in olive green by Wood available from cuckooland.com
To create the perfect outdoor room your garden furniture should create a focus to your room. Centre the pieces around a table or a fire pit for entertaining. Think about the flow of the space and try to keep a free path for traffic between the entry to the house.
Macrame Hanging Chair from Dobbies.com
Have fun with garden seating and create spaces that you would have indoors. I've always dreamed of having a beautiful swinging chair like this one in my dream garden room
3. Lighting
Adding lighting to your garden room allows you to make the most of your space to entertain outdoors after dark.
I love this outdoor light which makes a a great impact by mixing a play with scale and bringing the angle poise lamp, a familiar indoor object, outside.
Anglepoise original 1227 giant outdoor wall mounted lamp available from nest.co.uk
Make a design feature of your lighting by using it at different heights. Plain bulbs on a string create a bright glow. Alternatively choose some more decorative lights overhead - colourful shades, different shapes or coloured bulbs create a fun feature and can match in with other elements of the decor theme.
Coloured bulb lights from lights4fun.co.uk
Mixing different sizes of lights in the same colours together creates a lovely glow in your garden. Strings of fairy lights, white paper lanterns, led candles and glass lanterns all giving off a warm glow look lovely together.
Paper lanterns and fairy lights from lights4fun.co.uk
At floor level place large lanterns in corners or use solar lights in planters to add an atmospheric glow.
Garden lights from lights4fun.co.uk
Use votives and small lanterns to light up a dining table.
Amber honeycomb tealight holder from rexlondon.com
4. Planters
Container gardening is a lovely way to add colour to your garden in the height of summer. As well as this containers also help to shape the space of your garden room.
Dipped Rim Planters available from coxandcox.co.uk
Use varied sizes of planters such as large floor level planters to define space and small plant pots as table centrepieces. Check that your pots are frost proof if you want to leave them outside all year long.
Add height to draw the eye level up with climbing plants trailing up walls or use a living wall planter.
Living Wall available from Dobbies.com
In addition to their colour, roses, jasmine, honeysuckle and wisteria all give off a beautiful scent in the evening. Fix containers to the walls or use hanging baskets to create beautiful floral displays.
5. Decor
Finally once you have built your space add some finishing touches with textiles, accessories and tableware.
We're always talking about bringing the outdoors in with plants, however the trick of the perfect garden room is to bring the indoors out. Outdoor rugs are great way to do this. A feature normally only seen indoors but one that brings a lot of colour to your outdoor space
Image credit: Next.co.uk SS19 outdoor collection
Add comfort and style by plumping up your garden sofas with some outdoor cushions. You can also use throws but remember to bring them indoors at the end of the day.
Indoor outdoor piped cushions from coxandcox.co.uk
Finally there are some beautiful ranges of alfresco tableware in the stores so create a a bold tablescape that sets the scene for afternoon of entertaining.
Talking tables coastal outdoor entertaining set
If you're thinking of sprucing up your outdoor area so you can really relax and enjoy your garden or need advice on any aspect of garden design, outdoor landscaping or garden styling contact Gina and find out more about the Create Perfect garden design service.
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