Five tricks to help you transform your garden into an outdoor room

News at Dafydd Hardy | 02/05/2016


Even tiny gardens can be transformed into beautiful 'outdoor rooms' that are a pleasure to relax in day and night. And if you have a large garden, a small part could be sectioned off to create an area bursting with colour, texture and light that will provide a beautiful seating and dining area for warmer evenings.

1. Lighting

Clever lighting creates wonderful ambience. Solar lighting, outdoor candles and lanterns can really help transform a garden into an 'outdoor room'. Try strings of fairy lights along fences, a few lanterns hanging from brackets, mini 'lamp posts' planted among colourful shrubs, and spotlights to draw attention to architectural features - this will help transform dreams of an alfresco dining or evening relaxation area into an affordable reality.

 

 

2. Planting

Aim for colour during the day and fragrance both day and night - roses, lavender, honeysuckle and night scented stock work well together. As you're creating an 'outdoor room' rather than a full-sized garden, consider planting in pots instead of direct into the ground; pots in a variety of colours, sizes and textures add visual interest and have the advantage of being movable, so you can reposition plants if they don't look right in a certain spot.

 

 

 

3. Paintwork

Ronseal and Cuprinol both make paint for garden timber in stunning colours, so try sprucing up your shed, decking, furniture, trellises and other outdoor timbers with a touch of colour. Will you follow a theme with just two or three subtle shades, or go for an all-out colour explosion? For inspiration, take a look at Cuprinol's Facebook page.

 

4. Landscaping and ornamentation

Walls, fences, steps and decking can make a great statement in a garden, and help create the feeling of it being a 'room' rather than just a patch of land. Think about the style of your outdoor room compared to the style of your property; will the look and feel be similar, or would you like to make a statement by going for a completely different style? A Portmeirion-inspired 'room' with natural resources like stone and water coupled with bright colours and quirky statues, or a Japanese-themed garden with shingle, statement planting and a minimalist feel? You decide!

5. Garden buildings

If you have the space and the budget for a garden building, it can be a really great investment as a place to shelter from inclement weather and for making your property more attractive to potential buyers. If space is tight, how about a building that serves multiple purposes, like a greenhouse/potting shed/summer room/garden tool store? With a bit of imagination this is perfectly possible, and offers somewhere snug and beautiful to eat breakfast on damp Sunday mornings without getting soaked!