Good garden design transforms your outdoor space into a place that’s not only beautiful, but useful too. The “outdoor room” concept encourages you to view each part of your garden as places where various activities occur. For example, there will be play areas, entertainment areas, utility areas, and places to relax on your own.
Form follows function, so once you know what type of outdoor rooms you want to create, you can choose the right soft and hard landscaping elements to make it all happen. Use these tips to perfect your efforts.
Never Underestimate The Importance of Furnishings
High end outdoor furniture is worth buying. There are cheaper options, but they look tacky, don’t last, or both! Remember that your garden is a place where you, your family, and your guests will relax on summer days, so devote a little extra attention to your outdoor entertainment, recreation, and relaxation areas. Loungers, chairs, and tables should all harmonize with the atmosphere you’re trying to create.
Use Plants as “Walls,” “Ceilings,” and “Frames”
Dividing up the space you have into outdoor rooms that each have their own function and design means separating one area from another at least, to a certain degree. For example, you don’t want your guests enjoying a view of your utility area with its bins and washing lines!
Your “soft” landscaping consists of plants, and they can be used to define the scale of each outdoor room, as well as providing cool, shady areas to chill out. The branches of trees become “ceilings” and mixed plantings or hedges help to screen off each room from its neighbor.
By doing this, you can transform a walk through your garden into an adventure in which each twist and turn opens up new experiences. But don’t forget to take advantage of views, both within your garden and beyond it. Frame them like masterworks by creating openings in your plantings that frame each view or direct the eye towards focal points.
Create Some Private Corners for Reflection
When we think about our outdoor spaces, we often think of their utility for guests, kids, pets, and necessary outdoor service areas – but don’t forget yourself! Consider how lovely it will be to take a good book into a quiet corner, or enjoy your morning meditation in outdoor peace.
Spaces like these are small, intimate, and personal, and may include special details that have significance to you. What will they be? The choices are yours – and when visitors explore, they will love the secret grottoes of greenery that you’ve created too.
Make Miniature Versions of the Natural Features You Love Best
Cater to your spirit of adventure! A small water feature framed with ferns becomes your secret waterfall in miniature. A grouping of trees becomes a mini forest, and a rockery becomes a model of your favorite mountains complete with vegetation. Your garden is your world, so incorporate elements of the wider world you love best. Use them as focal points, as divisions or transitions between spaces, or as a pleasant background for relaxing and socializing.
Design is Purposeful: Enjoy the Results
While everyone’s talking about kitchens, bathrooms,lounges, and bedrooms, the potential to take your living space outdoors is often overlooked. Your garden is so much more than a place for your pool, your dogs, your kids, and the garbage bins. Turn it into an extension of your home and enjoy the results!