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Getting ready for spring – outdoor living spaces

Creating an outdoor living area that meets your ideas of comfort and relaxation is a worthwhile investment, not just for your current enjoyment, but because getting everything right from the beginning means you don’t waste time and money on ideas that turn out to be impractical.

1. Use a notepad to jot down ideas about how the space will be used in all of its applications, from entertaining to relaxing – think about pets and children, winter and summer, what happens when you go on holiday?
2. It's important to have an understanding of a home's architectural style when creating an outdoor room so that the outdoor space accentuates the home's indoor spaces – you don’t want a Spanish loggia on a Tudor house, or a gothic veranda on a bungalow.
3. Consider heat and food - the key elements in every well-designed outdoor room. Position a fireplace as the focal-point, or set up a chiminea, and then blend in barbecue areas, or a grill, eating and seating areas and play space for children
4. The best way to achieve the desired end result is to sketch out a plan.
5. Use landscaping as an accessory because carefully placed trees and shrubs can add important texture and appeal to an outdoor room. Select plants that change with the season, offering different colours, blooms or scents depending on the time of year. Don’t put insect attracting plants too close to the eating areas as you’ll have wasps and bees for dinner companions.
6. Select comfortable patio furniture that invites people to settle in for an extended period. In addition to tables and chairs for the eating area, consider couches, side tables and big bean bags that can be used outdoors. A hammock area or swing seat gives added fun.
7. To extend the amount of time spent outdoors, consider lighting for pathways, around pools, or to accentuate landscaping.

Garden room photograph by li'l bear, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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