How to bring the inside outside

One of the things I get asked foremost in my designs is a how to bring the inside outside. Sitting outside but making the space feel like an outside lounge is a really desirable option for a lot of people. There is nothing better than on a summers day to be sat outside, in comfort, in a beautifully planted and designed exterior space.

If you’re brave enough, it’s fun to bring little elements of the lounge out into the garden. There are many aspects of the interior which you can translate outdoors. In many of our outside spaces, we have included Wall Art. Taking a popular image and placing in an outdoor campus by hanging it on a vertical space in the garden works a treat every time and is relatively low cost.

You can play with fire in the garden by including a fireplace, either purpose-built or a reclaimed Victorian fireplace at intervals around, works really nicely. Couple that with the mantlepiece and you really have set the stage for the outdoor room.

Furniture is obviously very important. I try and encourage clients to really consider how they wish to use the space, particularly if it is small. I think our automatic notion is to have a table and chairs in the garden, however, if it was a choice of sitting on a soft and comfortable sofa or sitting at the table for a prolonged period of time, I would prefer the ‘sit soft’ option. You could also unite an outdoor room by adding a tiled rug on to the floor. There are many outdoor options available for this but simply a change in paving from black to white, slate to limestone can help to centralise and streamline an area and make it feel like your interior. Play around with ideas, look at your lounge and see how you wish to translate that into your garden. It works, it really does.