The past year has seen a huge shift in outdoor living. With many of us finding ourselves craving more space, a change of scenery or simply enjoying spending more time outdoors, it’s time to get ready for summer!
Live life outside with some of our favourite outdoor living trends below…
Utilise the space in your garden and consider a garden office, which can also increase the value of your home.
Garden office
Thanks to ‘the new normal’ bringing working from home to our working week, it’s no surprise that garden offices are rapidly rising in popularity. Ideal for those short on space inside the home or those pining for a completely separate space to call ‘work’, they’re fast replacing the conservatory in the popularity stakes, thanks to being more flexible in design and often easier to install.
Plus, with recent reports showing a home office can increase the value of your home by 10%, it’s worth considering utilising the space within your garden.
Take design cues from biophilic design and think natural-look materials along with lots of light and ventilation.
Add bifold doors at the front of your garden room to enjoy lovely views of your garden whilst being able to shelter from the elements.
Garden room
Extend your home with a garden room! Consider an additional room within your garden, perfect if you are unable to extend your home.
A garden room can be a flexible space that can double up to whatever you need it to be. Whether it be an annexe ideal for visitors, a gym, a home for your hobbies, or just a place to ‘be’, garden rooms can easily be multifunctional.
Consider including bifold doors at the front, enabling lovely views of your garden whilst being able to shelter from the elements.
Summer house
Enjoy the sunshine with a summer house. Perfectly suited to countryside abodes, there is nothing more quintessentially British than a quaint summerhouse in the garden.
Ideal to enjoy morning coffee or afternoon tea, a summerhouse provides the ideal escape to get outside and enjoy the most of the warmer weather. Plus, unlike a garden room or office, a summer house doesn’t necessarily need plumbing, electricity, heating or Wi-Fi, making the structure much cheaper to install and offering a peaceful escape away from technology.
Opt for hues of green to blend in with the surrounding scenery or go for natural wood tones or pretty pastels to make your summer house a feature piece within your garden.
Pergolas, arbours or pavilions offer both shade and privacy and look beautiful atop a decked area.
Open structure
If you would like something a little less significant than a garden room, a garden structure to offer both shade and privacy is an ideal middle ground. Make it a beautiful feature and sprinkle it with colour from beautiful climbing roses, clematis or wooded vines.
Pergolas, arbours or pavilions offer both options, and look beautiful atop a decked area, providing an ideal entertaining space during long summer nights. Plus, if you enjoy DIY, there are kits on the market to build your own.
Vertical planting brings colour and impact to urban gardens that are short on space.
Living walls and vertical planting
Bring colour and impact to an unassuming area with living walls and vertical planting; wonderful for urban gardens that are short on space.
Vertical planting can be as simple or as intricate as you like, for an easy solution think hanging ornamental pots attached to fences or walls. You can get really creative with this with items that can be attached along a fence or wall.
Painted tin cans offer a rustic appeal, go quirky with small colourful watering cans or traditional with clay pots, the options are endless. You could even go for a mini living wall with a wooden tray filled with trendy succulents. Alternatively, if you would prefer something more straightforward, climbing plants are another option.
If you would like more of a challenge, living walls offer the wow factor by the bucketload. Gardeners World have a brilliant step by step guide to creating a fully functional living wall, complete with an irrigation system. They are an art form in themselves and have the benefit of requiring relatively little maintenance.
Whatever option you choose, Millboard decking provides the perfect accompaniment to any garden scheme, take a look at some of our recent projects, here.
