Inside: Five design tips for making your outdoor space the ultimate social destination. Collaborative post.
Our gardens are multi-functional areas of our home in their very nature. They’re a place to add a bit of natural beauty, a place to relax and get some fresh air. They can even be a place to hang out your washing to dry. Of course, during the summer months especially, they can be a great place for socialising too.
Many of us like to tailor our gardens for more social functioning and to do that you need to consider a variety of different elements, from the pathways to the various aspects of socialising you want to get involved in.
So, with the summer months on their way, here are five design tips for transforming your outdoor space into the ultimate social destination…
Define Functional Zones
First and foremost you need to make a plan for the space and understand the types of social occasion you wish to host.
If you’re planning on hosting dinner parties, then the focal point of the area should be a dining table, while you may want to create space for an outdoor kitchen. If the main goal is to sit around chatting with a few drinks, more of a lounge space may be required.
In fact, a good idea can be to create different zones within your garden for different things, with a layout and design making it easy to get between each. Consider landscaping and utilising pathways to get people from A to B. Porcelain paving is a clean, classy and moden tile that is perfect for social spaces, while transitioning naturally through green spaces to other areas of the garden with different functions.
Invest in Comfortable Seating
If you want people to come and stay over a few hours, creating a welcoming and inviting atmosphere is important and a big part of that is the furniture you invest in. There are many places where you can invest in top-quality garden furniture these days and you need to look for items that are sturdy, can withstand exposure to the elements but, importantly, offer comfort. Cushioned sofas, armchairs and ottomans can be really comfortable. Picking up a collection of plastic garden chairs simply isn’t conducive to longer periods of socialising.
Enhance with Ambient Lighting
Nothing beats socialising as the sun goes down, transforming your garden from a sun lounging destination to one that’s warm and cosy. Ambient lighting can play a big part in the latter, transforming the space.
Soft lighting can really add to the mood, while it’s also functional in getting people around the garden and avoiding any trip hazards. The likes of festoon lighting, lanterns or fairy lights can be really useful for this, many of which you can get on a timer and powered through solar panels these days.
Integrate Natural Elements
Of course, you’re in the garden, so you should enhance it with natural beauty too. You can bring greenery, plants and flowers into the social spaces and provide life to your socialising areas.
Plants will make it a more inviting space, while the likes of vertical gardens and trellises will mask fences and really immerse you in nature.
Personalise with Accessories and Decor
Finally, add a touch of you to the space. Decorate your social areas with accessories and colours that reflect your own style and interests. This can be things like outdoor rugs, cushions and blankets, or the likes of sculptures and decorative screens.
They create focal points in the space as well as giving the outdoors a more homely feel, where you really can spend hours upon hours.