The garden is more than a pretty face. It’s an extension of your home, and aesthetic beauty is only scratching the surface of what you could do with this massive additional space at the back or front of your property. The key to making your outdoor area homely and relaxing, whatever the time of year, is to first think about what makes the indoor area of your home so comforting and personal. Once you’ve done that, the task of tackling your garden and turning it into another room of your home won’t seem quite so daunting.
Of course, talking about where to begin and actually doing it are two very different things. Redesigning the interior of your home might merely require a lick of paint, replacing an old furnishing or simply giving everything in the kitchen a clean. Nature, on the other hand, is wild and untamed. A sponge can’t clean the outdoor world to make it look new and shiny like the cover to your oven. You need to figure out how to use creativity and practicality to make your garden feel welcoming and homely, which is exactly what I’m going to help you to do with some simple and straightforward steps in this article.
Flowers and plants.
This is an obvious place to start, of course. Just ensure you’ve planned a layout for the overall garden. If you’re dotting flowerbeds around the entire outer perimeter of the garden, plan out where the footpath will go, if you want a footpath. Leave a sensible amount of space for a patio area, if you want a patio area. You don’t need to get stuck in with the big tasks first, but it’s important that you don’t plant a flowerbed in a place where you might later want a fountain. That’s why it helps to work from the outside in and create a pretty perimeter of gorgeous and vividly-colored flowers. It brightens up a drab garden and motivates you to get cracking with the rest of the task at hand.
Manmade structures aren’t so bad.
For some people, planting a few flowers or perhaps even some trees is the limit of the renovation work they’d like to carry out on their garden. If that’s the case and you feel perfectly happy when you look at your garden, then you’re done after step one and you probably didn’t need this article. Of course, for some people, not everything in the garden has to be entirely “natural” for it to look pretty. Some paved stones, granted these are suitable for walking, could create a “forest trail” feel to even the smallest garden space.
I’m of the opinion that a tactically-placed manmade structure can really enhance the beauty of an outdoor space. A fountain in the center of the garden, for example, draws the attention to a focal point, whilst the colourful flowers at the outer edges of the vision add a little spark to the scene. Companies such as Great Aussie Patios have a number of patio designs if you’re struggling for a place to begin. The key to making your garden a pleasant and “homely” place to relax is to take some indoor creature comforts, such as soft chairs, blankets and maybe a table, and giving them an outdoor platform. From there, you can look out on your majestic garden.
Don’t stamp too heavily on nature.
Pruning is the key to a successful garden. You shouldn’t be hacking away at the aesthetically-pleasing natural resources in your outdoor space, but simply trimming them back to keep everything neat and tidy. Hacking away at bushes, for example, will only prompt nature to grow back more wildly the next time.
I have to admit Nick has gotten a greener thumb than me since he seems to charms our plants and garden to flourish but I do have plans for our indoor plants and their pots. I see a DIY in my future, lol!
