The garden isn’t always about luscious lawns, perfect planting or overflowing patio pots - today’s interiors companies have gotten wise to our biggest room - and even if we only use it half the year - the garden is the perfect place to accessorise especially for those of us looking for instant colour, light or texture without the green fingers or muddy hands....Devon Life Interiors Editor CAROL BURNS explains how
Colour up
It’s true that most of your garden’s colour will probably come from the flower beds - for some colour schemes are important, for others a riot of colour where you can free yourself from the restraints of interiors colour schemes.
But painting pots, fences, summer houses and even adding outdoor art is a great way to add colour to your garden. There are some great outdoor paints out there, which can spruce up cheap terrracotta pots filled with herbs for your patio or deck really easily. Consider painting vegetable crates in vibrant hues and you can even create a feature wall outside using a stunning yellow or even terrecotta pink.
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Light it up
Gardens are great places when the sun goes down. Whether entertaining or curled up with a glass of wine, your garden can come alive with lighting.
Whether simple solar panel fairylights twinking in your trees - deck lights, candles flickering on your walls or a chandelier (Yes, you read that right) hanging overhead, you can extend the use of your garden well into the night.
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Furniture
Ditch the dull stuff and invest in fun seating that is comfortable and versitile.
Consider how you use your garden and create different seating areas, as you would do in your home. Afterall you don’t spent all you tine at your dining table or on the sofa. Have low relaxed seating areas, as well as dining areas. Consider the posiition of the sun at different times of the day. Of course you will have to think about where to store it all - although I’m rather a fan of garden furniture built to withstand the weather all-year-round - as you never know when the sun will shine in this part of the world.
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Accessorise
There was a time when adding deorative accessories to your garden simply meant deciding where to put the garden gnomes.
And although these long time garden dwellers have gone out of style for most, there are an incredible number of accessories to chose from for today’s garden. I’m a huge fan of outdoor rugs. These vibrant floor colourings add a real touch of bare feet luxury to a seating area, especially coupled with some supremely comfy seating. Next up are fantastic outdoor mirrors. These clever little objets create intereston blank walls, reflect the sun rather dramatically or can add a sense of the secret garden in darker areas. And finally water features - these handy accessories look great, give the local wildlife somewhere to quench their thirst - and are great at drowning out any unwelcome noises in your garden.
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