Lexington Lounge Set from Brookside Patio Furniture
Traditional ideas of interior design stop at the walls of the building. Gardens and interiors are, after all, quite different, or so we thought. Recent trends are extending the realm of interior design, with joint projects between interiors specialists and garden designers becoming more common. The goal is to produce outdoor spaces which complement their owners sense of style as well as providing useful, usable space. So why the change?
From the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans living areas were planned around a courtyard space and not only in Mediterranean nations. With modern trends towards smaller rooms and interior spaces, outdoors may be the only space large enough for practical entertaining. Advances in materials science have made it possible to buy weather resistant furniture and fabrics, so while some areas of the garden continue to use the traditional garden bench or statue as a focal point, others can be planned to contain furniture of all kinds, from the relatively common dining table and chairs to a full outdoor media room. With a little effort any back yard can be planned to provide a beautiful setting to eat and play as well as relax and unwind. With patio heaters and electric fans there’s no need to feel quite so restricted by the weather, so how do you plan an outdoor room?
Most schemes begin with an outdoor eating area which needs to be close to the house. Noone wants to carry plates of food a great distance, and level changes are to be avoided. Put your eating area close to your kitchen door and surround it with fragrant plants, either in flower beds around your patio or planted in pots. Most fragrant plants work well as insect repellants; catnip, citronella grass, rosemary and marigolds are particularly good at repelling mosquitos. Lavender comes in a variety of sizes and colors, and creates a fragrance which seems to go very well with food. Since adults like to spend time at the table, plan the space so you can supervise children using any outdoor play areas such as a pool, trampoline, swings or climbing frame. If you enjoy entertaining think carefully before you buy your patio table and chairs. Are your guests mostly couples, or couples with families? If the latter a six person table may not be big enough unless you plan two areas, one for adults and one for kids.
If you have a lovely deck or patio this is the carpet for you outdoor room, 
but if not there are many weather resistant outdoor rugs which can be used to cover concrete. If you are having a patio or deck built, don’t forget electricity. Apropriate lighting can turn a lovely outdoor room into a magical one after the sun has gone down. For best results, think about your color scheme. An outdoor area filled with random pots and color will have an eclectic appeal, but one where outdoor rugs, chair cushions, umbrellas, plant pots, place mats and accessories are all chosen to coordinate will create a designer look. Stone pots with brown and grey seem somehow traditional, but deep blue schemes are my personal favorite, using glazed blue pots of different heights and umbrellas with contrasting yellows or turquoise as accents. If you prefer a more modern look, matte black or Chrome pots filled with topiary balls and grasses will give you the right ambience along with a dark sofa and chairs. Resin patio furniture is very versatile. In white it creates a country cottage feel, ideal for an English country garden of hollyhocks and roses while in darker colors it looks at home in a far more modern scheme.
If you have ugly fences, feel free to cover them. Bamboo screening can camouflage the inside, or choose fast growing climbing plants. Hops will cover a fence in a season as long as they are well watered, and the variegated varieties are very decorative with splashes of white on large green leaves. Though they may take a few years to produce flowers ,they’ll repay your patience by attracting butterflies to your outdoor living room.
Every outdoor space needs some sort of covering to provide shade from the sun and cover from the rain. You may choose to bring this indoors in winter, in which case choose from free standing tents or umbrellas. A pergola covered with fragrant plants (my favorite is honeysuckle) can make a lovely canopy for a dining table, in summer the stems may well be so dense no rain can penetrate and you can grow these climbers in pots, as long as you remember to feed and water them! Where the soil is right wisteria and honeysuckle make a beautiful mix. The large showy flowers of the wisteria compensating for the tiny blooms characteristic of fragrant honeysuckles and since wisteria comes in a range of unusual colors, this gives you even more opportunity to play with the color scheme of you outdoor room.
Where once it was difficult to find a suitably weatherproof table and chairs for the occasional outdoor picnic, weatherproof sofas, easy chairs and coffee tables now allow us to create a second living room and more, outside. Add some paving, lighting and an easily installed fountain and the result is an area of tranquility ideal for work, relaxation or play; an outdoor extension for your home.
Lesley C. is a guest writer for www.brooksidepatiofurniture.com, which is an e-commerce store that specializes in outdoor wicker patio furniture.