How to Design The Perfect Outdoor room

When it comes to creating a great outdoor room, think of your garden as a whole new space to decorate.

1. Install a pergola - A garden without a pergola is like a room without a rug. Square outdoor areas call for vertical interest to break up the landscape and inspire new seating and planting patterns around it. Go for a simple pergola silhouette using rustic timber poles.

2. Add Banquet seating - A built-in banquet will allow more people to be seated in a small area. Not only do they look streamlined, but can act as outdoor storage too.

3. Think like an Architect - Incorporate your garden into the living space to increase your home's liveable square meterage. Maximise indoor-outdoor flow by increasing the width of door openings.

4. Define your colour palette - For harmony, use the same tones, colours and textures to create a theme. So, if you use a bronze finish on furniture, don't go for copper lighting.

5. Style the space - Now, put it together and mix incongruous elements in the little touches: hurricane shades, the right cushions and a pretty tablecloth will give your outdoors the personal stamp – the first thing people notice.

6. Replace wall lights - It's hard to go wrong with a wharf light or lantern that will complement all facades.

7. Gather your pots - Terracotta pots with topiary will add instant structure to your balcony, patio or terrace.

8. Add greenery - Grow climbers on trellises against a wall. To anchor the house plant a low row of hardy trees against a terrace wall. But don't let shrubs grow over the windows; you're the boss, not the bushes.

9. Dissolve the indoor/outdoor divide - The ultimate luxury is a house that erases the barriers between outdoors and in. Roll-away doors disappear into the background so that your home and the garden are connected seamlessly. Bliss!

10. Go monochrome - A one-colour palette creates a serene backdrop and plays up textures in the garden. A dash of black creates instant contrast, calls attention to the garden's green contours and makes everything else pop.

11. Don't spend thousands - Shop around for inspired designs in all-weather rattan, bamboo, timber and metal that would look at home anywhere in the world.

12. Get a fire pit - Installing fire pit, or fireplace, is a lure because it creates warmth and light. It scores extra points because of the hypnotic quality of flame and crackling wood.

13. Embrace symmetry - Balance, such as a row of shrubs, is visually soothing. Plants in rows against a wall of the house make outdoor spaces feel deliberate and restful.

SOURCE: homebeautiful