Any good estate agent will now tell you that potential buyers now view your garden as another room in your house. Gone are the days of folding chairs and plastic pools, today’s modern gardens feature sofas and chairs covered in beautiful weather-resistant fabrics, bars and dedicated outdoor dining areas.

A huge trend is to create several ‘living areas’ or rooms in your garden, each one distinct in its purpose and design. More and more people are zoning their gardens and asking interior designers to blend traditional landscaping with furniture, fabrics and decorations until recently, only seen indoors.

This has lead to a surge in beautiful outdoor furniture, which can be left outside to brave the vagaries of English weather, but are available to instantly take advantage of our sometimes intermittent but glorious sunshine. Vincent Sheppard is a Belgian furniture company, highly regarded for their original, creative collections and distinctive designs. Even if the flowers won’t bloom, you can bring added colour to your garden with carefully selected light-fast fabrics, designed to remain bright and cheery in strong sunshine.

More and more our outdoor spaces are being designed for entertaining. Large, comfortable, and durable rattan sofas, littered with jewel-bright cushions, mean you and your friends can relax and watch the summer sun go down in comfort. Or huge outdoor dining tables mean you can entertain more friends and bring a touch of elegance to a summer barbeque.

More and more of us are bringing the outside inside with bespoke conservatories, but managing light and heat, even on dull days, can be an issue. Consider fitting pinoleum roof blinds, made from thin strips of wood, they create a beautiful dappled light and the wood absorbs the heat of the sun. Alternatively, you can have UV-resistant film applied, which will absorb the sun’s harmful UV rays, protecting not only your skin but also delicate fabrics and furniture. If you’re unsure, then give your friendly interior designer a call for some advice.

For more information, contact:

Ian Kay, Interior Designer

No.16 Interiors

01636 610677

The pic above is from www.myurbangardendecoguide.com