A couple of folding loungers and a parasol are no longer enough to turn a garden into an outdoor living room. Increasingly, we are decorating outdoors in much the same way that we do indoors, introducing fabrics, lighting, cushions, day beds, and even open-air fireplaces.
Interior designer Sera Hersham Loftus has a bohemian approach to outdoor living. “I’ve built a fireplace in the patio at the back of my house,” she explains. “We use the garden like any other room — with jumpers on in the winter. In the summer we cook and eat out there.” Just like the rooms inside her north London home, Hersham Loftus’s garden room features gilded chairs upholstered in tapestry, her signature corset-shaped lampshades, and swathes of antique lace draped like curtains. To update this year, she painted the entire back wall of the house a fashionable chocolate brown.
Although you can ignore the weather and drag your interior furniture outside, there is a growing choice of fabrics and soft furnishings specifically designed for outdoors. Ting specialises in soft furnishings made from woven seatbelts, which is weatherproof and durable. Its Ting Sling woven hammock costs about £250; cushions from £40. Designers Guild sells deckchairs made with Teflon- coated, rot- and mould- resistant fabric, priced from £69. It also sells a selection of plain and stripy Teflon-coated outdoor fabrics off the roll at £35 and £40 per metre. Flower Canvases, sold through Encompass, use colour-fast printing on canvas to create graphic prints that can be used on cushions and wall hangings. Prices start at £103 for a small cushion, and £114 for an art print. MyBiggerPicture.com sells canvas deckchairs printed with your own photo, priced £89.99.
Garden designer Andy Sturgeon says that small gardens and roof terraces are becoming less focused on plants and more on furniture and fireplaces. “The brief is almost always to create an outdoor living room,” he explains. “Most clients want something low maintenance. We end up choosing plants as pieces of furniture, with containers designed to make maximum use of space, around built-in seating and tables.”
Sturgeon’s garden designs often include bespoke gas- flame fire pits that, as he puts it, “look so much better than ugly patio heaters”. These ensure the “rooms” can be used all year — they’re electronically controlled (“if the wind blows them out they reignite”), and can be mains-fed or use bottled gas. The Gollnick fire pit is a smart, stainless-steel wood- burning brazier, priced £299 from Encompass. John Lewis has a shallow, bowl-shaped one for £59. B&Q’s wood- or coal-burning Monaco outdoor fireplace costs £79.98.
Advertisement
A canopy is useful — as much to keep off the rain as to protect you from the sun. For a chic ethnic look, the Raj Tent Club sells pergolas and tents based on traditional Rajasthani designs, priced from £1,000 to £5,000. Bazaar Tents sells traditional water-resistant cotton-canvas tents from Pakistan, priced from £350. The Indian Garden Company sells decorative parasols, vividly coloured and trimmed with twinkling aluminium cutwork, priced at £155 each.
You can get a minimal look with Habitat’s polyester Sail canopy awning, priced £30. Triangular in shape, it attaches to a wall or other outside structure by two corners and is supported by a pole at the other. Graham & Green has retro-style raffia-trimmed garden umbrellas for £59, which it teams with Moroccan-style leather pouffes, £99.50. The Pier has some great outdoor lighting ideas, including miniature tassel lanterns that cost £16.95 for a string of 10.
When choosing furniture and accessories to create an instant outdoor room, start with the basics. Use washable cotton or natural-fibre rugs to define your ground area — try Opium’s natural reed mats, from £18 each. Masses of bolsters and square box mattress-type cushions are ideal for creating low-level day beds, or modular seating for the floor. John Lewis has an outdoor range of scatter cushions, made from tough acrylic fabric, priced at £10 each, and outdoor beanbags, £99 each. Cath Kidston has launched a camping range that includes a striped padded yoga mat for £50, and matching box-shaped square mattress cushions, £40 each. In the same range is a floral-print tent for £60.
Choosing seating that’s less bolt upright and more lounge lizard transforms an outdoor room into a sociable playden. The Conran Shop has the Orbit Loveseat sofa, where you can curl up as a couple. The frame is woven from man-made Hularo fibre, which you can leave outdoors permanently, and the upholstery is resilient Dacron. It costs £3,495. Fletcher & Myburgh create pod-like swings for the garden. These are a step up from a hammock and create private enclaves that can be furnished with cushions and throws. Made from hand-beaten copper and stainless steel, they cost from £2,000.
Habitat sells the Zeno outdoor garden furniture set, made of solid oak, which is a neat foldaway table and four chairs, for £295. When not in use the chairs slip under the table. If you are going to opt for plastic garden chairs, make sure they are modishly modern and colourful. Purves & Purves sells the curvaceous Easy chair, in a choice of trendy tones, for £50 each.
Advertisement
Where to buy