Hoping to make the most out of your garden? Then perhaps you shouldn’t only be thinking about the gardening or landscaping aspect of it. Perhaps you should be thinking about what you use your garden for in the first place. A lot of people love to use the garden to socialize, hang out, and relax with friends and family. To that end, here we’re going to look at a few ways you can really up the social aspect of your garden with a few tips.
Having the right patio/decking is crucial
First of all, you need a comfortable space where people are able to sit and relax. Most people aren’t going to be comfortable hanging out on the grass and you might not have a lot of space for the furniture you want on the footpaths. To that end, you should make sure that you invest in either a stone patio or wooden decking that can support your social space. Which you prefer will depend on factors such as how much you want to pay for it, as decks can be more costly to install than a patio, but you might also want to choose based on the kind of aesthetic that you’re going for in the garden, as well.
Think about where you put it
Choosing the right space to erect your decking or to place your patio stones is vital as well. First of all, you want to think about how much space you’re able to dedicate to it based on its placement, which is typically going to be based on how many people you want to provide room for, as well as the space necessary for the furniture, for any cooking appliances you plan to have, and other extras such as firepits. You should also consider how much sunlight your social area is likely to get. You don’t want it to be completely shaded during the sunnier parts of the day, but keeping it close to the home so you have the potential of an awning to offer some shade can be well worth the trouble.
Create a gorgeous dining space
Not every outdoor social space needs to include it, but a lot of people think of outdoor dining when they think about having friends over in the sun. To that end, you are going to, at a minimum, ensure that you have the appropriate seats not to mention a good outdoor dining table to host people. You might want to consider what kind of cooking appliance you have, whether it’s a BBQ, outdoor grill, furnace, or the like. You need to consider any food prep space you might need, as well, and to ensure that you have the storage for any utensils you plan to use. Of course, you can always skip this step, doing the cooking indoors but keeping the dining outdoors.
Give yourself somewhere to lounge
Perhaps you don’t plan on having outdoor dining or you still want to make sure that you have a more comfortable space for people to rest after they have had their food. To that end, comfy exterior furniture with soft furnishings is a must-have, as well. You can take a look at the range of outdoor sectional options that you have. Just make sure that you’re choosing them appropriately, choosing options that are able to tolerate being in the outdoors. You might want to take the cushions off them when you’re not using them, especially to keep them out of the rain. Otherwise, choosing the furniture that maximizes rears on seats for the space that you have is the most crucial element.
Cool off with a pool
Though far from a necessity, if you want to make sure that people are really able to relax and cool off on those hottest of days, then getting a pool installed is a way to make one attractive garden for socializing. A lot of thought needs to go into installing a pool to not only decide what type you need, whether in-ground or above ground, but you also have to make sure that you’re willing to put the work into maintaining it over the coming years, as they do need cleaning and some work to be done on them on a routine basis. However, if you’re in an area where the home values are on the rise, adding a pool can be a considerable boost to your own value, too.
Keep it comfy in the cold
While a pool and some shade can help you keep cool in the summer, how do you keep things warm when it gets a little cooler? Not only can the right outdoor heating do a lot for making your garden more inviting in the autumn and even the winter, but it can also make it easier to keep company around for longer. After all, it can get a little chilly with the right breeze in spring and the nights can get cool quickly, too. To that end, an outdoor firepit can do wonders for not only keeping the space warm but also in terms of adding some ambiance to the garden. There are few things as relaxing as the sound and sight of a cracking, well-contained fire.
Let there be light
Warmth is one of the factors that’s going to help people stick around in the garden a little longer, but lighting is the other factor that you should consider, as well. Visibility is crucial not only for comfort but also for the safety of your visitors. As such, you should look at the outdoor lighting strategies you can use. Good primary lighting should help keep the outdoor area visible and bright, but you should also look at ambient lighting that can help create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Furthermore, task lighting, such as lighting around any cooking areas or surrounding the steps of the patio will make sure that you’re able to use the area as safe as possible.
Landscape the perfect scenery around it
It’s not all about the practicalities of how you spend your time outdoors, either. You still want to make sure that, above all else, it’s a comfortable and pleasant place to entertain other people. To that end, making sure that you have a gorgeous garden to act as the setting is important, as well. To that end, you can work with a garden landscaper, whether it’s to create the right display of greenery to create the ultimate outdoor zen den or to use retaining walls and raised beds to bring structure and order to a chaotic exterior that might need it. How you landscape your garden is entirely dependent on your tastes (as well as much maintenance work that you want to put into it.)
Open it up to the home
If you want to make sure that people have their choice of spaces to relax in, especially for those larger groups, then you might not want to keep things entirely restricted to the outdoors. Instead, let the party spill into the dining room/kitchen from the outdoors and you can give it a much looser and more welcoming feeling. The best way to blend those lines between the indoors and outdoors is to install patio doors that can be opened to create a big entryway. This way, it can be easier for people to shift in and out of different spaces and to pull indoors if it feels like things are getting a little chillier outdoors, as well. Of course, this is best only done with parties that you trust and welcome inside the home, as well.
Make it feel private
You want the guests at your home to feel like they can let their hair down and have a good time. That can be tough if they feel like others are looking or listening in on them. The best choices for privacy are barriers of all kinds. This includes fences around the perimeter, bushes and trees to help block out noise, green walls that can act as both, and even drapes that can hang around the social area. Water features not only offer some light background noise that can prevent your guests from being overheard, but they also add some real zen appeal to the garden, too.
What about the kids?
Perhaps you’re hoping to create a social space that’s just for the grownups, and you don’t intend on having many (or any) children at your home. However, if that’s not the case, you might want to think about ensuring that kids have a place to play and hang out, as well. This can include a corner with child-sized furniture, as well as play installations like a sandbox.
With the advice above, you can certainly find a few ways to make your garden a much more inviting and comfortable place to chill. Then you can really start to benefit from the work you put into keeping such a nice garden in the first place.
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