Design tricks for Urban Gardens

A few design tricks are always a great help.  I cer­tainly wasn’t born with green fin­gers and there is always a spot in the gar­den which can do with some extra atten­tion.  I could do with all the help I can get.

Some great ideas to add some piz­zazz to those awk­ward spots in your urban garden.

Add a splash of indulgence

An out­door shower can add a touch of indul­gence on a hot sum­mer day, and no gar­den or ter­race is too small to have one.

Gather round a fireplace

Extend the use of your out­side space as much as pos­si­ble through­out the year with an exter­nal fire­place. Not only will it keep you warm, it will make a stun­ning cen­tre­piece. Styling the gar­den with throws, cush­ions, lamps and night lights adds to the magic.

Plant ver­ti­cally to save space

Many urban gar­dens are long and nar­row, so instead of tak­ing up pre­cious space with high-maintenance beds, cre­ate a lush feel with hedges and climbers. These add soft­ness to slat­ted fenc­ing and, teamed with classic-style seat­ing and smart, over­sized pots, help to cre­ate a tran­quil urban oasis.

Get in the zone

Cre­at­ing zones is a clever way to add inter­est to an out­door space and make it feel big­ger than it is. This gar­den has a din­ing table by the house, cre­at­ing a din­ing sec­tion of the garden.

Gar­den liv­ing room

If you use your gar­den as an out­door liv­ing room, why not style it like one? There’s a wealth of well-designed out­door fur­ni­ture to choose from, plus some indoor pieces work equally well out­side. Add to the design with mir­rors, exte­rior paint and candles.

Cre­ate continuity

If you have a liv­ing area that leads directly onto the gar­den, cre­ate a feel­ing of con­ti­nu­ity by using sim­i­lar mate­ri­als inside and out. This gives a sleeker look and makes the over­all space feel big­ger. The result is an almost seam­less con­tin­u­a­tion of style and colour from the house into the gar­den.

Incor­po­rate some shade

Not every­one is a sun wor­ship­per, and shade sails are a great way to cre­ate a lit­tle bit of cover as they can be put up, moved and taken down as you please. They work par­tic­u­larly well over an alfresco din­ing table or seat­ing area.

Deck­ing

Steal ele­ments from your inte­rior to add wow fac­tor to your out­side space. Use con­tem­po­rary mate­ri­als to cre­ate a styl­ish but low-maintenance gar­den. Here laid-back gar­den deck­ing is teamed with super-stylish fur­ni­ture and colour­ful cush­ions.

Gar­den lighting

Bring a touch of the secret gar­den to your out­door space with clever plant­ing and out­door light­ing. The wind­ing path­way, lit by paper tealights, encour­ages you to ven­ture to the end of the gar­den.