Turning Your Garden Into An Outdoor Lounge

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Outdoor Lounge couch garden table area

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To many of us, the garden is just something that came with the house. Perhaps you fall in that category. You’ll mow the lawn every now and then, but that’s about the extent of the time you spend in your garden. The main reason you probably feel deterred from going out there is because it looks unappealing, and that’s a self-fulfilling cycle. You’ll never want to make any improvements out there because you don’t feel incentivized to spend any time in your garden anyway.

The key is to change your approach to thinking about your garden. See it not as some foreign wilderness which blends in with the great outdoors but as your great outdoors. In fact, see it as an opportunity to bring the indoor world to the outdoor world because the garden is still part of your house. There’s no reason as to why you can’t turn this patch of land into an outside lounge area. If you’re wondering how on earth you’d begin to do that without an astronomically high budget or much skill in the realm of “gardening” then here are some tips.

Make a plan.

You might think that reshaping a garden is pretty straightforward because it’s nature; it’s meant to be wild and untamed. All you need to do is a little weeding and replanting of flowers, surely? Well, if you were doing a light spot of gardening then that might be the case and no major plan would be needed. However, if you’re committed to turning your garden into an outdoor lounge area then you need to put as much planning into it as you would when organizing the layout and structure for an interior design project within your house.

Draw out how you want your garden to look. You might want to add a few things after getting inspiration from this article or other places on the internet before you actually get stuck in with manual labor, but you should have a rough idea for the project. Think about what it’d take for your garden to become a cozy zone, but also think about how these ideas can be physically realized. Make sure your plan for a paved area doesn’t clash with any flowerbeds or the plans you’d made to plant some new trees in the middle or perhaps even fit a pool. The aim of the plan is to make sure that all of your ideas can fit into this outdoor area without any overlap.

Keep things simple.

Your lounge is probably a simple area. There are a few couches, a soft rug, and a television in the corner. Anything else is an extra aesthetic flourish, and that’s how you need to approach your garden. Don’t overdo it. The overgrown weeds and wild plant life are messy and overwhelming, and that’s what put you off going into your garden in the first place. If you want this to be an inviting area then you need to strip back all the rubbish to keep things simple.

Tidy up the place as you’d tidy up your house if you wanted it to look more appealing. Mow the lawn, de-weed, and replant flowers. Essentially, get rid of anything that is overgrown, much as you would with an overgrown pile of clothes in your messy bedroom. Create a clean area to start your work, and get the “boring” stuff out of the way because we all know that gardening probably isn’t the most fun aspect of the project if the whole idea is to turn your garden into an indoor living space in the outdoor world.

The exterior of your house.

Whilst this is a guide to refreshing your garden, the important thing to remember when trying to create a cozy outdoor zone is keep the link strong between the garden and your house. You want to feel as if they’re one and the same thing so that you can relax when you’re in the garden and know that your home is mere inches away; in fact, you want to feel as if your garden is your home. The best way to do this is to garden-ify the outside of your home. You could create a windowsill garden by lining windowsills with flowerpots; you could hang a flower basket from your backdoor or even from the wall. In fact, you could go one step further and create a vine climber up the side of the walls of your house. Nature doesn’t have to be a scary and separate element from your home; make the two one and the same.

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Treat yourself to luxuries.

Even though your garden can be improved with a lot of DIY work, that doesn’t mean you should rule out the possibility of jazzing it up with a few treats and luxuries; in fact, if you save a lot of money through doing gardening and DIY by yourself, then you’ve earned a few luxuries. A brand new patio or brand new paving leading around the garden are both examples of facelifts that could really transform your garden into a lounge. Perhaps a pretty fountain or a mini lake could be the aesthetic centerpiece of your garden. If you go for the latter then you could even buy some fish to really add to this beautiful focal point.

Or maybe you’ve rather go down the more practical route when coughing up money. Gazebos can really lift the face of any garden; they look lovely, and they provide somewhere to relax and stay sheltered from the elements if the weather is unpredictable where you live. You could even go the extra mile and look into getting a coleman hot tub to create a warm and relaxing spot to enjoy your garden on summer evenings. It’s always a great way to entice friends into coming over for parties or tame, chilled-out evenings. Essentially, what you need to remember is that garden is the center of any house, even though the majority of people don’t see it that way. You should be sprucing it up with just as many luxuries as you would for your indoor lounge. Remember, there’s no reason you can’t be just as cozy in your outdoor zone.

Outdoor Lounge table and wicker chairs

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Spruce up the patio.

The patio is the holy grail of relaxation zones. If you want to feel at home in your garden then you need a strong patio area or something equivalent in the center of your garden. The point is that you need a little manmade zone in which you can relax and admire the natural beauty of your garden and the rest of the great outdoors. Ditch those cheap loungers and opt for comfortable seating arrangements (maybe a few blankets for colder evenings), and a sleek dining table so that you can enjoy family meals when the weather’s good enough. Of course, even though it’s the manmade part of the garden, you should still incorporate elements of nature into it. A rustic bench surrounded by beautiful flowers could look very appealing on a warm summer’s day.

Get creative with the design process.

Thinking outside the box is what will make your garden stand out against those of your neighbors. It’s not a competition, of course, but it’s always nice to diverge from the norm and create something a little unique. If you don’t want to cough up a lot of money on expensive aesthetic flourishes for your garden or get stuck in with too much manual labor then you could get a little creative with the design process.

First of all, who said everything has to be new in your garden? You could even repurpose old “junk” and turn unappealing objects into beautiful aesthetic additions to your garden. If it’s retro then it instantly looks a thousand times better. For example, you could find old watering pots, wheelbarrows, and perhaps even lawnmowers in your garage that you’d been thinking of throwing away and simply turn them into flower pots.

You’d be amazed by how much better junk looks as soon as it’s laden with colorful elements of nature. The earth definitely has a way of reviving even the dreariest of things. In fact, even elements of nature itself, such as an old tree stump in your garden, could be brought back to life with some flowers planted around its base or in its crevices.

Outdoor Lounge beautiful flowers with sunlight

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Holding back mother nature.

Whilst this guide has been all about appreciating nature, there are obviously elements of the natural world which can make upkeep of a garden very frustrating. Pests are one of them, and you might want to look into ways in which you can make natural repellents to keep the critters off your beautiful new plants and flowerbeds. Of course, the passage of time isn’t kind of gardens either, so you’ll need to find a way to dedicate a small amount of time to looking after the lawn and plants frequently. It’s better to do it little and often rather than face the mammoth task of fixing it a few months down the line.

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