Garden design tips for home improvers - part 1

So, you’ve successfully completed a major renovation or extension to your home. Finally, you sit back, take in the view from your sleek, new bi-folding doors and then it hits you: the garden has been trashed by weeks of building work and is now completely at odds with your stylish new interior.

The garden is often used as a storage area for building materials and equipment with the resulting detrimental effect: compacted soil, bare and unusable lawns and damaged beds and borders. In short, your outside space is more ‘neglected lot’ than stylish plot! So what’s the best way to get that seamless transition between your home interior and the garden and when's the best time to start?

Plan for success

Ideally, start thinking about your garden as early as possible in the home improvement process. Engaging the services of a professional garden designer can help avoid costly mistakes and missed design opportunities. Gardens can often be a lot smaller after build works and a garden plan will ensure you get the most out of the remaining space. Getting the garden designer to work in tandem with your architect and/or interior designer also creates a virtual team where the sum is larger than the individual parts.

Usable spaces

Just as you have tailored each room in your house according to its form and function, so too the garden can be viewed in exactly the same way. Think about how you plan to use the garden and zone it accordingly. Areas to look at include main entertaining and dining space, children’s play area, edible garden, outdoor kitchen and so on. It's important to consider how you are most likely to use the garden in order to get the most from the space.

Material choices

Borrowing from the interior’s colour scheme, textures - and even materials - is a great way to link the outside with the inside. Consider, for example, the latest porcelain tiles that have been specifically designed with dual functionality in mind. Look for and choose products that work equally well as internal interior flooring and as external exterior paving – a surefire way to get that seamless transition.Your interior style will often be the biggest single influence on how your garden looks so consider this when thinking about the overall look you want to achieve outside.

In part 2, we'll explore the importance of garden boundaries in the overall garden design, as well as how to light your garden.