Connecting the outdoors with the indoors
Design by Studio Squire, Image by Owen Gale for House & Garden
Gardens aren’t just for summer.
When treated as one more room in the house, a considered seating area can perform as an extra living room. And with carefully-planned outbuildings, - such as a sauna or a generous greenhouse with a dining table - the garden becomes a destination in its own right, not an afterthought.
Design by Bindloss Dawes, Image by Emma Lewis
The key lies with effortlessly blending inside and out together; a good interior designer will understand that decorating a home doesn’t stop with window treatments. Fostering a better connection to outside starts with fundamentals such as sight lines: can the patio be glimpsed from the front door? Is a balcony being shown off from an apartment’s sitting area? Then there’s a focus on framing views - whether from a window above the sink in a pied-a-terre, or from the kitchen of a country house.
Design by Create Studio
Accessibility is also crucial, with the flow of a room leading to an outside space calling for careful furniture placement. Materiality is also a top priority, as using the same flooring inside and out coupled with a minimal threshold makes for a seamless transition between the two spaces.
The style of planting immediately around a property is arguably the final piece of the jigsaw. Evergreen shrubs that make no distinction between spring and winter create a lush tableau rich in color and movement year-round. It’s the most natural artwork of all.