BY BEN KENDRICK AND RACHEL EDWARDSPUBLISHED: MAR 3, 2023
Living Inside, ILIV
Browse these garden room ideas and be inspired to create an indoor space that is filled with greenery, nature and natural light. Garden rooms are a growing trend in the UK, as we aim to blur the boundaries between outdoors and in. We want to create a seamless space that offers both airyness and homely warmth, and there are a wealth of ways to do so.
Garden room ideas: 5 options
Orangeries, which have elements of glass, stone or brickwork and a lantern roof, are increasingly popular, as are garden rooms with a solid roof. Both types of building can be integrated into the style of your house better than a glass conservatory, as you can match up materials such as roof tiles and bricks. It’s easier to regulate the temperature in orangeries and garden rooms as they’re less subject to extremes of weather than a room constructed solely of glass.
However, conservatories can be shaded by roof and window blinds or have solar-controlled windows to reduce glare and temperature or low-emissivity glass to avoid heat loss in a north-facing room. Installing underfloor heating will make the area more welcoming in winter. Use a glazed extension to expand your living space, or turn it into an area where plants take centre stage, then add chairs and a table to increase your enjoyment. A large garden room can work well as a kitchen-diner, offering a convivial space to entertain, or can be turned into a living room.
A summerhouse gives you the chance to indulge in a sense of escapism and create a personal retreat. It could serve as an extra living space or bedroom but it is well worth investing in running electricity to provide heating and lighting, in addition to insulation so it can be used year round.
Huts on wheels, such as vintage shepherd’s huts, are very popular and new ones are being made by many companies following the traditional lines of the Victorian originals. These, too, can be kitted out with heating in the form of a traditional stove or served by plumbing and electricity if they have a permanent site. Alternatively, you might want to keep furnishings simple and use it as a place to camp out in the summer.
The ‘shoffice’ or shed-office really took off mid-pandemic. Cast off visions of humble tool stores however, the modern shoffice is a comfortable, Wi-Fi-connected sanctuary that reduces your commute to a few yards. The shoffice comes in many shapes and sizes, from compact wooden summerhouses that you can order online, to bespoke garden rooms costing in their tens of thousands.
How to style a garden room
When decorating a garden hideaway, it can be fun to opt for a more rustic scheme than your main home. A floor in brick, wooden board or tiles is practical but can be offset with comfortable upholstered furniture, textiles and fabrics. If the interior is boarded, you can create different looks by painting it and introducing artworks or shelving, plus cupboards for storage. Or create a working area with a small desk and chair or a potting bench to make a space for relaxing, as well as propagating and raising plants. Using rustic materials and pieces of furniture more often used in an outside context to create a stylish look.
Garden room ideas: Fill it with plants
The best way to bring the outdoors into a garden room is with plants and a slanted roof can allow for tall house plants or even small trees. Go for plants that need lots of light and embrace the jungle feel.
Garden room ideas: A pantry
A great idea for a garden room is to use it as a pantry. This is a very feasible solution for most, it just requires some extra shelving or cubbies, and this quaint curtain is an inexpensive way to fashion cupboards.
Garden room ideas: Add colour with plants
As well as adding height and greenery, plants can be used to bring colour into a garden room as well. When designing, consider the space as an extension of your borders.
Garden room ideas: Wild motifs
The Cath Kidston x DFS collection was made for garden rooms, full of sofas, footstools and cushions upholstered in illustrations of classic British wild flowers, and bucolic meadow scenes.
Pictured: Cath Kidston Printmaker Sofa at DFS
Garden room ideas: Use paint to blend in
Choose the exterior paint colour of your garden room wisely. Pale paintwork softens the appearance of the Marston & Langinger conservatory, pictured here. Or, if in a shady corner of the garden, you may want a brighter colour to deliberately add a splash of interest to an eslewise gloomy spot.
Garden room ideas: A spare bedroom
Having a room flooded with natural light is a great place to sleep as it will help you wake up naturally. Simple furniture and rush matting turn this orangery into an extra bedroom.
Garden room ideas: Add plenty of textiles
Throws, cushions, blinds and rugs will be your best friend in a garden room. Outdoor fabrics of course work wonderfully, but in a well-insulated garden room, you can get away with indoor textiles too. The nature-inspired motif here is a failsafe option.
Pictured: All textiles at ILIV
Garden room ideas: A home office
A desk placed in a corner of a conservatory makes a stylish study and is a great garden room idea. Consider the angle of sunlight when placing your computer screen. A blind is a great way to shield the glare on a video call. Being able to look out over the garden is sure to inspire creativity.
Garden room ideas: Dining room
Rustic furniture complements an antique brick floor in this garden room used for dining and entertaining. Garden rooms are great spaces to eat when it’s too brisk to be fully outdoors.
Garden room ideas: Guest bedroom
Converting a shed or summer house into a guest bedroom can be the perfect way to create privacy. Make sure you consider warmth and insulation.
Garden room ideas: Living space
A vine provides a decorative element and filters strong light. The mix of external materials, like brick and wood, combined with cushions and soft furnishings, creates an ultra stylish living space.
Garden room ideas: Design consideration
Approach the design of your garden room as you would any other. It will benefit from rugs underfoot, table lamps and coffee tables much in the way your living room would. This space has been painted a wonderful sage green to blend outdoors and in.
Pictured: Garden room designed by OKA
Garden room ideas: Vines
A vine is also used in this bright and open garden room. It creates dappled light, shields users from the elements on winter days and looks fantastic against the natural wooden finish of the frame.
Garden room ideas: Dining space
Another example of a garden room used for dining, the Roman blinds in this space soften the look and light of the simple hut. Pale colours keep the room looking fresh even on grey days.
Garden room ideas: the ‘shoffice’
You can transform most outdoor structures into an additional garden rooms, acting as a workshop or home office metres from your back door. Electricity is of course vital here, so too is proximity to your wifi.
Pictured: Country Living Summerhouse at Homebase
Garden room ideas: Converted shed
Sheds can make the perfect cosy hideaway. Pop in a small loveseat, lots of throws and cushions and it becomes the perfect place to relax in between stints doing the gardening.
Garden room ideas: Studio
Traditional wooden cladding in a subtle blue-grey brings rustic charm to this pretty garden studio, which serves as an extra room. Escaping the main house can help create a mental space for creativity.
Garden room ideas: Hideaway
Paintings, fabrics and china on a floral theme have been teamed with vintage tableware to bring a nostalgic elegance to this summerhouse, making it perfect for afternoon tea.
Garden room ideas: Reading nook
A bespoke open-sided garden building made of green-oak timber and reclaimed limestone provides an ideal place to admire the garden. It’s not quite a full room but sheltered enough to create a private space.
Garden room ideas: Lighting
Consider outdoor lighting to make a garden room special and inviting. They can be inside, shining out onto the garden or, if in a glass structure, hung outside to add atmosphere. Festoon lights look great hung between branches.
Pictured: All lights via lights4fun
Garden room ideas: Craft space
This summerhouse offers an idyllic cool shady corner to work in during the warm summer months.