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Bringing the Outside Garden Inside

You can make a garden seem bigger by creating the illusion that something beyond the garden is within your property. Alternatively, you can make the garden seem as though it is inside the house.

How to Extend Your Garden

  • Knock out a wall of the house and put in a big window.
  • Cut plants back from windows so you can see out - maximise your ability to see the garden from the house. 
  • Redevelop the garden - prune, plant, etc to create vistas from the house. 
  • Position features in the garden (fountain, statue, trompe l’oeil, mirror etc) that can be seen better or with more effect from inside the house.
  • Remove curtains, replace frosted glass to improve view outside, and then build a fence outside to maintain privacy.
  • Think about having a shower or bath and being able to look straight into the garden – it can be a great feeling, as long as people walking down the street can’t see in as easily as you can see out!
  • Add garden lighting outside so that the garden looks a picture at night.  People spend a lot of time on their garden, but then can only see it for part of the day. Lighting your garden can be very important and enables you to view your garden in a different way in the evening and at night.

  • Place plants with large leaves in the foreground and plants with small leaves in the background.  This will create the illusion of depth. 
  • The illusion of depth can also be created by having light coloured foliage in the foreground and dark foliage as a backdrop. 
  • Create the illusion that your neighbour’s trees are part of your garden – plant shrubs on your side to camouflage the fence and merge with the foliage in your neighbour’s garden.
  • Frame an attractive view such as a distant mountain with an arch, pergola or trees. This draws the eye beyond the immediate garden.

Deciding How to Extend Your Garden
Think about the type of room and the type of view you get from that room:

  • What outside view do you want to be looking at when you are eating a meal, lying in bed, sitting at a desk, etc?
  • How does the colour scheme in the room fit with the view from that room?
  • How does the style of the room fit with the view? (You don’t want to be sitting in a liberally furnished room looking out at an ultra modern, minimalist garden).

[29/03/2024 17:26:38]

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