Want to turn your home and backyard into one flowing space? By making a few improvements, you can create a greater connection between the indoor and outdoor spaces within your home. This can help to make the inside of your home feel more earthy and natural, while also making your backyard feel more cozy and sheltered. Below are just a few ways to create this connection.
Create an outdoor living area
You can make your backyard feel like an extension of your home by turning it into a second living area. Rather than opting for traditional outdoor furniture, consider opting for a modern outdoor lounge suite. This consists of synthetic rattan sofas and armchairs with waterproof cushions. Such seating can provide the comfort of an indoor lounge suite, making your backyard feel like a second living room.
You can even add throws and rugs to your outdoor living area to make it more cosy, or even an outdoor TV. Just make sure that anything you leave outside is truly weatherproof. Outdoors rugs typically need to be made from hardy material like polypropylene, while outdoor TVs need to be able to be covered.
Provide outdoor warmth and shelter
You can also bring warmth and shelter to your outdoor space to help further give it the comfort of an indoor living area. This could include adding canopies and screens to help offer shelter from the rain, sun and wind. One option could be to place your outdoor living set inside a marquee or gazebo. Alternatively, you could install a canopy to the back of your home that hangs over your outdoor living space – this could be a fixed awning or a retractable awning. Windbreaks and screens can meanwhile add protection from wind if necessary.
To keep your outdoor living space warm, it could be worth exploring outdoor heating options. Fire pits and chimineas can provide a rustic source of warmth, although you typically won’t be able to add a canopy over the top. Electric patio heaters are another option.
Connect both spaces with a glass door
Glass patio doors such as sliding doors and French doors can help your home and backyard to feel more like one single flowing space. It allows light and air from outside to pour into your home. Meanwhile, you can easily monitor your backyard from indoors. During a party, people indoors and outdoors will also be able to more easily talk to each other and move between both spaces.
Patio doors come in all different styles. French door installation could be worth looking into if you’re looking for a more traditional look – the doors swing out, which can encourage ventilation. Sliding doors are a more modern option that can be more secure, as well as requiring no clearance space when opening. There are also other options like bifold doors if you fancy something a little more unique.
Connect both spaces with the same stone flooring
Stone flooring has the bonus of being able to be used indoors and outdoors. Consider connecting your home and backyard by using the same uninterrupted stone surface both inside and outside your home. This can give the illusion of your home and backyard being one single open space.
Only certain types of stone flooring are suitable for both indoors and outdoor usage. This includes certain types of porcelain, as well as terracotta. If you prefer the idea of an outdoor deck to a tiled patio, you may also be able to find some hardwoods that can be used indoors and outdoors. This indoor/outdoor flooring guide lists a few types of flooring that are great for indoor and outdoor usage.
Grow plants indoors and outdoors
Your backyard isn’t the only place where you can grow plants. Growing plants indoors has many benefits such as improving air quality and creating a sense of calm within your home. Of course, plants need sunlight – by maximizing sunlight into your home via skylights and glass doors you have the freedom to place plants in more places inside your home.
You can grow all kinds of plants indoors in pots. This post lists some of the best houseplants if you need some inspiration. Some houseplants are great dehumidifiers, making them great for rooms such as your bathroom. If you have space in your kitchen, you could even consider growing some edible plants like tomato plants, pepper plants and herbs – you can then pick them and add them to your cooking as you’re preparing meals.
*Collaborative Post