Let’s try to think of how we can help our homes feel like the outdoors, indoors!
Windows
Take advantage of window space by capturing the best views of the garden. “Framing” your outdoor spaces and building colorful, textured views outside windows will help bring the natural world into your home. If you look at a bare, unattractive patch of lawn or garden, you’ll be less inclined to get out and enjoy it. Well-framed exteriors are worth as much as any painting or artwork on the walls.
Enter the garden
A really simple way or to merge your two spaces is to use plants and textures that can be carried over the threshold. An uninterrupted flow of greenery from the garden and into the house really helps to create the impression of a unified space. Of course, the next category makes that a reality…
French doors/patio
Having the ability to open part of your walls to the garden is crucial to enjoying outdoor space in the summer. Large patio or folding doors allow you to let in the air, the sun and the greenery much more easily. It also means you can move the furniture outside, which helps to cover your tracks. A kitchen table that can be moved through doors and into the open air makes outdoor dining and entertaining more natural and easier.
Furniture
Your choice of garden and home furniture can also help synthesize outdoor and indoor spaces. Create a flow of design from the outside in, with similar patterns, colors and styles and you can create a very natural extension of your living spaces.
Natural material
Using natural materials in the home is another way to create the feeling of outdoor space. Obviously, wood is a common natural material in the home, used for flooring, shelving and furniture. But consider using more organic wood materials like driftwood and untreated wood, as well as other substances like stones, rocks, or grasses. You can even consider installing a green or moss wall, a vertical growing structure that attaches to walls and creates a space-saving natural space. This is especially good for those with little or no clean outdoor space.
The light
One of the key ways to merge the two spaces, along with framing, is to maximize the natural light entering the home. Large windows, skylights, and mirrors can all be used to increase sunlight and the amount of outdoor space you can see from inside. Of course, this also includes French/patio doors as mentioned above.
