25 Decorating Ideas To Bring The Outdoors In

Fill 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.

Read more: 7 house plants for scent and wellbeing

Coastal themes

We love the light and breezy coastal references in this garden room with subtle nautical stripes and a refreshing white and blue colour palette. The freestanding wooden screen is a great way to mitigate glare from the sun.

Pictured: Country Living Tarland Armchair at DFS, and Hugh Sofa at DFS

A pantry

A great idea for a garden room is to use it as a pantry. This is a feasible solution for most, it just requires some extra shelving or cubbies, and this quaint curtain is an inexpensive way to fashion cupboards.

Read more: 6 stylish ways to make a pantry work for you

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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.

Wild motifs

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 otherwise gloomy spot.

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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.

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

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.

Read more: 10 design tips to help create your dream home office

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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.

Potting room

For the keen gardener. Turning a garden room into a potting area gives you the chance to indulge in your hobbies and create a personal and peaceful retreat. Make sure you choose plants that thrive in sunny spaces or mimic the awnings employed here to provide some welcome shade.

Pictured: Hedera Fabric at Sanderson Design Group

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.

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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.

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

The artist's studio

A garden room offers an energising proximity to the outdoors and ample amounts of bright natural light, which is perfect for the enthusiastic artist or crafter.

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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.

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.

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

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Converted shed

Studio space

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.

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