15 Garden Room Ideas To Bring The Outside In

Garden rooms are a growing trend to blur the boundaries between outdoors and indoors. Here’s 15 garden room ideas to bring the outside in.

We all seem to be aiming to soften the boundaries between the outdoors and in our homes. Bring in all of the green vegetation, and the feels of nature in to our living spaces to add warmth, texture, and life. There are so many benefits for having plants indoors, but today I’m focusing on how to decorate with them and create your own garden room in or outside of your home.

5 Types Of Garden Rooms

In 2020, we built my garden house. A dream of mine for almost a decade and the caveat was that it had to be built on a budget; a very tight budget. I stored windows that I found leaning up by a dumpster, columns that I bought at a barn sale, same with the French doors, all tucked away in our garage for what seemed like forever. I shopped tag sales and flea markets for years for the perfect accessories, tchotchkes, and soft elements to add to the decor in the garden house, and enjoyed every minute of it. Although I call it a garden house, it really is a garden room. I built an Orangery type garden room.

There are 5 types or options of garden rooms, and I say that the best design is the one that takes a few elements from each to create the garden room of your dreams.

Orangeries

Orangeries have elements of glass, stone or brickwork and a lantern roof. These types of garden rooms are increasingly popular, as are garden rooms with a solid roof. Both types of building can be integrated into the style of your home better than one constructed of all glass, 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.

Conservatory

Conservatory: totally a fancy name, no?! Like, “Meet me in the conservatory with a glass of champagne while we mozy around and look at all of the exotic plants.” Sounds very posh, though certainly not required. Conservatories are constructed solely of glass yet are more subjected to extreme weather. These types garden rooms can be shaded by roof curtain 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. If a conservatory is an extension to expand your living space with an open doorway, installing underfloor heating will make the area more welcoming in winter. 

Summerhouse

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. Lots of summerhouse ideas have come from making over a manufactured shed into a garden room escape. From she sheds to man caves to even a small guest house or office space, summerhouses are gaining rapidly in popularity and is well worth investing in running electricity to provide heating and lighting and wifi if desired, in addition to insulation so it can be used year round.

The Shoffice

The shofficeor shed-office really took off mid-pandemic and has been growing in popularity ever since. Cast off visions of humble tool sheds 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 summerhouses that you can order online, to bespoke garden rooms costing in their tens of thousands.

Portable Greenhouse

Readily available to order online, these portable and seasonal garden rooms are made for late spring and summer months, depending on the climate where you live in the world. Constructed of heavy duty plastic, portable greenhouses can be constructed in an hour or two, and then folded up and stored in a corner of the garage during the winter months.

How To Style A Garden Room

When decorating a garden hideaway, it can be fun to opt for a more rustic or earthy natural scheme than your main home. A floor in brick, wooden board or tiles is practical, and 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 and a dual purpose table. Or create a working area with a small desk and chair, and a potting bench to make a space feel 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.

15 Garden Room Ideas To Bring The Outside In

1. 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 smaller trees. If your garden room is located in a full sun area, go for plants that need lots of light and embrace the jungle feel. For one that is more in the shade, bring in shade-loving plants like ferns, palms and philodendrons.

2. Add Color With Plants

As well as adding height and greenery, plants can be used to bring color into a garden room as well. When designing, consider the space as an extension of your garden borders.

3. Create A Pantry Space

A great idea for a garden room is to use it as a pantry This is a very feasible solution when some extra shelving or cubbies is required. Old wooden crates make for great cabinets. Readily available at flea markets and salvage shops, and can be found in various sizes, they’re perfect for storing glassware and tabletop accessories, among other things.

4. Use Paint To Blend In

Choose the exterior paint color of your garden room wisely. Paintwork can soften the appearance and can bring the color of the garden to the exterior (and interior) of the garden room. Or, if in a shady corner of the garden, you may want a brighter color to deliberately add a splash of interest to an eslewise gloomy spot.

5. 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. It’s also a great way to create an easy and affordable custom DIY rug, designed to fit exactly where you want it. Look how I created this easy and affordable rug HERE!

6. Add A Dining Room

Rustic furniture complements an antique brick floor in my garden room used for dining and entertaining. The table base was bought on Facebook Marketplace, the bistro chairs I found at Goodwill and recovered, and the glass top I found on the side of the road. All piecemealed together makes for a beautiful dining room area. Garden rooms are great spaces to eat when it’s too brisk to be fully outdoors.

7. Create A Sitting Area

The mix of external materials, like brick, wood and iron, combined with cushions and soft furnishings, creates an ultra stylish sitting area.

8. 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. My garden house room has been painted a wonderful winter green to blend outdoors and in.

9. Creative 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. LED candles look great hung between branches on this hanging centerpiece.

10. Add A Stained Glass Transom Window

Never shy away from layering windows. A transom window can bring in an architectural design element and softness at the same time. The stained glass adds color and thoughtful reflection to the interior design of the room.

11. Preserved Moss Topiaries

I’m a huge fan of topiaries in all shapes and sizes. The best part is that by incorporating preserved moss topiaries can bring in all the greens, all year long. On a budget? Make your own like I did! See how to make easy DIY topiaries, HERE!!

12. Repurpose A Bar Cart For Plants

I love to gather and group lots of plants together for mixture of textures and colors. A bar cart makes for a terrific plant display, especially the kind with two tiers, and can hold as many as the space allows.

13. Add Sticks In the Decor

Why not? They’re free. And, they come in all lengths and widths, and can be custom designed in the arrangement that you wish. Add to a vintage pitcher or even create a grand and unexpected hanging centerpiece for the ohhhh and ahhhhh factor.

14. Well Stocked Potting Bench

Reserve a small corner for a potting bench that can also be swept off and used as a buffet table when entertaining. Group pots and vases together and within arms reach, along with a small bucket or trash can filled with potting soil, and a container filled with small garden tools to round out the bench.

15. Accessorize With Garden Decor

Along with lots of plants, bring accessories and more outdoor elements to your garden room. Repot plants in unexpected vessels such as vintage metal tubs or antique grape harvest baskets. Just make sure there’s a small hole for water drainage.

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