Turn your Garden into an outdoor Living room with a Pergola

For families who love to spend a lot of time at home, sometimes a little extra room is needed. A cleverly designed pergola can be the answer to space problems. With the right planning and construction, a pergola can provide you with a different kind of living space – an outdoor room.

Out door rooms are pergolas that have been designed to provide an integrated flow between your home and your backyard. An out door room gives you the fresh air of the outdoors without the limitations. You can set up your outdoor furniture and not have to worry about the timber fading in the sun or the fabric padding getting mouldy in the rain. If you have enough protection you can even place a sofa or day bed in your outdoor room or maybe a dining table.

Pergolas come in many shapes and sizes these days. They can be fitted to the side of your home and provide the comfort of another room in your house. An indoor room is ideally located next to a casual living room, kitchen or dining area. It can be constructed of timber, composite or steel and painted or stained to match your home. An indoor room can be roofed in a basic corrugated, plastic covering or installed with heavy duty material and guttering. You can have the roof transparent or opaque or even a mixture of both, proving the right mix of light and shade.

To succeed in making the pergola feel like an outdoor room, it is important to blend certain elements of the pergola to your existing home, to ensure a seamless integration.

Flooring

Flooring is key in this instance. Take note of what flooring the room adjacent to the pergola has. Is it tiled or timber? What is the colour? Obviously it is ideal to be able to match the flooring of the connecting rooms exactly. But in some cases, even a similar match is better than none at all. If you have polished timber floors in your home, then try and pick a timber decking that will match the stain of the interior floorboards. If you have tiles in the interior, adjacent room, try and match those tiles in size and colour. By matching the floor up as closely as possible, you will create the illusion that it is one big, flowing room.

Connecting Doorway

If possible, it is best to cover the entire wall or connecting area with glass doors. Doors that can open up and allow as much light in and provide minimal visual interference. If you can’t make it a whole wall, then try for glass sliding doors. This will help open up the area and really make it feel like an extension of the indoors.

Décor

It is essential to match the décor of the outdoor room created by your outdoor pergola to the decor of your home. Make sure you choose furniture that is similar in design and style. Decorate in shades and colours that complement the existing room.

By following these simple steps you will create a smooth and uninterrupted flow between your interior living space and your out door room, enhancing both your home and your garden.