8 Ways to Make a Small Garden Feel Like an Outdoor Room

Small gardens are everywhere in the UK, from tight terraces in the city to compact plots on newer estates. The temptation is to treat them as leftover ground rather than rooms in their own right, which is a quiet shame. With a little planning, even the smallest plot can earn the same affection as the kitchen or the living room. In this guide we set out eight practical ways to turn a modest British garden into a proper outdoor room. We talk about defining a clear floor zone, scaling furniture to the actual space, making use of vertical walls, layering lighting through the evening, building in shelter for our famously changeable weather, and bringing in plants, accessories and considered styling. Nothing here demands a complete makeover. A weekend or two of work and the right pieces of furniture can transform a forgotten patch into the favourite room in the entire house....