Bring the Outdoors In: Design a Functional and Beautiful Conservatory
Conservatories can be such beautiful spaces in your home to help you bridge the gap between the indoors and outdoors, so we’re here to help you design a space that is functional, beautiful and usable all year round. A stunning conservatory can also help to increase your home's ROI! It not only adds an extra room to enjoy in your home, but is a great way to open your home to the outdoors and get the best of both worlds.
Photo by Alina Vilchko
Get Conservatory Insulation
One of the best things you can do to make the most of your conservatory and to make it functional is to get conservatory roof insulation. The key to bringing the outdoors in and making your conservatory usable all year round is controlling the temperature, which conservatory roof insulation can help you to do. Good insulation helps to keep heat in during the winter, so you don’t need to use as much energy to keep the space warm and it generally just feels much more comfortable. In the summer, it also helps to keep some of the heat out of the space, so you no longer have to contend with uncomfortable greenhouse-like temperatures! Overall, it can save you a lot of money over the course of each year, so it’s worth investing in.
Choose Plants Specific For Conservatories
Next up, a great way to combine the indoors and outdoors in your conservatory is to choose plants specific for conservatories. That extra bit of greenery looks stunning in a conservatory and really compliments the outdoor space too. Some plants are better suited to conservatories, as they can handle the increased fluctuation in temperature better. Things like snake plants, fiddle leaf fig trees, swiss cheese plants, money trees and yucca’s are all well suited to conservatories as they love the sun but can also survive in unheated conservatories throughout the winter.
If you have the budget to do so, buying more established plants will also help with their longevity as they’re not as affected by temperature. Usually you’d water conservatory plants every 2-3 days in the summer and only every 1-2 weeks over the winter, and somewhere in between in Spring and Autumn depending on how warm your conservatory is.
Focus On A Neutral Colour Palette
Another wonderful way to bring the outdoors in with your conservatory is to focus on a more neutral colour palette. Whilst the rest of your house might be quite bright and maximalist, if you do want to create more of a connection with the outdoors in this space, then focusing on neutrals is a great way forward. Things like pastel sage greens and sand tones work wonderfully, and within this colour palette you can go wild with things like textures and patterns to make it your own.
One thing to never forget about is soft furnishings, as these can bring the space to life and also make it really cosy in the winter months. Neutral tones are also perfect for all year round living, but you could have a set of soft furnishings that are slightly lighter in weight for the summer and then thicker, cosier ones to bring out in the winter.
Control Light With Window Blinds
In the summer, the light that comes into your conservatory can be blinding! So, a good way to make it usable all year round is to control the light with conservatory blinds. This is the perfect solution as you can lift them right up so you can benefit from all of the natural light, you can have them down and let some light in or you can shut them completely in the evenings or winter for full privacy and an extra layer of insulation.
Our personal favourites to help you benefit from the full control above is venetian blinds, plus you can easily tailor them to suit the style of your conservatory. They're low maintenance and they look really timeless, so you can enjoy them for years and years to come. The faux-wood venetian blinds work particularly well in conservatories, especially ones that are slightly more prone to damp. Either a classic light oak or white shade look stunning in conservatories to help you maximise the feeling of light in the space.
Open It Up To The House
If you currently have a small door into the conservatory, a good option is to open it up to the house with double doors. Whilst you might want to keep some separation from your conservatory (or not, it’s up to you!), having that extra option to open up the space between your conservatory and home can just create such an open flow throughout your house which is really stunning. You could also go further by focusing on an overall open plan living situation on the ground floor of your home, working with an expert to put together CAD drawings for this can help you to really visualise how this will look for your home before making any decisions. Whether it’s for when you have guests or simply for family life at home, a more open plan living situation works really well for many different living spaces so is definitely worth considering for your home.
Author : Amy Jones
Cover image by Thuan Pham on Unsplash
