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How To Make Your Garden More Family Friendly

ByThe house that never rests | On May 15,21 | 0 Comment

***Collaborations***

Gardens are fast becoming the heart of the home as we are being told to take our socialising outdoors but when you are a family compromised of adults and children, creating the perfect space for everyone is no mean feat. That’s not to say it’s impossible. Gardens up and down the country have been undergoing makeovers and transformations as we seek to spend more time in our back garden than ever before. Here are a few simple ways you can make your garden more family-friendly.

Bring inside outside

Whilst the summer sun can be glorious, it can also be dangerous, especially for young skin. Having space in a garden where young and old can take some time to cool down and get out of the summer sun without going inside is key for making any garden family-friendly. Investing in a veranda gives your garden an extra space that can be fully protected from the suns rays but still giving you that fresh air. Whether you use it for an outdoor seating area, dining area or even play area, verandas are available with customisable sunshading allowing you to choose as and when you want to keep the sun out.

Play equipment

Factoring in children’s play equipment is unavoidable when creating the ultimate family-friendly garden, but you can enhance the aesthetics. Opting to have the trampoline at ground level, is an excellent way of avoiding the eyesore that above-ground trampolines can be. Oh and you won’t have to keep moving it around the garden to protect the grass.

Another great idea is to introduce zoning for this play equipment. Instead of having swings, slides and football nets all over the garden, where you can, fence off a zone or section of the garden dedicated to the children’s play equipment. Think of it as an outdoor playroom that will not only give them a sense of ownership and personal space but help keep clutter down and the garden tidy.

Maintenance

Maintaining or improving a garden can be laborious but the results are aesthetic and practical. Keeping the grass short will make it softer for small knees to fall on. Long grass can be itchy and uncomfortable, especially for hayfever or allergy sufferers. Well kept grass also makes a garden look fresher and more inviting. Keeping hedges trimmed, especially those with thorns and prickles, will help keep little arms from scratches. Pulling weeds will prevent tiny feet from standing on uncomfortable spikes, and hanging trees need to be cut back. Don’t forget all of these jobs require tools, often dangerous ones at that so be sure to keep them locked away safely to ensure your garden remains family-friendly.

If maintenance isn’t really your thing, consider laying some turf. It is low maintenance and hard wearing. It is also perfect for outdoor use year round as it won’t get muddy in heavy rainfall. Ideal for playing ball sports out in the garden after a night of heavy rain.

Seating for all

Finally don’t forget outdoor seating comes in all shapes and sizes. Adding outdoor seating for the whole family, whether it be beanbags, loungers or mini camping chairs is a great low-cost way to include every member of the family.

Lifestyle, outdoors

How to Connect Your Indoor and Outdoor Spaces Better

ByThe house that never rests | On January 09,21 | 0 Comment

If you’re not making use of your outdoor space as much you would like to, it could be because your home and your outdoor space are not properly connected. When there’s a clear lack of cohesion between your indoor and outdoor spaces, your spaces become less functional and underused, which is not what you want.

We’re going to talk today about the ways in which you can better connect the indoor and outdoor spaces of your property. Each of the ideas we’re about to discuss will help you to create a positive flow between your patio space outdoors and your kitchen and dining space. So read on now to find out more.

Make the Flooring Continuous

One way to make it clear that the indoor and the outdoor are combined and connected is to make the flooring continuous between the two spaces. You can choose some new floor tiles that work in your kitchen space while also functioning well and looking good in the outdoor patio area where your outdoor dining space is located. It’s the small things like this that make your indoor and outdoor spaces much more connected and cohesive.

Install a Skylight

If you want to bring some more natural light into the home while also connecting it with the outdoors a little better, you should definitely think about having a skylight installed. These allow you to see the sun, the sky and the trees overhead even when you’re indoors. It’s a great way of bringing the outdoors inside and making your indoor space feel much more natural and appealing. It’s an intervention that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Create a Shelter in Your Outdoor Space

If you want to make better use of your outdoor space, you need to make sure that it offers the practical features and functionality that it needs to in order to be usable. For example, your patio area will need some kind of protection and overhead cover, such as a canopy or some other sort of roof structure. That way, you’ll know that you’ll be able to use your outdoor dining area even if the weather suddenly changes.

Find the Right Outdoor Furniture

Finding the right outdoor furniture will be essential if you want to make better use of your outdoor space in the summer months. It’s up to you to ensure you put the right furniture in place, and be sure to make it comfortable and suited to your particular needs. The kind of furniture that’s right for you will depend on a range of factors; most important, how you’re going to use the space.

Invest in New Patio Doors

If you want to connect your indoor and outdoor space, it makes sense to invest in new patio doors. By having large sliding doors put in place, you’ll be able to open up that space and ensure that there’s no visual barrier between the kitchen-diner space of your home and the outdoor patio area. If you want to find out more about putting these kinds of patio doors in place, this guide will give you the information you need.

Create Great Second Floor Views

It’s also a good idea to think about how you connect the upper floor of your home to the garden as well. For example, you might want to have a balcony created to make use of the outdoors from your bedroom. Or you might simply want to reconfigure your office space so that you have appealing views over the garden when you’re working from home. There are many ways of doing this, so get creative.

Design the Space to be Used as One

When you’re creating an outdoor space that connects and flows into your indoor space, you should try to design the space as one single entity that’s to be used as one. That way, you’ll be able to make sure that the whole space feels cohesive and as if it’s one space that straddles these two aspects of your home as opposed to two different spaces entirely. This consistency can be achieved in a variety of ways through the right design strategies.

Connecting the inside of your home with your outdoor space can enhance both of those areas. If you want to connect these spaces better, be sure to make use of the ideas and solutions discussed above. You’ll be very glad you did so by the time the summer months roll around once more.

Garden tips

Giving Your Garden A Makeover

ByThe house that never rests | On July 17,20 | 0 Comment

*** Collaborative post***

Whether you’re green fingered or not, the garden is always an area that is worth investing some of your time. After all, when you want to enjoy the weather, it makes sense to create an outdoor space that you can utilise and enjoy for many years to come.

You may have lived in your house for many years or have moved into a new property and have consequently inherited a neglected garden or one that is not designed to your taste or in a practical way. It can sometimes be hard to envisage the potential that your outdoor space has, so it’s always worth a look around online to get some inspiration from what other people have done to their gardens and outdoor space.

No matter how your garden currently looks, it can be converted into a space that really suits your style and matches your vision of the perfect garden. From stripping down overgrown shrubs and trees to building new features and adding greenery, we take care of every step of the process.

Many factors will come down to a details such as:

The size and shape of your garden

If you have a small garden, then you will really be looking to maximise the space and clear away any obstacles that are not working. There might be trees that are blocking natural sunlight or a space that could be better used. Some jobs might be too big to tackle on your own though and this is where you will need the services of tree surgeons like the Sydney Tree Company who can remove trees and arrange for their removal too.

Your budget

Before you start planning your garden design and reconfiguration, you need to be looking at how much money you have to spend on the project. Once you start looking at costs, then you’ll get a clearer idea of what your priorities are and what you can achieve with the amount you have in mind. It will help clarify what the essential changes are and what the ‘nice to have’ changes will be.

The functions of the garden

You need to be clear on what you intend to use your garden for. If you spend a lot of time in your garden, then it makes sense to get it to the way that you envisage, as much as possible. If you’re used to entertaining and plan to use your garden for socialising, then it’s functionality is of paramount importance. You will need a space that can accommodate more people, as well as planning out seating areas for everyone’s comfort.

If your garden is going to be used primarily for kids playing, then you might want to consider what might be more sustainable for the upkeep. You might not want delicate plants and flowers in places where they might get trampled on, and you also might want a grassed or and are with artificial grass for the kids to play freely, without any hazards such as raised beds that can easily be tripped over.

Garden, Garden tips

How to Run Your Garden in a Sustainable Way

ByThe house that never rests | On April 14,20 | 0 Comment

Collaborative post

If you love your garden but wish you could get more out of it and run it in a more sustainable way, you’re not the only one. These days, more and more people are thinking about how they can create a sustainable garden. It might seem difficult to know where to start and how to get this right, but we’re here to help you out with that.

It doesn’t have to be an impossible mission and it doesn’t even have to be particularly complicated either. We’re going to talk about some of the practical steps you can take to change your garden in positive ways and ensure it becomes more sustainable and eco-friendly. Find out more below.

Use Solar Power Lighting

First of all, you should think about how you choose to light the social spaces in your garden. If you use lights powered by conventional electric, that’s not a very green or sustainable choice, especially when there are so many better and more sustainable options out there for you to consider instead. Look at solar power lighting solutions and how these might help you to light up your outdoor space in the evening using solar panels that charge a battery during the day when the lights aren’t in use.

Commit to Zero Waste

There’s no reason at all why you should be creating waste in your garden. Many people are now making the commitment to running gardens that operate on a zero waste basis. This means that absolutely nothing gets thrown in landfill and nothing goes to waste. After all, why should it? There’s something that can be done with all of the potential waste that comes out of your garden, and we’re going to talk about some of the specific ideas below.

Grow Your Own Food

Growing your own food is a must if you want to run a sustainable garden. We all need food, but why buy things from a store when you can grow them in your garden instead? It’s a way of consuming the most local of products, and means that you’re not buying food that has been transported over long distances, creating CO2 emissions in the process. Start with a small vegetable patch growing some simple produce and then grow it from there over time. It’ll offer you just what you need.

Create a Compost Heap

This is one of the ways in which you can reduce the amount of waste in your garden. All of the things that are created after weeding and pruning your garden can be thrown on a compost heap and be put to good use. It’s much better to do that than to simply allow your garden waste to go in the bin and ultimately end up in landfill. Instead, you can get some use out of it and actually benefit your garden in a big way. Your own fresh compost will enable you to revitalise your flower beds and plants later on.

Capture, Store and Use Rainwater

Why waste water when you can get all the water you need from the sky? You can use plastic water tanks to collect rainwater and then use that water to keep your flowers and plants hydrated and growing. It’s easy to set up a system like this and it’s essential to do so if you’re serious about making your garden more sustainable and eco-friendly. There are guides out there that’ll help you with putting a tank system in place, so make the most of them. You won’t regret it.

Avoid All Chemicals

There’s no reason why you need to use garden products that are packed full of chemicals. It’s simply not necessary and there are so many better options out there. There’s a growing number of garden products that only use clean and sustainable ingredients, and that means shunning products that are packed full of unhelpful and unhealthy chemicals. If you want to make your garden more sustainable, you should also take these kinds of steps to make it a little cleaner too.

Reuse as Many Resources as Possible

Whenever you get the chance to reuse something in your garden, you should go ahead and do that. You don’t want to be buying new items, implements, pots and tools. Plant pots can be made from all kinds of things from old cardboard crates to disused toilets. There’s no limit to the ways in which you can get creative when it comes to reusing items and putting unwanted things to new uses in your garden, so make this happen. It’ll add new character to your garden and it’ll be sustainable at the same time.

Use Native Plants That Belong in Your Garden

If you want to make sure that your garden is healthy and natural, you should use native and adapted plants. Native plants are one that grow in your location without any human input. Native plants are well suited to your location, the conditions and climate. On top of that, native plants can add a distinctive sense of place to a garden, which is always a positive thing. It’s much easier to maintain a healthy balance in your garden when you have native plants in place.

Save Your Seeds

Finally, you should always remember to save your seeds. You won’t need to buy new seeds all the time if you make use of your own. You can grow flowers or vegetables or fruit and then take the seeds and store them carefully until you want to plant more of that flower or that vegetable. It’s easy to do and it’ll benefit you massively in the long-term as you attempt to expand your garden.

If you want to run your garden in a greener and more sustainable way, these are the things you need to do. Each of these changes will be easy to implement and they’ll enable you to easily run your garden in a sustainable way. Get to work and start making these changes as soon as you can.

Exterior design, Garden, Garden tips

Turning outdoor space Into a fun area for the children

ByThe house that never rests | On September 29,17 | 0 Comment

Turning outdoor space Into a fun area for the children

All parents should think long and hard about the way in which they use their gardens. Some people let the outdoor space overgrow because they just can’t deal with the maintenance. That is a terrible idea that could encourage complaints from the neighbors. Others slab the entire lawn, but some folks like to think outside of the box. Considering that, mothers and fathers reading this post should consider turning their garden into a fun space for the little ones. The ideas on this page should point families in the right direction. However, in most instances, you just need to use some imagination.

Get some climbing frames and other equipment

Every healthy child likes to spend time playing outside while they’re still young. Some teenagers even feel the same way, and plenty of adults do too. So, the goal is to make the garden as fun as possible. There are lots of different types of equipment anyone could purchase and keep outside to create a multifunctional garden. However, climbing frames, slides, and swings are always a top choice. In most instances, it will only take a few minutes to put the items together and start using them. For the best prices, it’s sensible to check auction websites and online retailers. That is especially the case now we’re approaching the winter because those items tend to get a reduction.

Dig a pond and add some wildlife to the garden

Most children like to spend time learning about animals, plants, and wildlife. So, it’s sensible for parents to encourage that interest. Adding a pond to the garden is an excellent move because it means you can keep lots of exotic fish. Of course, it’s wise to take safety precautions and ensure the kids can’t fall into the water. Also, in built-up areas, there are going to be a lot of cats. For that reason, homeowners will have to place a net over the water to stop the animal from eating any fish. There are step-by-step guides online that explain everything you need to know. So, just conduct some research!

Build a Wendy house (or a whatever your child’s name is house)

Building a Wendy house is a great way of encouraging the little ones to spend more time in the garden. Of course, placing something like that on the lawn is going to damage the grass. So, lots of people will decide to get some fake turf first. That’s a fantastic move because it also means those homeowners will never have to get their mower out of the shed again. The real cost of artificial grass is nowhere near as high as most folks imagine. Indeed, it’s more than possible to get the perfect solution without breaking the bank. The benefits of artificial grass include:

No maintenance
Comes in a range of shades
Lasts for many years

Those suggestions should help all parents to make a start when it comes to improving their gardens. However, readers know their children better than anyone else, and so everyone should make sure they create something that suits their little one’s tastes and interests. Don’t make the mistake of letting the area overgrow because it will take a lot of effort to put things right.