Uncommon Gardens

Over the last year or so, our homes have become our offices, restaurants, cafes, classrooms and even cinemas. With so much time spent at home, many Kiwis are seeing their gardens in a new light. With warmer weather on the way, or here for some, think of your outdoor spaces adding more living areas and opportunities to enjoy your home.

Outdoor Living Rooms
There’s a fashion for making the outdoor living space more like the indoor living space. For example, some designers are suggesting we take rugs, blankets, lighting, chairs, and dining tables outside. It’s a fun way of thinking about the garden. In some parts of New Zealand, moving some of your indoors to the outside is certainly an option. What’s more enjoyable than lounging under the stars on a summer night?

Lounging around
Garden furniture needs to be comfortable, and it needs to last. Traditionally, outdoor furniture has been made of plastic, timber or wicker, and while these are popular, they can look a bit the worse for wear after a few seasons of battering from the weather. Because they’re spending so much more time outdoors, some homeowners are investing in furniture that will last forever, sturdily constructed from metal, aluminium and even concrete. Tough stuff that can look great.

Cook in style
The barbeque is a standard fixture in many Kiwi gardens, of course, but it’s possible to go one step further and equip your backyard with all the culinary bells and whistles. Many are now looking for the same amenities in their outdoor spaces that they currently have indoors. Outdoor entertaining areas are being kicked up a notch! Full-blown kitchens equipped with every appliance and amenity possible are becoming increasingly popular as Kiwis look to add even more possibilities for life outdoors.

Sitting pretty
It seems pretty obvious, but a well-thought-out outdoor living space is all about maximising comfort. After all, it’s a place to relax and that’s why comfortable outdoor seating is an absolute essential. The other essential is heat for warmth. While the summer sun is shining, that’s all taken care of by nature. On colder days, or when the sun has dropped behind the horizon, it’s time to fire up an outdoor heater.

Outdoor Wi-Fi? Why not?
With so many of us remote working or learning remotely, being online is crucial. Outdoor internet is becoming increasingly popular. And if you’re turning your outdoor space into a living area, then outdoor internet or Wi-Fi systems are now available, so you can be online indoors or outside. Entertainment is also heading outdoors. All-weather Bluetooth speakers and outdoor TVs and projectors are becoming ‘must-haves’ for entertaining.