Creating Cool & Calm: Our tips to create a cool, calm outdoor space.

With the everyday hustle, bustle and stresses that modern life brings, having a cool, calm space to come home too can completely reset your frame of mind and help with the mental load. Here are our own top tips on how to create a relaxing outdoor space that will become so valuable to you.

Sound, movement and scent

Often intertwined, sound, movement and scent allows you to go deeper with your physical, emotional and mental release. Like our other senses, sounds and smell are processed in the part of our brain that also processes our emotions, so tuning into the right kind of sounds or smells can have a huge calming effect on our mental wellbeing. Something that’s so important in the modern world.

So, how do you translate this into your outdoor space?

Water:

Adding another dimension to your outdoor space, water brings a sense of tranquillity along with attracting wildlife, creating reflections and adding an overall calmness.

The simplest way to add water would be something like a bird bath, which would help to attract additional wildlife, and birdsong along with it. A simple bath on a pedestal in a quite area of your garden should help attract lots of different species of birds to enjoy.

If you’re feeling a little more confident, something like a fountain or rockery water feature will bring the addition of the calming water sounds and movement within the area.

Or finally, a pond with a fountain which can also help to bring additional wildlife in the way of fish and frogs. However, I would ensure you research this thoroughly if this is the route you’re going to take as a pond can require lots of maintenance.

These options will be dependent on the space and budget you have available.

Lighting:

Enhancing your gardens beauty and functionality, lighting will ensure you still have the opportunity to enjoy it in spring and summer evenings.

Adding spotlights will allow you to focus on particular areas within the garden that perhaps help to bring a sense of calmness and enhance that movement and sound you’ve created – water features, plants or trees that are a big feature in your garden.

Even lighting up a seating area or walkway helping to join up these separate areas so they all seamlessly flow.

You can check or buy our range of garden lighting here or pop into any of our Builders Merchants and a member of staff will be able to help you.

Plants:

Pick plants that have a distinctive scent. Plants like honeysuckle and roses all have a strong smell that can help calm and relax you. The addition of an herb garden can also help with this - plants like lavender, rosemary or mint also have a strong scent, plus you can utilise them for cooking.

Colour

We all know that every colour has a particular connotation, so when your brief is to bring an element of calmness to your outdoor space, you need to ensure you pick the right colour palettes that will complement each other and keep it simple

Greens, blues and light tones like pastel colours are well known to help bring a sense of calmness to any space. Adding grassed areas or blue flowering plants like cornflowers or hydrangeas to your garden will not only help convey those colours but will also bring the addition of wildlife.

Painting existing sheds, fencing or outdoor buildings, light and pastel tones will also enhance those areas. Our array of outdoor paint offers a great selection of shades and will ensure weather resistance and long-lasting colour.

Choose lighter coloured paving, for a seating or paved area to help create a contrast to other areas of the garden that may still be a darker tone like unpainted fences or darker furniture. We have a huge selection of natural stone, porcelain or concrete paving that you can browse through. Or displays within all our builders merchant branches to get an actual view on colours.

Wildlife

Bring your outdoor space to life by creating a sanctuary for wildlife. Plant wildlife-friendly flowers that will attract bees and butterflies, and with the addition or a water feature, attracting birds you will have an array or wildlife in your garden to sit and watch.

Relax

Finally, and probably most importantly create a garden you can sit and relax in!

Include an area where you can have a chair and table or garden sofa so you can really kick back and relax. Make sure you have some shaded areas, to keep yourself cool and out of the summer heat.

If you already have a seating area – give it a clean, so it’s in tip top condition to just grab a book, fling off the shoes and enjoy all those aspects to your cool, calm sanctuary.