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Guest contributor, Natalie Wilson has some top tips for the ultimate Winter Garden escape.
With winter well and truly here, transforming your conservatory into a cosy and inviting space is a must when you want to make the most of the shorter days and colder weather. Conservatories are a wonderful place to spend your free hours during the summer months, but once winter comes around, they can often become unloved and neglected.
Decorating and furnishing your conservatory doesn’t need to be difficult and spending some time creating a wonderfully enchanting space can drastically expand your home to create a haven that you didn’t know you needed. Here are some tips as to how you can furnish your conservatory and create the ultimate winter garden escape.
Plan Ahead
Forward planning is essential in any aspect of home renovation or decoration. You need to make sure that every detail is considered, so be sure to ask yourself what you want to use your conservatory for. It may be that you want it to be a quiet space that is separate from the main house to be used for relaxing and admiring the garden or you may want to extend your dining room or kitchen space to create a bigger space for friends and family to gather in.
Once you know what you want to use it for and what aspects you want to focus on, it’s time to plan your colour schemes or consider making flooring changes if necessary. Conservatories tend to let in huge abundances of light, so you may wish to choose fabrics and colours which compliment this.
Make It Cosy
Winter is all about escaping the cold weather and snuggling up, so if you want to create a relaxing space in your conservatory, try to make it as cosy as possible with soft furnishing and warm blankets and rugs.
Depending on the materials that your conservatory is made from, it may be that it lets in a lot of the cold during the winter. Tiled or wooden floors can benefit from the addition of a soft rug in the winter and drafty windows may need the warming hug of some heavy curtains or conservatory blinds to block out and insulate against the cold.
Choosing The Right Furniture
Depending on what you wish to use your conservatory space for, the furniture you choose can have a huge impact on the final look. If you want to create a small corner of your home just for you to relax and enjoy, then look at comfortable furniture pieces which you can spend hours lounging on. For a more stylish winter escape, then a few select items of contemporary furniture will add some elegance to your conservatory without the need to redecorate your main living space.
When choosing conservatory furniture, especially sofas or armchairs, your choice of fabrics can dramatically modify the room. Whilst leather sofas are a popular choice for living rooms in the home, they can become extremely unwelcoming when placed in a conservatory due to the fluctuating temperatures throughout the year. It’s best to choose furniture which can give you the best of both worlds for both summer and winter use.
Use Your Garden For Inspiration
When you’re planning your winter conservatory decoration, don’t forget to consider your garden for inspiration. After all, this is what you will spend the majority of your time admiring whilst you are in there and it is what the main focal point of a conservatory is.
Summer may have been and gone, but that doesn’t mean that your garden cannot be as beautiful during the winter months. Your garden has so much to offer you in the winter months, whether it’s watching the wildlife or admiring your winter blooming plants and flowers. Adding lanterns or fairy lights can make all the difference to your view from your conservatory, so you may want to consider some lighting additions.
When choosing furnishings and colour schemes, use the natural tones and materials of your garden to create a gentle extension from your home. Soft greens and browns will truly complement your conservatory space and make it feel much warmer, even in the coldest of winter weather spells.
SOURCES
https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/gardening/g2854/plants-that-bloom-in-winter/
https://www.realhomes.com/buyers-guide/focus-on-window-treatments-conservatory-blinds
http://www.caulfieldcompany.co.uk/stylish-furniture-for-your-conservatory/
