Press Article
LONDON LITE - Wednesday 23 April, 2008
The Great Indoors
Extending your living space with a garden you can use all year round
By Jessie Hewitson
So it snowed a little over Easter — okay, a lot — and yes, the weather can change from sun to hail in a nanosecond, but all this doesn’t mean you can’t spend more time outdoors. In fact, blurring the boundary between home and garden is a growing trend.
Outside sitting rooms — rooms technically in the garden but decorated with indoor furniture and materials — are now becoming increasingly common. And to save us from shivering to death, gas heaters and even fireplaces are being installed in our gardens to make them a much more comfortable option.
Patios are being raised to the same level as living rooms, meaning you can glide from outdoors to indoors without stepping up or down, and are increasingly being painted the same colour as the living room, or designed with the same flooring. Folding doors are another popular design trend — when folded open they almost disappear, blending the boundaries between living room and garden.
Jo Eccles, property search agent and director of Sourcing Property, has found that her clients are increasingly asking for homes that feature an indoor/outdoor room.
“Space in London is so expensive that if you can get a property with an outdoor sitting area then it’s like having an additional room,” she says.
“People also entertain more now and these types of gardens are perfect for this. They are great for busy Londoners too, as they are very low maintenance and with gardens in the capital generally being small, a cosy seating area works brilliantly. It’s also a great investment and will attract more buyers when you go to sell it.
“More and more people are asking for outside space and it really helps properties sell quicker.
“I had one client who, with my help, bought a flat in South Kensington. I then helped him find an interior and garden designer as he wanted a patio that looked like it was part of the sitting room. He painted the concrete walls the same colour as the living room and used wicker sofas with cushions to furnish it, and not traditional garden furniture.
“He even designed it so the barbecue was tucked away, as it was a giveaway that the room was outside. I would guess the new patio increased the value of his property by 10 per cent”.
Estate agent Carlos Riveros, who works at Chesterton’s Hyde Park office, recently had two similar properties for sale in Hyde Park — one with large folding doors from the living room to the garden, and one without.
“The property with the concertina doors sold quickly, and for £3m. The other property went for £200,000 less at £2.8m,” he says. “In our experience, these features do add desirability and can add to the price tag.”
Jack Belisario, head of landscape design at Clifton Nurseries, has also noticed that many of his clients are now requesting a design that blends indoor with outdoor.
“The flexibility that outdoor sitting rooms bring is always desirable,” he says. “We’re seeing more and more clients using concertina doors, which effectively removes an entire wall, so you get added garden space and you don’t have to recreate the table and chair set up all over again. Our designs involve continuous flooring from the living room to the garden, so they are on the same level, creating a continuous, seamless look.”
IT consultant Richard Chan, 38, and his girlfriend Isabel Penao spent £10,000 installing a large folding door in their basement living room, which opens on to their decked patio.
“We bought our property in Chiswick in 2006 for just under £400,000,” says Richard. “We decided to double it in size by adding a basement extension, which is very open-plan and home to our kitchen and living room, with the folding doors leading to a patio.
“The patio then has steps leading up to the rest of the garden on the ground floor. It is lit at night and has outdoor speakers so we can play music outside, often when we’ve got friends over for dinner. We had seen these folding doors at trade shows and always liked the look of them and the indoor/outdoor effect.
“I would say it has definitely added value to the flat as it means the basement is always flooded in light. Without the glass doors, it would have been a lot darker. We’ve now put our flat on the market, through Marsh & Parsons estate agency for £1.2m.”