Who doesn’t crave fresh air, sunlight and gorgeous views?
When you approach your home’s interior and outdoor spaces from an integrated lens, you double the amount of usable, and enjoyable space of your home, yard and property.
Thinking of these elements in context – and working with your interior design professional to craft harmony between them – enriches the home experience.
Cathedral ceilings, large windows or an expansive wall of windows, sliding or newer exterior bi-fold door systems opens up views and vistas beyond your home’s interior walls.
These features create a seamless, consolidating view and relationship between what’s inside and out.
When picking your interior home décor style, don’t forget what’s beyond the four walls.
“Visually you don’t want to look out from a formal living room onto a terrace with contemporary furnishings. There has to be flow and cohesion, especially when looking through to the outdoor space,” said Pam Lazor, an interior designer and owner of Casa Double L Interior Design in Riegelsville.
Color is a great harmonizer and can be used to coordinate spaces to create the illusion of depth or make a space appear larger than it is.
A color palette that takes the eye – and the beholder – from indoors to outside, and vice versa, is one way to create harmony.
But color isn’t the final word.
“Color, while the great equalizer, won’t correct incompatible pieces,” Lazor explained.
Be thoughtful about furniture, design and styles, too.
“Make sure the furniture is compatible from the inside to the outside. You don’t want to be jarred walking from your living room to your dining room, for example” so you should apply the same process of flow moving back and forth from inside and outside areas.
Plants and natural greenery used indoors and outside, including potted plants, trees, hanging baskets and gardens, is another way to soften spaces and create harmony between spaces.
When selecting furniture and accessories to be used outside think carefully about materials, especially if they won’t be sheltered during bad weather or over the winter months.
“Teak ages beautifully. It’s a natural, perfect type of material for outdoors,” Lazor said. And teak’s natural tones harmonize with other types of wood you’ll find indoors.
Stone and wrought iron are other durable long-lasting outdoor materials choices. Stone pairs well with a variety of interior design styles, especially those with stone elements like hearths, fireplaces, tile, or stone building materials.
Wrought iron, either newly forged or vintage pieces, can become an anchoring feature, adding weight and drama to indoor and outdoor spaces.
Wrought iron dates back to the Bronze Age in Asia Minor, or from about the 2nd millennium, Before the Common Era. (BCE).
Iron work became popular in England during the 1700s and found its way to the American Colonies.
Lazor likes wrought iron design and styles, too. Whether it’s mixed with other materials in furniture, as garden accessories, fencing, wall décor, trellises or hanging basket features, iron is a versatile material.
Larger iron work pieces can include pergolas, lattice, fencing, gates, arbors or arches and iron espalier wall features, used to train plants and fruit trees.
“You can mix [iron pieces] in your gardens, your hardscaping and your home and structures, and these will all relate,” she explained.
While mixing styles is fun and makes spaces interesting, apply the same principals to your garden and landscaping as you would to integrate different design styles inside the home.
Lazor suggests contemporary homes with modern furnishings and décor might marry well with tall grasses, greenery and foliage plants instead of heavily loaded flower beds, or lots of climbing vines.
“Your terrace, lawn or pool is another room, it’s another space” to be decorated, Lazor said
For example, a contemporary or minimalist home might work best with clean, streamlined outdoor spaces and neat modern garden “rooms.”
The English cottage look could be right at home with farmhouse, cottage, Bohemian or Boho and traditional home décor styles.
“You do have to consider what else is in that space. Yes, it’s another room, but it’s outdoors. What is your backdrop? What are your surfaces, and what will complement each other,” Lazor said.
“It has to have a flow, and it has to have some kind of story behind it,” she said.
Angela Carroll Ast, an interior designer and owner of ABCA Design Decorating Den Interiors in Milford Township, Bucks County, said finding your own decorating style takes time – and patience, and it is well worth the endeavor.
“Look at things in a new way. Does your piece have a function and make you happy. If there are pieces in your home you don’t like, why keep them,” Ast said.
Identify what you don’t like, as this is often an easier process, than figuring out the styles you are drawn to, she explained.
Ast offers this checklist to begin:
• Metals: shiny or dull (matte).
• Pattern or no pattern.
• Color or no color.
• Color: Dark or light.
• Neutrals – which can include white, off white, cream, beige, greige, gray and brown. Remember black is also considered a design neutral.
• Furniture styles, especially shapes, sizes and structure. “The arm is the thing people have the strongest opinion about,” Ast said.
• Sofas. What type of sofa do you enjoy using? What kind of sofa does your household need?
When changing up a sofa, consider piping or welting (cording) in a different color. This can tie other colors into a room or space, or offer a transition to outdoor spaces. For example, a light sofa with dark cording can look fresh, contemporary and unexpected, Ast explained.
Keeping your design preferences, styles and colors in mind when moving outside to furnish outdoor living spaces, create gardens with cohesion and decorate patios and decks for warm weather use helps create a harmonious vibe.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. Once it feels good, let’s keep it,” Ast said.
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