Seating Sense

One of my prime rules of garden design is that you should never be a slave to your valuable outside room. If you are a keen gardener, prepared to spend plenty of time on cultivation and maintenance, then that’s fine. If you are not, a carefully designed composition will ensure you never have to spend more than a minimal amount of time looking after the space. But whether you are a keen gardener or a lazy one, sitting outside on a hot summer’s day is one of life’s great, simple pleasures. The choice of furniture is extensive, ranging from custom-made built-in designs to an almost unlimited variety of off-the peg tables and chairs. The main consideration is that your choice reflects the underlying theme of the garden as a whole. While well-conceived moulded plastic chairs in primary colours can be great to sit in and look perfect in a modern design, they will appear quite awful in a period setting. In other words, think and look carefully before you buy or build, and if you are buying furniture always try it out. It’s surprising how often a really elegant-looking chair can be appallingly uncomfortable.

Fine trees are often a focal point in a garden. A seat built around a tree will be visually attractive and will also benefit from the cool shade of a broad canopy of leaves.

While it is outside the abilities of the average home craftsman to build elaborate seating in metal or plastics, most projects that involve timber are well within reach, particularly if you take your time and carefully work out a sensible design beforehand.

Other objects and features in a garden often become occasional seats, and it may be worth taking this into account when choosing them. For example, the edge of a raised bed or pool approximately 45cm (i8in) off the ground is at a perfect height for perching, but if it’s only one brick thick it won’t be that comfortable. A double-brick wall, or one with a rounded brick coping or paving-slab top, will be altogether better. Such a feature will also be part of the overall composition and as such will fit comfortably within the design.

Built-in timber seats can be both practical and attractive. They can be fitted into the angle formed by two house walls, built as an integral part of a barbecue area or form one or more sides of a timber deck. The railway sleepers that we looked at earlier for paving and raised beds make ideal seats. Set them on sections of vertical sleeper sunk into the ground, but make sure they are clean and not smothered with oil, which will make them totally unsuitable for use as seating in hot weather.

In a less formal situation large sections of fallen or felled tree trunks can be fashioned with a chainsaw to make a set of furniture. Chairs can be cut from single sections of timber and the table formed from a number of planks or, if the trunk is big enough, a large diameter slice.

One of the most attractive seating ideas I have seen, and something I am incorporating into my own new garden, uses really large water-worn boulders. These must be substantial, so you will need mechanical means to shift them and partly bury them, but once in a carefully allocated position, close to or even surrounded by paving, they look quite superb. They also look good in an area of gravel and sculptural planting, but do need selecting personally from a stone merchant to get the right shape and character.

As with the other elements of garden design, avoid conflicting styles of furniture, and try to choose designs that are sympathetic to the overall look of your garden. Remember that painted finishes will require frequent retouching if they are not to become shabby

Just where you sit in the garden is another consideration and, while most patios are sited to catch the sun for much of the day, there is often a real need for a shady corner in which to relax. Such a sitting area can be an altogether smaller and quieter affair, probably positioned away from the house but linked back to it by a path. A backdrop of trees will often be enough to

provide shade, but make sure you don’t position a seat under a lime with its sticky drip.

Trees will also be the perfect hosts for a hammock, one of the most comfortable places for a quiet snooze. Do make sure the trunks are stout enough, though, and if you suspend the hammock from overhead branches, then check these for any weakness or rot. Hammocks need to be of an ample size — the small ones are simply uncomfortable. They also take a deal of practice to get in and out of, with a few tumbles in the process. Some hammocks come complete with stands, which is fine if you have no trees, but somehow that essential magic is lost.

While much furniture, including hammocks, is essentially static, it can be useful to have a number of light, folding chairs that can be moved around to chase sun or shade as the mood takes you and that can be tucked away in a minimal space for winter storage. Deck chairs were the traditional solution, and I think these still have a great deal of visual appeal. Equally comfortable and attractive are ‘director’s’ folding chairs. The fabric covers of such seats can pick up a colourway used in the house if you w ill use them indoors as well as out, or provide the basis of a whole exterior colour scheme, taking in awnings over windows, blinds, cushions, paint and even your planting arrangements.

Plastic furniture is reasonably priced and almost maintenance-free. While it can look a little stark, there has recently been a vast improvement in the quality and range of designs available. Again, the sympathetic use of fabrics will enable you to co-ordinate the furniture with your chosen planting scheme.

Exterior bean bags are one of the best new ideas I have seen. They consist of a water- repellent fabric filled with polystyrene granules. The size can be varied, but as a general rule the bigger the better. They are terrific for kids and adults alike and can be used just as well indoors.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Seating Sense

• Garden revolves: Patios
• Fences, Gates and Hedges
• Paths and Patios
• Adding a sense ofAdding a sense of period period
• Garden Fence Walls, inside Green Shadow (Bricklaying DIY)
• Planning Garden continue...
• Plants of Character Part 1
• Gardening with a Knife continue...
• The Terraced Garden continue...
• Garden Steps and Ramps DIY part 2