Owning a small outdoor place or an indoor patio with a skylight is something that, today. not many can have because they choose to live in apartments, and although many people have balconies or green areas nearby, it is not the same to own your private garden.

I will give you some recommendations:

• Select the materials thoroughly:

When it comes to terraces the first thing to keep in mind is that you will have to deal with sun and humidity for sure. That is why, although expensive, we must think of obtaining good quality and durable furniture. They must be made to be used outdoors. If they are made of iron, they must have a lacquer resistant to rust. No matter if they are armchairs, small cushions, or dining tables with their respective chairs, usually textiles colors fade away under the sun or they are filled with mold under the rain. Therefore, it is recommended to use impermeable fabrics for exteriors or to build a retractable awning or bamboo ceiling, polycarbonate or decorative pergolas. When buying furniture, synthetic wicker is always recommended for its resistance to heat and water, however this type of furniture is quite wide, so you can also buy plastic, metal or wood chairs.

• List of activities we can do on the terrace and elements we require:

We must think about the type of activities we will be carrying on the terrace, so we know what exact piece of furniture we should buy, call it an armchair, rocking chair or hammock to read, a small dining room for barbecues or special dinners, a bar furniture for social activities or inviting friends to a party, a quiet area to exercises or meditate, etc.

• Sketch and measure before you buy:

Before making changes to the terrace, you should make a small sketch, measure the place, look for decoration items in stores and finally make a diagram of where the plants will be located, taking into account heights, whether they are sun or shade plants and how much rain is going to fall.

• Create harmony with the rest of the house:

In some homes, terraces are kitchen extensions, especially when the house is small. When the house has a large balcony or roofed terrace, the dining room is build there to save space in the living room and to create a different environment to have a family lunch.

It’s an excellent idea to use transparent sliding doors to separate the house and the terrace. This creates a sense of continuity in space.

• Limited space and what to do with it:

If our terrace space or light patio is small, we should figure out if we really need a small table and the number of chairs for the family members, or if we can only leave two folding chairs or large cushions. More often than not, these spaces are saturated with furniture. It is very difficult to make small events, such as barbecues with friends, in these places. This is because of the amount of unnecessary or unnecessarily big furniture that we buy. A long seat with cushions is very attractive and useful in these spaces, especially when you have little space and money for seats.

• Style and decoration:

If we are looking for an elegant terrace, we can look for good materials for the floor and walls, for example, wood or wood-like porcelain for the floor and a stone veneer on the wall. The theme of the decoration plays a very important role, sometimes the terrace has a romantic concept, others a beach concept, others with a vintage style and others as drawn from Hollywood movies. All this we can achieve with the perfect choice of furniture and decoration details that make the difference.

• Illumination:

An important element in this type of environment is lighting, you can place environmental lighting hidden behind furniture, wrapped in some plants, or in small hanging lamps in strategic places. You can also place lighting on the bar of the bar furniture, such as a hidden fluorescent or a led tube.

• Plants vs. furniture:

Plants do not necessarily go on the floor or the ground. Although it is true that a tree would look spectacular on the terrace, we often deprive ourselves of furniture to have the whole terrace as a beautiful garden, but we can take advantage of walls, railings, columns, shelves, hanging shelves, air furniture and other elements to place the plants there and take advantage of the rest of the space for furniture or areas to walk.

• Color:

It is important to pay attention to what colors we use for the walls. I recommend using a color that contrasts with the green of the vegetation or the color of the furniture but it should be fresh color. Earth or natural tones are widely used for that warm effect they give to space, as well as white that will never stop to be one of the favorites.

Written by Fiorella Allain
Interior Space Designer