Arrange Your Furniture Right

When placing your furniture around your pool patio, make sure it makes sense and serves a purpose wherever it is placed. For example, right by your poolside place several reclining chairs for sunbathing and seating. Near the bbq, set up an outdoor eating arrangement with a table, several chairs and a large outdoor rug.  Make sure not to arrange furniture too close to the pool, keep chairs away from the edge to make sure there is enough room to move around.

Clean up & Declutter 

As we are all aware, the beauty of a swimming pool lies in a well-kept patio. But, does decorating it and not maintaining it well make sense? Not at all! Here’s how to spruce things up. First of all, do away with unwanted items to create the illusion of space. Get rid of any unwanted pieces of furniture in your patio, and create more space for more beautiful flower pots. Moreover, clean up, and trim and way-ward shrubs for a cleaner and peaceful atmosphere.

Dust your garden furniture and flower pots, and later brush with a hard-bristled brush to eliminate dirt and debris. Pour soapy water and scrub using the hard-bristled brush until the entire area sparkles.  

Your pool also matters; you don’t want to have a beautiful patio surrounded by a dirty pool. If it has cloudy pool water, use a swimming pool clarifier or pool flocculant to clean up. This type of water may result from improper chemicals, high alkalinity, and low calcium hardness levels.

Provide a Shield From the Sun

Place a large patio umbrella over your eating table to shield from the sun and rain. You can also set up a nice gazebo or even a veranda for a more permanent solution. I love the look of a patio cover with luscious vines growing above – it adds a great Tuscan feel and is even more beautiful when you can pick grapes, kiwis, or flowers from above.

Add a Fountain

To add a fountain effect to your pool, you can install a full fountain in the center or add small fountains or even sprinkles at the side of the pool. This is a great way to add interest, and spice up the fun while swimming or taking a dip in the pool! You can also add a separate patio fountain somewhere near your deck for a similar effect, but at a lower cost.

Show Your Artistic Side with Sculptures

Create an artistic look by your pool by adding sculptures or large concrete urns on each corner of your pool. You can plant beautiful flowers to add color and charm to your pool, but make sure to choose plants that don’t dry and shrivel up to avoid unnecessary clean-up. I love the look of Roman inspired sculptures that mimic the look and feeling of the old Roman baths. There are tons of styles you can choose from to decorate around your pool, but keep in mind that you really can’t go wrong with a gorgeous urn stuffed with beautiful flowers.

Add Decorative Tiles

The easiest way to dramatically change the look of your pool is by adding decorative tiles around the border. This is not only an affordable way but it also gives a customized, and unique feel to your outdoor oasis. Make sure to put safety first and install tiles that aren’t slippery like rough stones or tiles that have some grip. You can always hire a designer like Edge Leisure to design the look of your pool to get it just right.

Peonies

These pink flowers are outrageously beautiful when in bloom and will stay as lush flowers all summer long. Plant them once, and they will bloom every summer – some are known to thrive for well over 100 years. To give your back a break, they require little maintenance and make the perfect borders for lining your walkway, driveway, or garden.

French Tulips

Tulips bloom in the spring and grow from bulbs that form beautiful flowers in a wide variety of colors except for blue. These are one of the first flowers marking that spring has official arrived – what a way to greet the season! They thrive in long, cool springs and dry summers. Plant them in the late summer, or autumn for best results.

Sweet Pea

These tiny flowers are native to Silicy in Italy and form fragile; seductive little flowers with an alluring fragrance. They make great bouquets and grow in a wide range of colors suitable for a garden border, fence, or arch.

Spray Roses

Cheryl from lamour et fleurs gave me the wonderful idea about planting miniature roses. They aren’t like your regular roses, these miniature roses are typically smaller and produce lush, rich flowers. Unlike larger roses, these flowers produce more blooms and can be easily transplanted and used for decorations in pots or for bouquets. You can also plant these if you are looking for a rich cluster of flowers to cover a large area with minimal planting required – these roses bloom like crazy and are a great wonder to have in the garden.

Ranunculus

If you’ve never heard of Ranunculus, it’s time you plant them in your flowerbed. They have incredible colors, straight long stems, and are great for bouquets since they have a long vase life and long-lasting blooms. The leaves look like lace and are perfect to incorporate in your garden landscape design as borders or even for fresh flower arrangements throughout your home costing you pennies!

Photos via Pinterest and Houzz

The sunroom is my favourite place of the house – sunny, peaceful, and filled with my favourite plants and flowers. It makes a lovely place to relax during the summer months and an even better greenhouse to grow you vegetables in the wintertime. Take advantage of your conservatory this winter and transform it into your own mini vegetable garden to grown organic greens and save loads of money this season!

Karen Gallaher Interiors

What could be better than having your own home-grown vegetables? In the winter, it’s super difficult to grow fruit and vegetables outside when the temperatures have dipped towards freezing. Bring your garden indoors in your sunroom and plant lettuce, herbs, carrots, and tomatoes.

Houzz

For this winter’s garden patch I bought a ton of seedlings from You Garden and planted tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes in pots and containers. You would be surprised at how much money you can save growing your own food!

Bruce Palmer Interiors

You can even use your sun room to showcase some gorgeous winter blooms and even dangling vines, exotic plants, and various cacti. To get a head start on spring blooms, plant them in containers in your sunroom and then re-plant them outdoors when the warm weather arrives.

Period Homes