One of the concerns for some people have when they are considering downsizing to a small house is not having enough space for entertaining and leisure activities. The solution is adding garden rooms.
The type of garden rooms I am referring to are not building structures like a game room, studio, or office. They are designated spaces in a garden defined by borders of various materials. Garden rooms are also defined by their specific purpose. You might have garden rooms for a kitchen or barbeque, outdoor fireplace, dining table, gazebo, hot tub, sun deck, meditation bench, or vegetable garden.
They can be enclosed and made private using a variety of methods. You can use screen or hedge plants, lathing, or a variety of fencing. To create an identifiable space and border, you can install a wooden deck, brick or concrete pad, grass, gravel, or just line the edges with rock or border plants. You can create as many of these garden rooms as your outdoor space and budget will allow.
The cost to build garden rooms is a fraction of what it would be to buy and maintain a bigger house or add rooms to an existing one. If you’re resourceful and do most of the work yourself, it’s not going to cost a lot.
If you’re unable or unwilling to do the heavy labor, hire someone to prepare the soil, install the sprinklers, and do the hardscape. This will leave you with the artistic aspect of grading the soil, planting the vegetation, and installing rocks and other design features.
Garden rooms not only add living space to a small house, but they also add beauty and value. The key is to forget about traditional landscape designs and instead focus on dividing your garden into 2-4 or more sections. Each section would have a different use, theme, and appearance.