Style Stories | Creating an Inviting Outdoor Space

Heather Nette King is a Melbourne-based interiors stylist and writer for many leading interior titles and newspapers. The hallmarks of her styling are colour and vibrancy, and she writes passionately about peoples’ homes and how they live in them.

How to make your outdoor spaces their stylish best

We’ve spent more time at home than ever before this past year, and our homes are looking better for it! We’ve given fresh eyes to our living spaces, pulling our focus to the areas that work for us and adjusting others that don’t serve us as well as they could.

Personally, one area that I’ve noticed I need to work on is our indoor/outdoor space. Sadly, it’s become more of a storage space. If there’s one thing that I know about interiors, it’s that if you create a beautiful space, your family and friends will flock to it.

To help you start preparing for the summer months, here is a guide to creating fresh outdoor spaces, and the increasingly popular indoor/outdoor areas of your home.

What are some of the easiest ways to create an inviting outdoor space?

Get organised and create zones

Start by creating zones that encourage you to do the things that you enjoy. Are you fond of reading in the sun? Make sure there is a comfortable chair or lounge in a sheltered place.

Do you like entertaining? An outdoor dining table with chairs will encourage long lunches. If sunbathing is your thing, find the sunniest spot in the yard or balcony and add a lounge, umbrella and side table for drinks, magazines and sunscreen. If you’re a gardener, make sure there’s a shed to store your tools.

Make your leisure zones beautiful

Once you have an idea of the amenities that you will need to put in place, consider how to make each zone as stylish as possible. Outdoor accessories are now just as beautiful as those for indoors; from bunting and fairy lights, UV protected furniture and cushions, to sunshades and outdoor umbrellas.

One of the greatest ways to help create beautiful zones is by using outdoor rugs. They work just like indoor rugs in that they create focal points to an area. Selecting the right outdoor rug can also bring together the rest of your décor selection. A striped, navy and white rug instantly signals a nautical look – for this, I adore Carpet Court’s Seaside rug. For a fresh, garden-inspired look, try the Jungle rug from the Amazon collection.

Gardens are meant to lush and green, right? What if the lawn just won’t grow?

A verdant green lawn is one of the most prized aspects of a garden – my own dad spent years striving for a golf course-standard lawn, despite our yard being full of impediments. Some yards unfortunately will never produce great lawns, and I now know that my dad would have LOVED artificial grass and would have rolled out the LuxTurf immediately.

This state-of-the-art artificial grass can be made even more kid and pet -friendly:

PlaySafe padding is an underlay for your turf that helps absorb impact. It has incredible drainage properties, so areas that get wet are dry in no time at all.
PetFresh is a granule product made from an organic mineral that you sprinkle over your LuxTurf to naturally break down urine, neutralise odour and reduce bacteria.

The beauty of artificial grass is that it comes green and stays green. With regular brushing, spot cleaning and removal of animal droppings, it will have a long and beautiful life in your yard.

So, as summer approaches, now is the time to swing into action and prepare a stylish outdoor space to enjoy all summer long.