Building an Outdoor Living Room Indoors

If you are from New England then you know full well what a treat it is lately to enjoy a walk in the garden. What with all the rain, snow and tornadoes who dares to even venture outside anymore? If you are a New England prisoner of your own home then there is a solution to the growing cabin fever you are experiencing. That answer is to build your own indoor garden oasis right in your living room!! And yes, Doc will show you everything, step by step, for this look that will work in any home.

First you will want to start with a fresh coat of paint. Shades of green invoke a feeling of lush green plants and lulls those in the room into a sense of serenity. Shades of yellow will invoke a feeling of sunshine and gives those in the room a sense of stimulation. Which shade you choose is up to you but either shade will work well.

Now that your walls are painted and ready to go it is time to add trim. For the yellow painted room your crown molding, window casings and baseboard should be white. In the instance of the green room you could use a white for lighter greens or an off white for darker greens.

For flooring you will want to use a ceramic or stone tile. This will invoke a feeling of being outside and will wear well with the spillage from your plants. If you don’t like the hard feel of the tile you can add a lovely indoor outdoor rug. An indoor outdoor rug will allow you to have plant spillage and kid traffic without worrying too badly.

Now it is time for furniture. A wicker set with a floral pattern will exude the feeling of the great outdoors. If you are not into wicker then a wrought iron set will look just as well. And don’t worry, only the body of the couch is wrought iron. There are nice soft cushy cushions for your derriere!! My daughter owns a piece of one of these wrought iron sets and I would not recommend it for a family with children. The edges are picky and the glass on the matching tables could be dangerous in a fall. Wicker is also much more soft when reclining.

For accents you will want to add tons of plants. A fun idea would be tropical plants such as miniature oranges, lemons and bananas. In my travels I have even seen coffee plants!! Night blooming Cyrus is another fun plant. These plants, when taken care of properly, will live hundreds of years and produce an amazing night display of blooms every so many years. My great grandmother had one all of her life. When she died my grandmother inherited it and when she died my mother inherited it. We have estimated the plant to be about 200 years old now!! Another fun accent would be a corner fountain with a few Coy fish in it. These fun little fountains can be picked up at any garden center. My mom had one in her living room for years but had a bit of a tragedy. She put tiny fish in the fountain and the pump sucked them in, spitting them back out in pieces!! So make sure you go for the bigger Coys or Goldfish. Coys can live up to 25 years so that would be a long term investment.

Now that you have a fun, outdoor room indoors the last thing you need to do is set down with an ice cold glass of lemonade and pretend you are anywhere but in New England!!