Sitting, sleeping, cooking – and all this in a very small space? If you furnish your garden house according to practical aspects, you can easily overcome this hurdle.
It is the little man’s finca, to be found in every allotment garden – the garden house. In GDR times affectionately called Datsche, the garden arbor has not lost its charm until today. Especially in large cities, a private or leased garden property means pure luxury. By Friday night at the latest. packed one’s bags and off we go with the whole family out into the countryside. The children can let off steam, while mum and dad forget the stress of working in the garden.
The centre of the garden is the said garden house, which is the living room, storage room and sleeping berth in one. If you want to furnish yourself here, you will soon reach your limits, because a garden house has only a few square meters of floor space. So before you buy furniture and decoration, you need to consider what is really important and what is needed. Think practically and be inspired by the following tips.
It would be nice, but in our beloved country the sun doesn’t shine every day. Even in the high season, from July to August, we have to expect some rain showers. This means that either you take off your shoes every time you enter your garden house, or you choose an easy-care floor covering right from the start.
- A concrete surface is quite simple, but concrete rubs off and is not particularly easy to clean.
- PVC flooring is very quick to install and inexpensive to buy. To prevent the flooring from cracking so quickly under load, take a total thickness of at least 3 mm.
- Tiles with a smooth surface are better – cleaned in no time with a broom or a damp cloth. Keep the colour shade in the light area, this will make your garden house look larger.
- As a fourth alternative, I recommend laminate because it simply looks “warmer” and more comfortable. Of course you cannot use any kind of wooden flooring in a garden house. The weather would cause the wood to swell. Special damp-proof laminate, such as that from holz-direkt24.com, is one hundred percent waterproof and also survives the wet and cold season perfectly.
Once you have made your choice for the floor covering, it’s time to set it up. Do not forget that we have put the focus here on the practical. You can orientate yourself at a single apartment. If you only have one room available, you have to restrict yourself, but not necessarily do without everything.
To keep food fresh in the garden house or to prepare smaller meals, a so-called mini kitchen is sufficient. If the term does not mean much to you up to now, on rundumkueche.eu there is a huge selection of mini kitchen blocks, which already contain the most important elements (refrigerator, hotplates, sink). Of course, you can also put together individual elements. Practical here is the use of existing niches. This means that the refrigerator can be “installed” to fit exactly, while the sink and hob are in a different position. Further tips for the selection of kitchen furniture for the garden house:
- Use smooth fronts with recessed grips. This looks simpler and, above all, there is no danger that you will permanently bump into or get stuck with protruding handles.
- Sliding doors in the base units allow more freedom of movement because they do not protrude into the room when opened.
- Do not choose dark colours, these will make the already small garden house look even smaller.
Anyone who not only uses the garden house as a second living room, but also needs it as a storeroom, will quickly come up against its limits in terms of space. The storage of small garden tools, the requirements for the garden furniture or the toys of the smallest ones resembles a Tetris game. Shelving systems that can be adapted to the existing size provide a remedy – pickawood.com even offers them with a configurator. So you can use every millimetre and still have everything sorted out ready to hand.
Quick tips for practical garden house furnishing
- folding chairs in Mediterranean design, not only look good, they also save space. If there is a visitor, the seats can also be expanded at lightning speed.
- Instead of a sumptuous couch, a comfortable two-seater. At the Swedish furniture giant there are a lot of suitable designs for the garden house, also with sleeping function!
- Hooks on the walls are not only useful for the wardrobe, they are also handy to hang an onion net, barbecue utensils and even shoes.
I am Don Burke, one of the authors at My Garden Guide. I am a horticulturist that cultivates, grows, and cares for plants, ranging from shrubs and fruits to flowers. I do it in my own garden and in my nursery. I show you how to take care of your garden and how to perform garden landscaping in an easy way, step by step.I am originally from Sydney and I wrote in local magazines. Later on, I have decided, more than two decades ago, to create my own blog. My area of specialization is related to orchid care, succulent care, and the study of the substrate and the soil. Therefore, you will see many articles dedicated to these disciplines. I also provide advice about how to improve the landscape design of your garden.
