Garden room interiors: floors, walls, storage and light

A garden room is a small space with a lot of glass, used at every time of day and in every season. That makes its interior a little different from a room in the house. It needs to handle bigger swings in temperature, more daylight, and a view that should stay the main event. The good news is that a few decisions, made before the room is finished, make most of the difference.

Floors that cope

The floor takes more punishment than anything else in a garden room. It sits over a ventilated void or a slab, sees boots coming in from the lawn, and moves between a cool winter morning and a warm summer afternoon.

• Engineered wood is the most popular choice in offices and studios. Its plywood core is much more stable than solid wood, so it copes with the temperature changes without gapping or cupping.
• Luxury vinyl tile or plank is warm underfoot, waterproof and hard-wearing, and good imitations of timber and stone are now convincing. A strong choice for family rooms and anywhere near a shower room.
• Rubber flooring belongs in a gym, laid over the structural floor in tiles 15 to 20 mm thick under weights.
• Porcelain tiles look striking carried through from a terrace, but feel cold without underfloor heating.

Avoid solid hardwood and laminate with a fibreboard core in anything other than a well heated room; both react badly to damp and temperature change.

Walls and ceilings

Most garden rooms are lined in plasterboard, taped and painted, which looks like a room in the house and is easy to hang things on. Timber linings, such as tongue-and-groove boards or birch plywood, give a warmer, more crafted feel and are tougher in a workshop or a gym.

Keep the colours quiet. Off-white, stone and soft greys let the garden do the work. A darker colour on one end wall can make a long room feel more intimate. Leave the ceiling pale to bounce light.

Storage at the ends, not the sides

The long walls of a garden room are usually glass or the view. Put storage at the short ends: a run of full-height cupboards, open shelves, or a window seat with drawers beneath. Built-in storage is worth the cost, because freestanding furniture in front of glass breaks up the view and gets in the way of the doors.

In an office, a cupboard for the printer, cables and paperwork keeps the desk clear. In a studio, deep shelves and a sink make a real difference. In a gym, wall-mounted racks keep the floor free.

Shading the glass

Large glazed doors are the reason to have a garden room, and the main reason rooms overheat. Plan shading at the design stage.

• Integral blinds sealed between the panes need no cleaning and do not tangle.
• Pleated or roller blinds on the frames are cheaper and easy to replace.
• External shading, such as a roof overhang or a canopy, works best of all because it stops heat before it reaches the glass.

For an office, blinds on the glass behind or to the side of the screen matter more than anywhere else.

Light for winter evenings

A garden room gets used at four on a December afternoon as much as at noon in June. Layer the lighting:

• General light from a central fitting or a few downlights, on a dimmer.
• Task light over the desk, worktop or easel.
• Ambient light from a lamp or wall lights, which makes the room feel warm from the house too.

Warm white bulbs (2,700 to 3,000 K) suit evenings far better than cool white.

Air and damp

A well insulated, well sealed room can trap moisture from people, plants and drying paint. Trickle vents in the window frames, an extractor in any shower room, and a heater with a frost setting keep condensation away. If the room will be closed for weeks at a time, leave a small amount of background heat on.

Furnishing for the view

Arrange furniture to look out. A sofa or a pair of chairs facing the garden, a desk side-on to the glass, a rug to define the seating area. Choose fabrics that cope with sunlight, as some will fade quickly behind large glass.

The garden rooms Harrogate homeowners enjoy most tend to share one quality: inside, they feel calm and simple, and everything points towards the garden.