You may live in a town or city and have limited space for a garden or outdoor retreat. But by designing your balcony in a country theme, you can create a homey more spacious looking atmosphere in your available space. You will feel like you have brought a small piece of country to your home and it will be the perfect place to relax or entertain friends. 
photo credit: Infrogmation

As with all balcony designs you really need to analyze your available space and make it work in all levels. You want to utilize the space but not have a crowded look that will make the space look smaller.

Two successful ways to make use out of your space is by layering, or making use of wall and ceiling space. Use of hanging plants, rafters, and displays high on the wall will utilize space often wasted or unused. And the addition of a trellis will make use of the higher space of the balcony.

You can add a small space garden to the balcony with balcony boxes, containers and hanging baskets. When decorating with plants, particularly garden vegetables, remember to grow vertical. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and flowering vines will add produce and color to the balcony along with a lush relaxing atmosphere. They will also add privacy to your balcony if placed on the edges of the balcony or next to your neighbor’s balcony space.

Flowers that are more country in feel are, daisy varieties, miniature roses, old-fashioned pinks, geraniums and a variety of herbs, particularly lavender and thyme. The herbs will also compliment your garden vegetables and add to the garden harvest.
photo credit: *hoodrat*

Add old wood boards and a few antiques or farm pieces. You may even find an old wood cabinet that will look nice on the patio wall. Most of these times can be found at an auction and often are sold for a dollar or two. Garage sales may also have country items at a reasonable price.

Find an older table or end table with a weathered look and at least one chair. You may be able to add a few chairs depending on your balcony space. And a small water fountain on a table will add the comforting sounds of cascading water.

One other way to make your balcony area feel a little larger is to bring some of the country feel and décor into the adjoining room. By laying down a carpet that flows from the balcony to the inner room you will create more of a feeling of space. And with indoor plants, the outdoor feel will also move indoors.

And last but not least, add lighting to the outdoor balcony oasis area. Lights that look like lanterns or old-fashioned wool lamps will keep the country look, as well as lanterns with candles.

The balcony can easily and quickly be turned into a very inviting backyard oasis area, which will extend your living space. It will also give you a place to escape to and enjoy time away from work and everyday stress.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 6:42 pm and is filed under backyard oasis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.