May 2006 - Sizing Up Your Garden Room

A garden room is an easy way to add living space for your home. It's a perfect place to entertain and cook meals on long summer days. Your room can be as simple as a stone or concrete patio or wooden deck with table and chairs and a charcoal BBQ or as elegant as you can imagine. It may be covered or not. It is important that it is accessible to the house or a backyard cabana. Optional is a full service kitchen unit with sink, refrigerator and stove.

Start by considering the size of the group that will usually use your garden room. Is it 4 or 40? Your floor space should fit the group size and leave room to move from the table and chairs to the cooking area. To accommodate an 8 person round table, a 12 x 12 floor space is desirable. To entertain 16 people, lay out a 12 x 24 space, and so on. For the floor, choose a level surface like bluestone slabs, smooth flagstone, or 2 x 2 designer concrete paving to match your home and color scheme.

A concrete base with the stone installed in mortar is the most stable. However, if you dig down 6 inches and install 4 inches of 3/4" minus crushed rock topped with either sand or 1/8 " minus crushed rock, you can create a stable patio surface. Just put the stones close together (1/8 inch apart) and sweep the fine material down in the cracks. It is best to edge the outside with wood or metal to keep the stones from "drifting" as time and use move them slightly.

To create a boundary around the perimeter of your room, place colorful ceramic containers with flowers and kitchen herbs at strategic spots where your want to direct or stop traffic. You can even use screens, arbors, or bamboo chimes as "walls" for your outdoor room. Your local nursery or garden center will have the finishing touches-table, chairs, cushions, lanterns, citronella candles and anything else you need for entertaining in your summertime living area.