If your outdoor area is looking a bit plain and boring, there are a few ways you can add interest and make it a more pleasant place to be.
Banish the bricks
The combination of hard surfaces, like pavers and bricks, can make your entertaining area feel a bit like a prison. The easiest way to soften the look is with plants. Raised beds give you an instant garden, bringing life and colour to the space. Continue the theme with planters hung on the wall to break up the large expanse of bricks. Fill them with flowering colour for an even better display.

Light it up
Outdoor lights don’t just extend the hours of entertaining time, they can also be used to create atmosphere and mood. Fairy lights strung over a dining table create a carnival-like feeling so you’ll find it hard not to have fun. Make your entertaining area seem larger with accent lights on feature plants and trees in the garden beyond. For more intimate occasions, it can be as simple as a few candles placed in tall jars.

Paint a feature wall
Feature walls have been used indoors for years to add interest and focus to a room, so why not use the idea outdoors? Paint the wall depending on the vibe you want to create. Choose a warming red or mauve for an intimate feel or go bold with a bright blue for a bit of fun. Decorate with a series of terracotta pots and selected accessories hanging from the wall. Fill the pots with a range of plants of different foliage shapes and colours so the wall has greater impact

Build a green wall
If you’ve got a pergola, you can make it feel more like an outdoor room by enclosing part of it with a green wall. Make a cage to fit between the posts of your pergola using reinforcing mesh. Keep the two sides of the cage together using short pieces of bar from the mesh. If you have access to a welder then use that to join them, if not tie the bars to the mesh by twisting wire around them. Mount the cage to the posts using metal clips then fill the cage with a range of plants in small terracotta pots.
