In recent times, more and more of us find ourselves in homes with limited outdoor space and smaller gardens. But that doesn’t mean these spaces can’t work as hard as any other room in your home. In this guide we will take you through how best to design your garden, and what furniture will best suit a smaller space.

When designing a smaller garden consider decking or paving for a low maintenance alternative to grass. Mowing a tiny lawn can often be more effort than its worth and you will need to give up valuable space to store your lawnmower. Decking or paving is a great alternative as it is easy to maintain and offers a great canvas to build on. Also keeping plants in pots is a good way of making the most out of your space. You may not have room for flowers beds, and keeping plants in pots allows you to move them around, giving you freedom to switch up your garden design, as well as to make space if you have guests over. Plants in pots also work if you are a renter, as you can easily take pots and garden furniture with you to your next location.

For a small garden, we recommend you invest in the best quality garden furniture and furniture covers to protect your furniture. With a small garden, there often isn't the room to store your garden furniture inside over winter, and so a good quality cover will help increase the longevity of your pieces.

With a small garden, you should also ask your self what you want your small garden to do for you; Do you want to grow your own fruit and vegetables? Do you like to sunbathe and read a book outside? Or do you want another dining area in the summer? Be honest about what you want from your small garden. If you need a sanctuary to enjoy the summer alone, don’t feel you have to get the biggest corner bench when you'll realistically only have guests round a couple of days a year to entertain. Large pieces with only one function will take up lots of space and you'll find yourself buying more pieces to suit your needs. The Alder 2 seater bench & Alder garden chair and footstool are small but perfectly formed for enjoying your garden alone or with a couple of friends. For sun worshipers, the Sorento sun lounger is designed with a side panel giving you enough space for a drink and a book so you don’t need to try and squeeze in a side table if you don’t have room.

If you dream of having BBQs with as many of your friends and family as you can fit, a corner bench that is modular and can be made into different configurations may work for you. At the very least it gives you the flexibility to move your seating easily out of the path of the BBQ smoke. Danetti’s Savannah range is easily rearranged from a corner into double seat benches, smaller corners etc, to maximise your space. Or the Palermo has extra cushions that can fit on top of the built in side tables, giving you the option of extra seating or a place to put your drink. 

If coffee in the sunshine is how you like to start your day and the occasional dinner with a few friends is what you want, a garden dining table with 4 chairs is perfect. If the dining table is round it will mean that its easier for people to move around it and it won’t feel like you are blocking a part of your dining table in the same way that a rectangular table would. Our Porto dining table and Briar chairs fit the bill and are light and strong enough to move if you want to chase the last of the sun across your garden.

Most of all when you are short on outdoor space make sure it works for you. We are used to rooms inside the house transforming into offices by day and family spaces by night. There’s no reason your outdoor space can’t be your yoga retreat in the morning, a place to sip a coffee listening to a podcast at lunch, and an extra dining room for family and friends at night.