Create a match made in heaven this winter by marrying your home to your garden, and your living space will become a warm and inviting winter wonderland that you won’t want to leave.
When winter brings wild weather, lowers temperatures, and shortens the light of day, you may feel it brings a lull in activity, but nothing could be further from the truth. In summer, while your garden or other activities in the sun have kept you busy – indoors is the last place on your mind. That’s one of the reasons winter is the perfect time to prioritise your home improvements. Plan renovating your house in winter, and by the time you’ve brightened, lightened, wind and water tightened, it will be spring again!
The cold weather slows most animals down – some to the point of hibernation – including human beings! But you don’t need to slow down your renovation plans just because its miserable outside. Winter is the perfect time to turn your home into your own special warm and comfortable environment, simply by installing under floor heating and lighting.
Under floor heating distributes warmth evenly across all your floor surfaces. With heat rising from the floor upwards, you and your toes will feel warm even when the snow is falling on the coldest of days. As it is one of the most efficient heating systems, it can also save you money. Put under floor heating into your conservatory as well, and you can enjoy watching your garden in winter as much as you do in summer.
Now let’s bring the outside in by placing some winter blossoms in gravel trays around your house and conservatory. Cyclamen and fragrant Hyacinth are as happy indoors as out. Aloe, Christmas cactus, and even the adaptable spider plant, will bring you the leafy indoor environment you need for good health, as they absorb air pollutants. Spread even more winter flower power around with vases of colourful flowers. To add to the ambient atmosphere that your indoor plants and flowers create, install some uplighters and table lamps and replace old halogen spots with today’s energy efficient LEDs.
Next, let’s take the inside out by shedding even more light and raising your garden’s profile. Replace summer bed plants with winter pansies and polyanthus, then bring out some solar technology. String lights from bare trees and arches, and string some colour amidst your shrubs. Pop some floating solar lamps into your pond or push some solar lamps into the ground to lead you all the way up your garden path. Your garden will now be a twinkling beauty in the winter darkness ready for mulled wine picnics!
Lightening, brightening, or remodelling both inside and outside of your home will help you keep away the winter blues. One of the best things about having an under floor heating system in winter, is that welcoming, warm feeling you get when you come in from the cold and drop your boots. Now your garden plus your house equal home.