Garden rooms come in all shapes and sizes, from the humble upgraded garden shed to the luxurious, multi-roomed, purpose built annexe. Garden rooms also come in a large range of colours, gone are the days when any garden building was constructed of brown coloured materials or was painted or stained in a brown shade. It is now perfectly acceptable, even trendy, to use bright colours on garden sheds, summer houses and fences, it is generally now felt that wood does not always have to be painted brown and bright blues or pinks, even multi-colours, are all very acceptable and fashionable. This article will explore the notion of using a variety of shades of grey (no pun intended) for your garden room; we will consider the realms of possibilities of using the colour grey for both the interior and exterior of your garden room.
It does not really matter what your garden room is used for, the colour grey is a modern and classy hue that will suit any purpose, from yoga studio to man cave, it is certain to please. For a start, grey goes with anything! It is one of the most versatile colours you can use and has a great range of shades, from the palest grey, which is almost white, to the darkest grey, which could be mistaken for black. From this sophisticated palette you can be confident that you will find at least one shade of grey that you will be partial to and then it is all a matter of finding other suitable grey tones with which to blend or contrast.
Most gardens have some greenery, a lawn, some shrubs, perhaps even some trees if you’re lucky enough to have a large garden, you will find that any of the many shades of grey will blend in very well with the green hues of your garden plant life. The exterior of your grey garden room could be just one overall shade of grey but with a contrasting colour for the door and the window frames, a mid to pale grey building accentuated with a bright white door and windows will bring a calm and restful atmosphere to your garden, whereas a very pale grey garden room with a black or dark grey door and window frames will be extremely in vogue. A very popular colour right now for garden rooms, summer houses, conservatories, etc. is French grey; this is more of a green grey, which means it blends perfectly with the natural colours found in a garden; it is also a much favoured colour to use when decorating the interior of a home. External cladding comes in many forms and can often be purchased in the colour of your choice, this includes stone, vinyl, brick, ceramic, fibre cement and external foam cladding, this type of exterior is highly sought after by garden room owners as it saves having to regularly maintain any paintwork. Click here for more information on external cladding.
If you have an ample budget then consideration could be given to the glass used in your grey garden room; the glass in your door, windows, skylight and bi-folding doors could all be replaced with glass that has been tinted in a grey tone, this would not only be very stylish, it would also help to keep your garden room cool during the hot summer months and it would certainly cut down on the glare from the sun. Tinted glass is also known to help prevent birds from accidentally flying into large expanses of glass, such as picture windows or bi-folding doors.
A grey garden room interior will not only be elegantly chic, it will also contribute to a cooling and softening ambience, this means it will be perfect for a garden room gym or yoga studio. Grey is a very smart colour, which is why it is the colour of choice for so many types of uniform, this also makes it a highly suitable colour for a garden room office. Grey is a very modern and trendy option for interior designers, it has become so fashionable that you can now buy any type of furniture in this colour, so you should not have any problems with furnishing your grey garden room, this also applies to soft furnishings. When decorating the interior it would be a good idea to avoid painting or wallpapering all the walls in the same shade, having one wall in a contrasting or accent colour will add interest to the room and make it feel larger, consider having three painted walls and one with wallpaper, this is a great way to make a feature wall. You could then place artwork in frames to match your accent wall and hang them on the non accent walls. Another excellent design idea is to add accessories in the same shade of grey as your contrasting wall, such as vases, cushion covers, throws, lampshades, rugs, etc. this will enhance the accent shade and help to unify the room. Carpet, laminate and slate, ceramic, vinyl or carpet tiles are all popular types of flooring available in a variety of grey colours, whatever kind of flooring you opt for it is generally best to use the same colour throughout as this will make your grey garden room feel larger, a matching shade of floor tile could then be used for the en suite. Remember to place a door mat inside your entrance door if you have decided to use hard flooring as it can become very slippery when wet, the same applies to the floor in your en suite.
Your grey garden room will be beautifully completed with the addition of decorative planters in either a contrasting shade of grey, black or white; these could contain flowers or shrubs and can be placed at various points around the exterior of the building, another option would be the fitting of window boxes. The path leading to your garden room should consist of grey paving slabs or stepping stones, although a grey gravel footpath would make an acceptable alternative. Finally, don’t forget to place a grey welcome mat at the door for the finishing flourish.