‘We transformed a tiny space!’

Heather turned an awkward outdoor area into a garden room fit for chilling out

eather and her husband Ben took a few years to get around to improving their small outdoor space. But with a few achievable tweaks they managed to sort the whole thing out themselves on a reasonable budget. They’ve shared with us how to transform your garden into a stylish and cosy space that you will want to spend time in.

HHeather tells us:

‘Before we moved into our 1970s house in 2011, it had only had one owner – the whole house was in desperate need of updating. So that’s what we focused on first, which meant that the garden was largely forgotten. We knocked through the kitchen and dining room to make one large open-plan kitchen-diner, which I love, but it was depressing to look out of the patio doors on to the side return and see weeds and mess.

‘The main back garden was already full of large, mature shrubs when we bought the house, so it was low maintenance and we didn’t want to make any big changes. But the side return was an awkward space – you walk through it to get to our side gate – and it was really ►

1 Log store 2 Path3 Camelia tree 4 Bench 5 Fire pit 6 Wall planter Sitting pretty This L-shaped bench was built by Heather’s husband Ben.

If you can’t extend out, extend up, with wall-mounted plant racks