If you think that a summer house is only for the warmer weather, it is time to think again. Despite its name, a thermally efficient garden building is an effective extension to your home that you can enjoy in winter too. Help your summer house to really come to life during the festive season by dressing it for Christmas, and it will provide a wonderful view from your home from early December until Twelfth Night, and a fantastic place to enjoy the festivities.
Below we take a look at some of the ways you can enjoy your summer house at Christmas and New Year, how to bring a theme to life and add the decorative touches that enhance the joyful spirit of the season.
Picture the scene: a point of light on the darkest of days, tempting you out into the garden to enjoy a festive feast or relaxed glass of deeply scented mulled wine. Decorate your summer house for Christmas and create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for hosting friends and family, or a cosy retreat to escape from the chaos. Recreate Santa’s Grotto in a rustic setting and invite the children and grandchildren to hang up their stockings. In whatever way you decide to decorate your summer house, you will create the perfect backdrop for your festive celebrations. Making memories and taking photographs, your summer house can become a Christmas paradise from the start of advent to the Feast of the Epiphany.
Now you can envisage the festive bliss in your garden haven, let’s look at some tips to help you bring your vision to life. It is the season that speaks to the senses like no other, and below we explore each aspect of creating a Christmas-themed summer house based on each of them.
Taste the difference this Christmas
Christmas is a time like no other when we make every effort to impress and embark on culinary adventures and imbibe warming drinks from cream-laced hot chocolate to mellow mulled wine. Decorate your table with festive linen and welcome friends and neighbours for a glass of champagne or sherry. Choose decorative glassware and festive porcelain and consider adding wine glass charms to cut down on the washing up. If you have a more spacious garden building, you may have room to set up a table for Christmas laden with delicious treats and sweetmeats. Decorate your summer house to provide a cosy space for a warming brew and tasty cookies after a long winter walk in the bright sunshine.
A touch of class
Dispel the bleak midwinter by filling your summer house with sumptuous and comfortable soft furnishings. Add cushions in hues of red and green to complement the seasonal greenery and provide cosy throws in luxurious fabrics for your Yuletide visitors. With a basket of woollen mittens, cosy slippers or a hot water bottle tucked into a corner of your summer house, your guests will feel truly spoiled. Choose from deluxe fabrics such as chenilles and velvets, cashmere, and wool, in colours to complement your overall summer house scheme. Or select from a wide range of fun and colourful quilted or fleece blankets or faux fur wraps. Add a Christmas-themed rug inside the door to provide a cosy welcome while also protecting the floor.
Summer house aromatherapy
Bring the aroma of Christmas to your summer house with reed or ultrasonic diffusers, essential oils, and aromatherapy. Oil diffusers are safe to use, and you can alter the atmosphere by changing the scent or boosting the ambience with a glow of light. Select cinnamon, oranges, and cloves with spicy tones to evoke the scent of mulled wine, gingerbread, and Christmas cake. Hand round a plate of mince pies and your gathering will be complete. Perhaps you could light up a firepit out on the patio and enjoy the delicate scent of woodsmoke from the cosy interior of your summer house? Christmas is a time of evergreen verdure so think about introducing boughs of holly or a fresh pine wreath into your summer house setting. Add traditional plants such as poinsettia to shelves and ledges, and don’t forget the mistletoe over the summer house door.
Christmas decorations inside and out
At Christmas we see sparkle, glitter, and light wherever we look. Mimicking the sheen of snow and ice, Christmas decorations often reflect the natural world. The size of our summer house will dictate whether you install a 6ft or 8ft tree, or a miniature tabletop version. To decorate the exterior and create an attractive entrance, you might wish to artfully place a Christmas tree outside the summer house on our patio or deck and add safe-to-use rechargeable outdoor or solar-powered lights.
Outdoor lights can be used to festoon the walls of your summer house in many colours and styles. Complement a traditional theme with icicle lights, or LED filament style bulbs. Or modernise the appearance of your summer house with rope or flex lights in a range of dazzling colours. Battery operated units can create pulsing effects that draw the eye, or you may prefer to establish a calm oasis in the winter darkness. Regardless of its size, your summer house can enjoy a simple festive makeover for the season by introducing free-standing decorations, fixing fabric bunting across the ceiling, or adding snowflake window clings. Shop at the Liberty Christmas store or craft your own.
Melodic moments
Hearing festive music and carols triggers memories from Christmases throughout our lives. It fosters nostalgia and help you to reconnect with loved ones. And it enhances the atmosphere at Christmas gatherings and parties. Whether you are planning a quiet and relaxing drink with friends, or a riotous afternoon of games for the children, setting up a simple sound system in your summer house completes the setting. A solar pack will enable you to access WiFi and add a smart speaker to stream your favourite Christmas music. Or bring in your rechargeable device and you will have access to hours of tunes and melodies in your summer house retreat.
Bring your Christmas vision to life
Inspiration abounds for ideas to decorate your summer house for Christmas, and below we look at some practical hints and tips that are easy to follow.
Power for lights and music
Hide a weather-proof extension lead in the grass if you have an outdoor power supply, or choose lights powered by battery packs. Indoor lighting could include LED rechargeable lamps. When you choose a Scotts’ summer house, you can add a solar-powered package that delivers energy at 12v to power lights, fan heater and a smart phone charger.
Easily affix decorations and ornaments
As well as placing free-standing and floor-based ornaments inside your summer house, you can easily attach bunting, tinsel and baubles with a simple hook or screw fitted into the wooden frame. Paint your fittings to match your summer house and they will be ready again next year. Inside, you can use self-adhesive hanging strips on wooden or glass surfaces that leave no trace after use.
Winter warmer
Whatever the weather, you can keep warm in your summer house with a solar-powered fan heater. Enjoy your choice of cosy soft furnishings and keep warm in comfort as you watch the rain trickle down tight-fitting double-glazed windows.
Light up your life
Creating the right ambience with the aroma of Christmas has never been easier with ultrasonic diffusers that exude atmosphere. Choose battery-powered flameless tea lights to light up your table, or battery candles that can be controlled by a timer.
Keep it green
To minimise the impact of your decorative choices on the environment at Christmas, eco-friendly options such as dried orange garland or rope of crochet stars have bags of appeal. Bunting can be made from a patchwork of sustainable fabrics or try creating paper stars by following a simple YouTube tutorial.
Natural setting
Make an additional impact by decorating the garden space immediately outside your summer house. It’s easy to add lights to existing trees and hedges or enhance fence and gates with a light curtain.
Safe storage all year round
While your summer house may be decorated to create a winter wonderland, you will need space to store your ornaments and trinkets during the rest of the year. Themed soft furnishings and decorations can easily be stored inside Scotts’ modular seating when Christmas is over, keeping them safe for next year.
We hope that our blog has fired your imagination with the sights and sounds of the festive season and helped you to imagine how a summer house experience can appeal to all the senses. The experience of using your garden building, coupled with the aesthetics of a beautifully decorated outdoor space, will really add to your experience of the Christmas holidays.
The perfect addition to your garden
A Scotts summer house, sturdily built from sustainable hardwood, is designed to be used in all seasons. When planning your project, think about whether you would like to include insulation or double-glazing. Or add features that enhance your experience at any time from fabric upholstery, and solar lighting, to roof underlining.
Get in touch to discuss how your next Christmas could be transformed with the addition of a Scotts summer house.
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