The Garden Room from shorelines

shorelines ◦ interiors by gregory ◦

"The Garden Room"

There is snow outside and I am sitting in a sun-lit room enjoying the greenery of an indoor garden. The room is bright. The furnishings are soft. And the garden magazines and seed catalogues are stacked high. Does that sound appealing? It’s not hard to accomplish. Create a garden room where the house faces south or southeast, guaranteeing a lot of winter sun. If you can do that, then the rest is just a matter of budget.

To start, clean the room of clutter. This is a great time to paint, so freshen the walls and ceiling with light creamy tones like Benjamin Moore’s Greenmount Silk, Beacon Hill Damask, or Castleton Mist. These are just right for blending the green tones of plants with the sunshine warmth of the pale yellows.

For furniture, consider something comfortable for daydreaming about gardens and spring, like overstuffed chairs or even a daybed. I found a brass daybed at Come by Chance Antiques in Marriotts Cove. Garden-themed fabrics and linens will enhance your oasis. My chairs are covered in little topiaries. If you like flowers, go for chintz. You can even find dragonflies, butterflies, and bees. The daybed has a simple cream matelasse bed cover. For garden texture and colour, I have added a throw with a leaf pattern stacked with wool tartan blankets.

You need a table for beverages, magazines, and a place to put your legs. I had an old pine kitchen table that was full of character with worn areas and even burn marks. A local craftsman cut the legs down to make a coffee table. For additional garden allure, the centre was cut out to accommodate an iron grate shaped like vines surrounding a centre flower bloom (found at Renovator’s Resource in Halifax). A new side table was built from the left over table centre and legs. A drawer and shelf were added for stability. For colour and texture, the bases of both tables were painted with layers of three different shades of green and gold. Now the tables are stacked with garden magazines, plants, and a basket of seashells and beach stones. There is just a little room left for coffee mugs and our legs.

The indoor garden also needing organizing so I use a Victorian plant stand, found at a roadside garage sale. Painted cream and spotted with dark gold paint, it blends well with the other painted surfaces. I also use antique plant pots, collected over the years from various local shops and antique shows. One plant I highly recommend for a garden room is the scented geranium. The flowers are nice in the spring, but year round you can rub the leaves and enjoy the fragrance of mint and green apples. Also include easy care plants like snake plant, spider plant and English ivy. They freshen the stale indoor air and remove the toxins of new fabrics, carpets, and freshly painted rooms. Fresh air, greenery, comfortable chairs, and lots of sunlight—a garden room.

One final thought for how I use my garden room. When the power goes out in Oakland, which is every few weeks for several hours, my wife and I enjoy venturing to the garden room. We light candles, drink wine, and listen to CBC on a short-wave radio. It is just as inviting, and besides that, we can enjoy the lights from Mahone Bay—they never lose power.

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