We’re finally nearing the end of March, and the overcast and rainy skies are gradually giving way to ones of clearer blue, and plenty more sunshine and warmth to boot. That means you’re probably already thinking about how to refresh your garden space for this year, ready to kick back and get away from the occasional stresses that life can throw at you. Now, your Indian paving stones naturally play a huge part in influencing the look and feel of your garden, providing an excellent base for a variety of creative ideas you can use to produce some quite intriguing effects. If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some of our favourites!
Rethink the shape of your lawn
Countless UK garden spaces follow a firmly established format - a square or rectangular lawn, edged by fencing. And to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s more than sufficient for most people’s purposes! But if you’re thinking about making more dramatic changes to your garden, changing the shape of your lawn is one of the most surefire ways to create a starkly different effect.
You can use Indian paving stone to reshape the edges of your lawn into a variety of more unusual but equally geometric shapes, such as a triangle, a perfect circle or even a pentagon. It gives your space an instantly designed feel, and you can edge it with stone setts or cobbles to give it a more defined edge, enhancing the effect.
Shift the internal boundaries of your space
It doesn’t matter how big or small your outdoor space is - one of the best ways to make it exciting is through exploration. And you can create that sense by breaking up your garden into smaller segments, hiding sections of it from your view for as long as you’re in the house. That can give it an enduring appeal all year round, as it subtly encourages you to go out and explore it in all weathers, seeing how different parts of it change and blossom in the shifting seasons.
So, how can you start? Well, there are a couple of techniques you can use. You might want to use solid structures like pergolas, sheds or summer houses. Alternatively, you can use small fences or decorative panels. If you’d like, you can use even ‘softer’ barriers like trellises wrapped in climbing plants, to give a tantalising glimpse of the space that lies beyond. Like so many things about garden design, the only limit is your imagination! (And your budget, to be honest.)
A focal point with star power
We’re already recently discussed some of the best ways to create a focal point for your garden. When it comes to focal points, it’s not unusual to find yourself experiencing that classic ‘paradox of choice’ - when you’ve got so many potential options to choose from, it’s hard to tell where to start. So, you can start by narrowing it down to specific things or materials. Is your focal point going to be a sculpture, a statue, a building, a piece of furniture like a bench or a chair, or an item of greenery such as a hedge?
One of the most important things to remember when it comes to your focal point is to give it space to breathe. Try and situate it with some visual space around it, so that it’s not being crowded by other features and it doesn’t look too busy or crowded.
Be selective with your planting combinations
You might have dealt with this issue before - the plants you buy always seem to look amazing at the garden centre, but when they’re planted in your space at home, they just don’t seem to look right somehow. There could be a number of reasons for that - maybe they don’t quite fit with the other colours of your greenery, or maybe they’re not quite in sync with the colour of your Indian paving stones.
Happily, there’s a way you can make things easier for yourself. When you’re sizing up the plants you’d like in your garden, just get yourself a few colour pens and a piece of paper, and sketch out how you’d like it to look, complete with colours and all. It doesn’t have to be an artistic masterpiece, but should give you a decent blueprint of what you’d like. It can help you narrow down the colours you’d like or that you think would work best together, while eliminating the ones that wouldn’t.
That can give you a solid grounding to work with when you head out to the garden centre, giving you more confidence to pick out the best plants to complement Kota Black or Autumn Brown - whatever Indian sandstone you’ve chosen!
These are just a few of our ideas of course - you’ve probably got plenty of your own! If you need any more inspiration, you can always take a look at our favourite garden design trends for 2021.
And if you’re looking for the best Indian sandstone to help you achieve one or more of these effects, you’re in exactly the right place. We’ve got a varied range of Indian sandstone paving to choose from here at Bridge Street Stone, so you’ve got no shortage of choice in terms of achieving your vision. All are sourced directly from India, and we’re able to offer free delivery to most areas. To make an order, feel free to give us a call today on 01282 860571.