After all the weeks of planning, builders and tradesmen trampling across your lawn carrying roof tiles, lengths of timber, and panes of glass, your beautiful new summerhouse is finally complete. The paint inside and out has dried nicely, the sliding glass doors open and close effortlessly, the patio decking can’t wait to be walked on, and the wood burner works like a charm.

But there’s one more important thing you need to do and that’s furnish and decorate it. So let’s take a look at some creative décor ideas so that your garden building looks terrific and will be the envy of all your friends.

A garden building is very different to rooms in your home

Let’s start with the obvious: a garden building, or summerhouse, is a lot different from other rooms in your house. For one, it’s detached and is probably found at the end of your garden. Because it can be rather hot and humid in summer, many garden buildings have large windows and are built with sliding doors that open onto a patio deck, keeping everyone cool. Windows and glass doors also offer lots of natural light and bring the greenery of the garden into the space.

In winter, unless you’ve had the foresight of fitting insulation and heating, your summerhouse can be a little on the chilly side. That’s why it’s called a summerhouse! When decorating, the trick is to select furniture with these conditions in mind. Modern patio furniture works well together with a mix of chic warm-coloured furnishings.

Choosing the right furniture for your garden room

Before choosing any furniture, it’s a good idea to measure your floor area, making allowance for walkways and doorways. Although there’s a wide variety of easy chairs, sofa suites and occasional tables available, it’s best to keep the interior simple and uncluttered so the room looks bigger than it is.

As there’s such a great choice of stylish garden furniture on the market, you could use some of these to furnish the inside. A small two-seater couch, a traditional cane chair, some small circular tables or a low coffee table are an option. Throw one or two bold, colourful rugs on the floor, match the colours of these in your curtains and you’re well on your way to creating a warm welcoming space.

Access is also very important, so plan beforehand, as you may need to buy furniture that can be assembled inside the summerhouse. If you only have a small garden room and space is limited, avoid over cluttering – try to keep the room feeling light and bright and as spacious as possible.

Traditional or contemporary?

There are literally hundreds of different styles and designs of furniture, and these range from traditional cane conservatory-style pieces to the more chic, contemporary rattan weave. If your summerhouse is modern and modular, look for pieces that are chunky but not overbearing, sleek, stylish and classic in look and feel.

Popular choices of furniture include: cane, wicker, rattan, seagrass, willow as well as classic Lloyd Loom furniture. Stone, marble-topped or mosaic-tiled coffee tables are very much in vogue, and metal furniture such as cast aluminium or wrought iron and glass are also popular choices. A small, brightly-coloured upholstered sofa in a garden building also works well.

Furnishings and fabrics

Once you’ve decided on the furniture, you need to choose your soft furnishings. These range from traditional floral prints to bold and modern neutral fabrics. Here, it’s all down to personal taste. If you decide to play it bold, then our advice is to go all the way, don’t hold back. Make the room as colourful and bright and as happy as you can. If, on the other hand, you’d rather play it safe, go with muted earthy colours and soft pastels and let the simplicity and beauty of your summerhouse do the talking.

In summer, you’re bound to find yourself entertaining lots of friends and relatives who’ll all enjoy the summerhouse and the barbecues on the deck. If this is the case, it’s a good idea to make sure all your seat cushions, covers, rugs and other soft furnishings can be removed easily for washing. Chairs, sofas and rugs can get a little grubby with all that food, wine and beer you’ll be serving up!

Be creative. Be bold. Incorporate new ideas, different materials and styles of furniture, then sit back and enjoy your lovely summerhouse.

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Dakota Murphey, independent content writer & home improvement specialist working alongside Hortons UK Log Cabins to bring you this article.