24.11.2022

Tips & trends

Winter garden at home

Outdoors becomes indoors in these rooms that have been downsizing the home since the Victorian era, leaving room for greenery and light.

If you are missing the days spent outdoors btween green trees and flowering meadows, this article will interest you. Today we are talking about winter gardens, or those rooms somewhere between natural scenery and indoor environment where you can find wellness and serenity. 

Increasingly sought after in modern architectural designs, winter gardens began to spread in aristocratic homes in northern Europe as early as the 18th century. Its main function was to protect exotic plants from the rigors of the winter season without depriving them of much-needed sunlight, but soon palms, citrus trees and succulents became just the complementary furnishing of these rooms used for the ritual of tea at mid-afternoon receptions.  

Today, conservatories are the new frontier of green architecture and an excellent complement to the home environment, not only because they increase the enjoyment of natural light bringing, among other things, energy savings, but also because they offer educational opportunities for the whole family even when green gardens and countryside are far away.

These rooms, which are characterized by the large glazed area on the walls are often artificially carved environments, yet in historic buildings one can still find elegant verandas, wrought-iron greenhouses or small inner courtyards. It may sound strange, but it is not so impossible to think of carving out a green garden in your own home. 

If they have the right requirements, the junctions between two detached rooms can easily turn into a hallway covered with large windows. Here you can pause to store your clothes on a vintage coat rack, but also enjoy the view outside comfortably seated on an upholstered bench or a comfortable chaise longue. And let's not just think of ground-floor rooms to carve out our beautiful winter garden: there are countless loggias that were closed up with winter windows to allow to extend the joy of panoramic views and sunlight all year long. And what about altanas, places elected by artists as working studios precisely because of their characteristic exposure to natural light, who wouldn't want to have one? If the law allows, one can think of opening a large skylight on the ceiling of high floors to transform a kitchen, an attic or a loft into a small winter garden, the ideal space to take refuge after a long day of chaos. 

For furniture, all you need is a little flair and a lot of green thumb. We recommend choosing cast iron or rattan furniture for tables and seating, and not neglecting pots to collect plants which you can arranged high on shelves and plant holders. To finilize your winter garden we envision in one corner a beautiful glass cabinet with a tea set and a set of elegant glasses on display, and in the other a bar cart complete with an ice bucket, shaker and wide selection of liquors. Those who are really organized will also place a lemon plant nearby in order to always have a its fruits ready to be add to their favorite beverage.