Santa Barbara homes are filled with beautifully designed rooms. One of the loveliest and most useful areas, however, is not inside. It’s the garden room, and this extra space outside is a favorite spot for Santa Barbara residents to relax.
Santa Barbara homes are well known for their beautiful architecture, elegant interior design and marvelous furniture. One of the extra features included with a number of SB houses is an additional room used for everything from cooking to entertaining. This special space is the garden room, and many residents spend as much time at home outdoors as then do in.
Garden rooms take a bit of planning and some of the local examples have taken years to create. While furniture such as patio sets and fountains can be placed quickly and easily, the structural elements of a garden room are plants, which take time, effort, and attention to thrive. Flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables and everything else that can be grown are all used to create spaces perfect for the needs of the homeowner. Here are a few types of garden areas as well as what plants lend themselves to each style.
The spa room usually involves a hot tub or soaking pool and is smaller in size. Bamboo, larger leaved tropical plants, and vines trained onto trellises are all options for creating a private area that limits views into the room. Rock piles with mosses and small shade flowers are used to add charm and color while foundation plantings of fragrant herbs can make time in the spa room truly relaxing.
A tea room is another wonderful garden area. With delineating walls of short shrubs interspersed with rose bushes and seasonal flowers, this is a perfect spot for a patio set and a fountain. A flagstone circle is usually inset into the ground to support the table and chairs, and fragrant herbs are sown in between the flagstones.
An elegant type of garden room is the reading nook. A larger space is needed for this area as tall walls are created, often using fruit trees planted in a circle. Flat stones are set in the ground to suggest paths leading to benches and outdoor seating, and solar lights provide illumination in the evening. Scattered about the area are flowers and graceful ferns, and small waterfalls are often used.
Garden rooms are a part of many Santa Barbara homes. Residents in this beautiful seaside city have an added advantage of another area in their home where they can relax and enjoy life in the American Riviera.