At our townhouse we have what our neighbour describe as a “mature garden”. If you want to be positive that means a lush plethora of trees and shrubs that creates a lovely frame and backdrop for our north facing plot.
And the overall wonky feeling with all it’s imperfections is both charming and forgiving. Perfect for me, the lazy gardener. 
Adding some reality facts, it’s also a garden that no one has done as much as cutting a dead branch in for quite some time. So when we moved in it was an unpruned, over-grown green beast.
Now 18 months later we have at least done the most urgent trimming and cutting. But since we’re renting and not planning to stay here for more than a couple of years, we are following the strict pot plan. Meaning, just adding potted plants to strategic places.
Oh, there’s one exception! The small patio at the the back end of the garden. I will return to that one in an upcoming garden post.
The part closest to the house is in shadow almost 24/7, so that’s not the spot for basking in the summer sun. For us it was just the transit on our way out to the sun.
But that was before the Brittish scorcher summer of 2018.
From being a constant sun-seeker (spf, check!) and trying to work as much as possible outdoors in the summer, I have found myself facing a quite new problem. Where to sit when it’s too hot to handle the sun?
So now finally, that leads us to this post’s real content – the transformation of that “useless”all day shaded spot.
It’s framed by one of the house’s brick walls on one side and a really old fence on the other. This creates an inviting room like feeling to it. Also it’s blurring the lines between in and outdoors. A feature that I always favoured in architecture.
Luckily it happens to have neutral, big sand coloured tiles adding to that indoor feeling. So with that “conservatory canvas” to work with it was not that such a big task to do the decorating.
Being into rattan for some years now and wanting to be able to mix and match all garden furniture for different settings, I decided to stick to the same furniture as on the other patio, the Mastholmen from IKEA.
After moving some pots from other parts of the garden and using our Röshult Urban fire basket as a big plant box our new green room was sorted.
By the way, the terracotta pot from Arket (below) is a new favourite. With it’s minimalistic design it let’s the plants do the talking. 
Still need to fix the lighting tough. Lanterns and candles always does the trick to amp up the cosy factor. And also will add an old lighting chain.
The Santa Cole new battery version of the now classic Cestita lamp designed in 1962 by Miguel Milá will add a little Japanese touch. Will show you how that turns out soon.
Outdoor rattan furniture, Mastholmen, IKEA. Terracotta pot, Arket. Watering can, Haws. Green carafe, Pinheiro Bordallo, Arket. Fire basket, Röshult. Terracotta linen cushion covers, H&M Home. Nina wears: Trousers and sun hut, H&M SS15. White tunic, Other Stories, SS15. White bra tank top, Uniqlo. Sandals, Hawaiianas.
nina melin 