Erasing the boundary: designing homes beyond their walls

Photo: Boardwalk - Bedminster Secret Garden Trail Winner 2025

As the seasons change, our homes start to open up in new ways. 
We’ve gathered ideas to help your indoor and outdoor spaces flow together naturally.

A little spot of sunshine and we’re already dreaming up a full garden refresh. Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves - but we prefer to think of it as optimism. 

Putting time and energy into creating an enjoyable outdoor space is not just aesthetically valuable, but also an investment for your mental health and overall wellbeing. Research conducted by the RHS and the University of Exeter highlighted significant benefits and improvements in mental and physical health associated with spending time in our home gardens. 

If that still hasn't convinced you, Homes & Gardens also report that "homebuyer surveys consistently name a well-maintained garden as one of the most desirable features."

So how can we create an outdoor space that feels more connected to the home? Somewhere we regularly enjoy and spend time in - how can we erase the boundary between indoors and out?

The Garden as a Room

When we stop thinking of the garden as something separate - sitting just beyond the back door - we start to see it for what it can be: an extension of the home, another room to live in. 

Treat it like you would your interior. Before buying a standard table and chairs just to fill the space, think about how it connects to the room inside. If it opens from your living room, a relaxed coffee table and seating area might feel more natural than a formal dining setup, creating a sense of flow between the two. We love the way Bristol-based studio Artisan Landscapes has tiered the layout of this Clifton  family home, creating rooms within the garden itself.

Layering is just as important outdoors as it is in. Rugs, side tables, and lamps add character and help the space feel considered rather than temporary. To take it further, you can physically blur the boundary - bi-fold doors, level flooring, or using the same materials inside and out all help create a seamless transition. 

Edible Aesthetic

Gardens are becoming as productive as they are beautiful. Raised beds designed like architectural features, herbs used as décor, and fruit trees grown in pots for smaller urban spaces all turn food into part of the visual landscape. 

There are plenty of raised bed options to suit different spaces, and what you plant will naturally shift with the seasons, giving your garden a subtle refresh throughout the year. 

Fruit trees and plants are especially rewarding, bringing spring blossom followed by summer colour and harvest. 

Leaning into this idea turns your garden into an extension of the kitchen, a kind of outdoor pantry. Complete the picture with a barbecue, pizza oven, or even a full outdoor kitchen if space allows. 

Rewilding 

For something lower maintenance and more in tune with nature, many are embracing a rewilding approach. Instead of tightly controlling the space, it’s about stepping back and letting it evolve naturally. A simple starting point can be scattering wildflower seeds into your lawn and letting them grow freely. Over time, bees, birds, and insects begin to return, bringing movement and life into the garden. 

This Redland garden designed by Alice Ferguson embraces that reconnection with the wild, creating an immersive, restoring experience. Watch our in-depth tour with Alice here.

What’s interesting is how rewilding changes the experience of the home itself. The garden becomes less of a “finished” space you step into, and more of a living backdrop - something you notice from the kitchen window, the sofa, or your desk. 

Indoor/outdoor living isn’t always about erasing the boundary. Rewilding brings it back, but softer, more permeable, and far more dynamic. Instead of making your garden feel like your living room, it’s about letting your living room feel slightly open to the garden. 

Cut Flowers

One of the simplest (and most overlooked) ways to bring the outdoors in. 

Not necessarily a £30 bouquet every week, but foraged stems, market flowers, branches, and loose, asymmetrical arrangements that can be refreshed regularly. A small change, but one that shifts the feel of a room instantly. 

Seasonal flowers help maintain a connection to what’s happening outside, subtly marking the passing of time and bringing a sense of rhythm indoors. 

Using Raw Materials Inside

You don’t always need plants to bring the outdoors in, sometimes it’s about the materials that surround you. 

Natural textures like wood, stone, linen and clay ground a space, adding warmth and variation that more polished finishes often lack. They carry imperfections that feel closer to what's found in nature than something manufactured. This kitchen designed by HUSK and Ro Projects perfectly captures the essence of the natural materials with a contemporary approach. 

Layering these materials helps create depth - a wooden coffee table against a soft linen sofa, stone or ceramic accessories on open shelving. What’s key here is resisting perfection - these materials are meant to age and soften with use. In the same way a garden evolves, so too can your interior, becoming richer with character as it does. 

Bedminster's Festival of Gardening

Get further inspired with a rare opportunity to explore some of Bristol's best-kept secret gardens. From 8-14 June 2026 Boardwalk is sponsoring Bedminster's Festival of Gardening with a full programme of events and activities taking place across the week. Don't miss the Secret Garden trail 13-14 June to take a peek inside your neighbour's blooming backyards.