Does the outdoor space of your Bozeman home contradict the idea of “Big Sky Country”? Love the wide open space available at your fingertips, but want the same feeling when you walk out your back door? Don’t think of your microscopic yard as a curse. So what if it’s technically a small concrete slab that baaarely accommodates a half-sized Weber grill? Or if your flagstone patio is just big enough for you, a lounge chair, and a good book? Your tiny outdoor spot is actually an opportunity to get creative.
To live large with a small footprint, try these functional tweaks to make your minuscule outdoor space feel like it belongs in the Montana outdoors.
1. Divide the Space
Wait, what? That’s right. Even if your square footage is relatively small, dividing your outdoor space into two areas can actually make it seem bigger. Creating a space within a space makes it seem larger because it gives you a separate experience.
We recommend a small wood pergola, which you can purchase at home improvement stores or even build yourself without too much effort. You can also use walls to divide the space. We’re not talking about bulky concrete barriers here — try using short trellises, arbors, or vine-covered wooden fences to separate your loungers from your patio table.
It says, ‘I’m in one place, that’s another place, and if there’s room for two places it must be big,’.
As an added bonus, walls prevent visitors from walking in a straight line from one end of the patio to another, instead creating a winding path that makes your small space feel expansive.
2. Plant a Privacy Screen
A peaceful space always feels roomier than one crowded with noise and other distractions — like the pressure to strike up an awkward conversation every time you lock eyes with the nice lady next door. Keep your evening soirées and morning coffee blissfully secluded with a few cleverly positioned plants.
There are a few ways to achieve this goal. Along the very edges of your space, plant a tall, wide bush, like the purple smoke bush, a fantastic, easy-to-care-for container plant that can grow six or seven feet every year. Just be sure to keep on top of trimmings to keep it from overgrowing your patio — you want it growing up, not out — but as long as you do so, it makes an excellent privacy screen.
You can also privatize your patio without sacrificing any square footage with the oldest trick in the book: Install some climbing vines on a trellis to clearly tell your neighbors, “This is my special space.”
3. Use Vertical Space
Distract from your lack of horizontal yardage by really maximizing your outdoor space’s most abundant dimension: vertical space.
Use your walls, fence, or railings as extra space by adding vines or a living wall filled with flowers, herbs, and other eye-catching greenery. For a simple change, prop an attractive ladder — think barnyard chic, maybe? — against the wall and use its rungs as shelving for plants or other decor. The internet is bursting with other vertical planter and shelving ideas, too, using everything from pallets to chicken wire.
It draws the eye up and outwards, and gives it a green and completely different look. It can change the atmosphere of the area. You’ve walked into a different experience from your home — it’s a psychological and emotional change.
4. Expand Space with a Mirror
Mirrors really make space feel more expansive. On a small porch, place a tall mirror on the ground behind a portico or a patch of greenway, which makes it
look like a doorway into another garden.
You don’t need to go huge on the mirror to have a huge impact. Even hanging a normal-sized mirror, like one you might find over a dresser, can make a tiny space feel much larger. But whichever you choose, make sure to weatherproof your mirror first using a mirror edge sealer (you’ll also want to add sealant to the frame, especially if it’s made from wood) to prevent moisture damage — unless you like the weathered look, that is.
Small spaces don’t have to be limiting. With a little bit of creativity — and perhaps a reflective surface or two — there’s no reason you can’t feel like you’re at home in the “Last Best Place”.
Posted by PollyAnna Snyder on
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