A Little Peace and Quiet from Normal Room

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Since Outdoor Month began, we've posted about using outdoor space for entertaining, growing food, giving your kids a place to play... but what about simply using it as a sanctuary, a place to sit quietly and think with a cup of tea? For city-dwellers, this might be the single most important function of a garden or balcony or deck—it provides a breath of fresh air away from the fast pace and complexity of our lives. On Normal Room, there are countless examples of how little it takes to create a peaceful, inviting outdoor space...

Outdoor rooms replete with fancy features, like fountains, tricked-out kitchens, and swimming pools, are fun to look at (and sure, they're probably fun to use as well), but for a little peace and quiet outside, all you really need is a nice comfortable chair (or even just a place to lie down) and some greenery. The gardens and decks we found on Normal Room are all quite different, and some are more elaborate than others, but each of them has an easy, unfussy air that makes us want to settle in and while away some quality time.

We'd love to know: What are your minimal needs for a peaceful and comfortable outdoor space?

(Images: Normal Room users deb, skyebluelake, xxxray, estudio manus, euphorbia, JB, mnoelk)

Comments (6)

Privacy - provided by growing things or by fences, or by distance. Unfortunately, we have a postage-stamp backyard with only short chain-link fences on both sides. I'm contemplating planting tall plants/hedges/grasses along at least one side (the other has a sidewalk next to the fence).

posted by orangeblossom on June 11th 2009 at 12:56pm
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You said it -- privacy is #1. And we, too, don't have any. Ah, well; add it to the for-the-next-place list.

posted by lizzapearl on June 11th 2009 at 1:34pm
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Capital P.... Privacy and a little tranquility doesn't hurt either. Where are those crochet hammocks from, anyone know a source?

posted by sfteri on June 11th 2009 at 1:39pm
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sfteri,

I don't know but Polly's Island hammocks are quite nice, or so I hear and are not cheap. The one shown here is not it though.

I love that little narrow walled garden that's on the bottom row. It's a style I like.

posted by ciddyguy on June 11th 2009 at 2:15pm
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Thanks ciddyguy, I'll look then determine how much paradise is worth!

posted by sfteri on June 11th 2009 at 3:55pm
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Does anyone know where I can purchase that swing in the first picture? I love it!

posted by sunrise on June 11th 2009 at 8:03pm
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