Patio Dining Room

Patio Dining Room

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Stylish outdoor dining area ideas

Outdoor dining area ideas for every kind of garden. Whether you have a patio in the city with a small dining table or a country garden with a pergola or porch. Dream of sunshine and summer afternoons with these alfresco dining ideas

Whether you have a city garden with a small dining table or a country garden with a pergola or porch, there are few things as evocative of summer as eating outdoors. That's never been more true than right now. Over the last year we have come to appreciate our gardens as much an extension of our living space as a place to grow plants. Rita Konig advises taking a leaf out of the book of the Americans when designing an outdoor dining area, amongst other useful pieces of advice. "In her London garden, the designer Faye Toogood has divided areas with birch walls, with seating at the end under a pergola, which gives you the chance to hang a lantern. Sitting at the end of the garden and looking back at the house is the best spot."

Take a look at our garden furniture shopping guides for more garden ideas:

• Garden benches

• Garden chairs

• Garden tables and chairs

• Solar garden lights

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  Paul Massey

  The veranda of this holiday home in Cap Ferret was designed by its architect Jonathan Tuckey as the main dining space of the house. 'This was an ideal spot because it leads from the kitchen and has a wonderful view,' he says. The 4.3-metre-long table is set before a built-in bench and below reclaimed pendant lights from Retrouvius. 'Because the table is so long we wanted to avoid the clutter - both visually and physically - of having 12 chairs, which would have left little space. The owners wanted to make sure they could seat large numbers of people, and a bench allows guests to squash up to add extra places.'

  Taken from the August 2011 issue of House & Garden.

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  Chic Garden Sheds

• In this London garden, designer Sean Walter of The Plant Specialist has installed a wisteria-clad pergola to create a private, shaded space. Forest Garden's Dining Pergola Without Panels', £406.99, is similar. It measures 280 x 304 x 244cm.

• Simon Brown

  Paul Lyon-Maris and Robin Muir have closely planted four Tilia henryana trees in their South Downs garden and have pleached them so that so they form a pretty, leafy canopy. Although the trees do not provide cover from rain, they do provide a shady spot for dining.

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  52 Amazing English Gardens

• In this glorious communal city garden designed by Cameron Landscapes & Gardens, the clever use of space, with a table and benches encircled by trees and flowers, has created a relaxed and natural atmosphere.

• Alicia Taylor

  The back garden of this London home, reconfigured by interior designer Penny Morrison, is split into different levels, with a terrace for dining and a raised seating area. Several small rooms that made up the basement of the house were taken out to create this new outdoor space.

• Paul Massey

  This stylish all-weather area created by Ebba Thott for her client's London home uses matchboard planks, which flow up the wall to create a bench for the table, and a planting area for the living wall.

• Andrew Montgomery

  Designer Bunny Guinness' garden is a mix of formal areas and functional productive spaces. The courtyard garden is the most intimate part of the space - surrounded on three sides by buildings and a hedge with pillars on the other. Bright borders and a knee-high box hedge completes the interior courtyard.

• Simon Brown

  A trestle table makes for a simple, rustic dining area in the threshing barn of this Herefordshire farmhouse. On the other side of the parterre is the farm's old milking house.

• James Merrell

  Tricia Guild's Italian garden boasts not one but two outdoor dining spaces. This shaded area stands below a green canopy of six pollarded plane trees. The chairs are the 'Surprising' stacking steel chair, €235, from Fermob and the table features 'Lario' linen napkins (grass), £36 for four, from Designers Guild. There are is two long tables, ideal for languorous dining,

• Michael Sinclair

  Since he was a child, Russell Pinch's family has been restoring a sleepy hamlet in western France. Now he and his wife Oona Bannon have transformed the last building, an old cowshed, into a holiday house filled with their elegant furniture, which includes a loggia where they enjoy meals in the cool shade.

• Benjamin Edwards

  Designed by Charles Harman, the garden of Emma Sims-Hilditch's London house features a Neptune dining table and custom bench. Cushions are in a mix of fabrics from Christopher Farr Cloth.

• Elsa Young

  In Victoria von Westenholz's Battersea cottage, the wall between the kitchen and garden is sliding glass, meaning it can be pushed right back to create an outdoor dining space, indoors. A table from Farmhouse Table Co is teamed with antique Gordon Russell chairs from Westenholz. The bench cushions are in Beacon Hill's 'Lotus Stripe' and Lisa Fine's 'Mughal Flower'

• Michael Sinclair

  The kitchen extension at this Oxfordshire country cottage has a traditional thatched roof above large sliding French windows framed with rough-hewn planks. The paved seating area is edged with ferns, nepeta and rosemary, and dotted with erigeron.

• Rachel Whiting

  The young designer Octavia Dickinson's Battersea flat captures the essence of an English cottage, no more so than in the narrow slice of garden that she's decorated with potted trees and plants and a white iron bench, table ( from Anne Fowler in Tetbury) and chairs (from Potting Up).

• Alessio Mei

  The owner of this garden in Marrakech loves the simple generosity and glowing fowers of the Plumbago family. Here, Plumbago Auriculata has been trained over an arch in the riad to frame a view of the beautifully painted niche, which makes the perfect hideout on hot afternoons. Inticately patterned tiling decorates the interior of the alcove seating area.

  Extract taken from 'Gardens of Marrakesh' by Angelica Gray, Photographs by Alessio Mei, Published by Frances Lincoln at £14.99 in paperback

• Alex James

  The light-filled house ripples round a whitewashed courtyard containing a dining table, on another side is a traditionally tiled cloistered walkway from which bedrooms lead off, each with its own terrace and access to the garden beyond.

  Situated between Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains, [this elegant house], with its airy rooms, is decorated in a combination of English country-house style and traditional Moroccan elements.

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  Shopping: Dining Chairs For Every Budget

• Lucas Allen

  In the evenings the Riddells have the cobbled mews all to themselves. This [west London industrial mews house] is owned by designer Caroline Riddell. Open-plan living is made cosy with warm touches to this family home and office.

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  15 Garden Patio and Decking Ideas

• Paul Massey

  Balcony with wrought iron furniture | Outdoor & Alfresco Dining Ideas

  In this French hotel by interior designer Jocelyne Sibuet, dark green French windows open onto a balcony which doubles as an intimate alfresco dining area. The wrought iron outdoor furniture - also green - is in keeping with both internal and external environment. As a bonus, this balcony offers incredible views over the gardens.

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  Small Gardens

• Ngoc Minh Ngo

  The pool at the Playa Grande is flanked by two lattice-framed cabanas. In this one, locally made tiles, designed by decorator Celerie Kemble, cover the floor. The metal garden furniture has been painted white and finished with pale blue cushions. Interesting and unusual wicker work in the shape of cocao hangs from the ceiling. The overall effect is pure vintage elegance.

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  Hallways

• Paul Massey

  In a hotel by interior designer Jocelyne Sibuet, the outdoor dining area has a pretty rustic feel. Vintage, French-style wrought iron furniture sits on the back patio beneath a pendant light.

  Taken from the House & Garden May 2015 supplement, Hotels by Design.

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  Gardeners' Favourite Roses

• Sarah Hogan

  If you want to create a space for outdoor entertaining, a strategically placed pergola like this in the Sussex home of the late Helen Green, is perfect for giving a feeling of enclosure, without obstructing the view. Train a climbing plant over it for blousy summer blooms.

  Taken from the May 2012 issue of House & Garden.

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  10 Garden Patio & Decking Ideas

• Andreas Von Einsiedel

  After years spent looking for a European holiday home, the Lumb family fell in love with a neglected Fifties house on Ibiza where they set to transforming it into the elegantly cool house it is today. The garden room has a relaxed rustic look that is used for outdoor entertaining. Tolix chairs, with cushions in 'Colonsay' from Ralph Lauren, surround an outdoor dining table made by Jonathan Goode.

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  Be inspired by these quintessentially English garden designs

• Paul Massey

  French Garden Dining Room

  In the French country home of textiles dealer Susan Deliss, situated in rural Burgundy, this shaded spot in the garden is often used for lunches. The vintage metal table is from 88 Antiques on Golbourne Road, the garden chairs from Italy and the tableware from France.

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  Garden rooms with a view

• The Outside Seating Area

  The walls that surround this outdoor seating area have been painted a beautiful azure blue.

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  Kids' Rooms

• Tim Beddow

  Pink Blossom over Outdoor Dining Area

• Simon Brown

  Loggia Dining Room

  This spectacular loggia at Holker Hall in Cumbria was built in the Twenties to replace a Joseph Paxton-designed conservatory. Simple wooden furniture and lanterns decorate it, with a trompe l'œil design painted in the Eighties by architectural historian and artist Alan Powers.

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  Real Homes: Wardington Manor

• Marianne Majerus

  Awning Tent

  An awning tent is a good option if you want something less permanent, and can be ideal for a garden party. This one is in Tom Stuart-Smith's Barn Garden in Hertfordshire, and Raj Tent Club can supply something similar, which can be easily dismantled and stored out of the way.

• Tea Tent

  The 'Tea Tent' (£1,000 from Raj Tent Club) is made from waterproof cotton canvas, measures 2.4 x 1.8 x 1.2 metres, and takes under an hour to construct. 'You need at least a metre's clearance around the tent to peg it down,' advises Nicky Marks, managing director of Raj Tent Club.

Patio Dining Room

Source: https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/outdoor-dining-area-ideas