Outdoor spaces are often the least considered part of a house.
We tend to finish the interior first and then turn our attention outside, as though the two are separate projects. They shouldn't be. Interior and exterior spaces work best when they are considered in tandem. What you see through a window or an open door is part of the room you are standing in, just as the position of a dining room, kitchen or living room should influence what happens immediately outside it.
That doesn't mean matching the furniture or carrying the same materials everywhere. It means considering the relationship between the spaces: where you sit, what you look at, where people naturally move, where privacy is needed and which parts of the garden or terrace you want to draw the eye towards.
A terrace gets a table and chairs. A courtyard gets a few pots. A large garden gets furniture placed wherever there happens to be a flat patch. Yet these are spaces we can use for much of the year, and they deserve the same consideration as a room inside.
Start with how you want to use the space.
Somewhere to eat requires more than fitting a table into it. Allow enough room to pull chairs out properly and to move around them. Think about where the sun is at the time you are most likely to use the table. If it needs shade, work that out before deciding where everything goes.
A sitting area needs a different approach. It generally works better when furniture relates to itself rather than being pushed to the perimeter. A sofa, a pair of chairs and a low table can make even a fairly exposed terrace feel like a room.
Privacy matters too. It doesn't necessarily mean building a wall. Trees, hedging, large planters, screens and carefully positioned furniture can interrupt sightlines without enclosing the space completely. In a courtyard or on a terrace, even one strategically placed planter or piece of planting can make a surprising difference.
Lighting should be considered in the same practical way. You need enough light to eat, move around safely and see what you are doing, but an outdoor area doesn't need to be flooded with light. Wall lights, portable lamps, low garden lighting and a light over a table can do different jobs.
Then there is the furniture itself.
We would rather use fewer pieces that are properly made than fill a space with furniture designed to survive a few seasons. Good outdoor furniture can remain in use for decades. Timber can weather and be maintained. Metal can acquire a patina. Cushions can be recovered. Individual pieces can move from one house to another.
The same applies to pots, planters, lighting and sculpture. They don't all need to be bought at once. In fact, outdoor spaces are often better when they develop gradually.
At Manon + Moss we have deliberately collected makers whose work suits this approach: outdoor furniture, lighting, planters, sculpture and individual pieces that can be combined rather than bought as a matching setting.
Whether the space is a small courtyard, a veranda, a city terrace or several acres, the principle is much the same. Consider the inside and outside together. Decide how you actually want to use the space, create privacy where it is needed, provide shade and light, and buy things you intend to keep.
The outside of a house is too useful to be treated as the space left over after the inside is finished.