Just because the summer is starting to wind down, doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to your summerhouse until next year. There are plenty of creative ways to use your outbuildings in the winter months, here are a few to get you started.
1. Make the perfect winter cabin
The best way to make sure you use your summer house in winter is to make it cold-friendly with a few simple interior design tips. The quickest and easiest way to keep cosy and warm is to use plenty of textiles and fabrics to keep the warmth in. Put down underlay and rugs to keep your feet warm, and decorate with curtains and wall hangings to insulate the room and bring some colour to it as well. The best thing about heavy fabrics is that they make the room look and feel warm even on the coldest evenings. Just make sure you can take them down and stow them away when the weather starts to heat up again.
2. A kid’s clubhouse
Now that your summerhouse is nice and cosy it can be a great space for kids to roam free (and to get them out of the house). Making the space into a kid’s clubhouse can give them space for parties and sleepovers without taking away space from the home. Lay out some mats and sleeping bags, string up some fairy lights and whip up some baked treats to win Parent of the Year Award. Then, when Christmas comes along, the summerhouse can turn into Santa’s Grotto, a place to hide presents and build gingerbread houses while the snow collects outside.
3. A grown-up clubhouse
If you don’t have kids, or you do but you don’t want them having all the fun, turn your summerhouse into a lounge for parties and gatherings. Get cosy in your little island in the snow, gather around the fire pit with a bottle of wine or a pot of tea, and use your summerhouse as somewhere to get away from your daily life and really unwind. Maybe you want to start a book club or a poker circle; where better to invite the group than your cosy private den?
4. A writer’s nook
In winter, a summerhouse turns into the ideal place to explore hobbies that you don’t have space for at home. Fancy yourself a writer? Roald Dahl penned most of his books from a cosy armchair in a little garden outhouse, and you could follow in his footsteps. A quiet summerhouse would be the perfect place to try your hand at poetry, or craft a novel for National Novel Writing Month this November.
5. Your personal studio
Maybe you want to paint, but you’ve not had the space to get nice and messy. Use your summerhouse as a studio space to explore your ideas, and do everything your primary school art teacher told you not to. Alternatively, if you’re looking for something hands-on, use the space as a woodworking workshop and try your hand at carpentry. Just remember, safety first!
6. Somewhere to get fit
If you’re not a fan of braving the cold for a morning jog, install a home gym in your summerhouse to keep exercising in the winter months. This doesn’t have to mean buying a collection of heavy metal machines, something as simple as a few weights and a yoga mat in a comfortable space could be what you need to keep healthy in the cold.
7. Somewhere to get tipsy
To reward yourself for all your exercise, why not try your hand at brewing your own beers and ales? A hobby that notoriously takes up space is the perfect thing to try in your summerhouse, where you don’t have to worry about disturbing your family with bulky equipment and odd smells. Who knows, you might be able to toast the New Year with your own brew!
This is only a brief list of ideas, put your mind to it and you can probably think of a hundred more uses for your summerhouse in the autumn and winter months. Don’t let the cold weather get you down, and make winter something to look forward to!