Cocoon property: Transforming your outside space for summer
Property expert Dominic Arnold on transforming your outside space for summer
Summer’s here and the time is right for… opening umbrellas, ordering the smokeless fuel and checking the central heating’s working. Blimey, but it’s been cold and miserable hasn’t it? Apparently it’s all to do with sea temperatures and the jet stream, therefore it’s not going to get any warmer this year as a result. Sorry to be the harbinger of doom but I for one was looking forward to long hot weekends playing beach volleyball, swimming from Ovingdean beach and impromptu barbecues by now.
It’s also a shame for at least one of our customers for whom we’ve designed and built a great outdoor space to finish off their home. Whilst the garden’s ready for long summer evenings the weather isn’t exactly accommodating. Ne’er mind, perhaps we can hope for an Indian Summer.
“Balau can transform a drab design into a smart and elegant alternative”
The current weather doesn’t mean we can’t create beautiful spaces in our gardens. We’ve been involved in a few garden projects this year already and one in particular that’s got us all very excited as we’re using a new material. New to me at least: Balau. It’s one of the best outdoor mediums for creating timber structures where the surface will blend and fade into a beautifully warm finish. It’s so versatile as is can be used as a decking, box planter lids, seating and trellising, and loads of other forms. Considerably more expensive than treated pine admittedly, but more pleasing to the eye, and it can transform a drab design into a smart and elegant alternative.
Similar results can be achieved with cedar which we use for the external cladding on our cocoon garden rooms as featured a few months back. Starting at £13k ex VAT, a cocoon will transform your garden into a live/work space and allow that desperately needed separation from house to place of work. Also, constructed entirely from sustainably sourced materials all of which can be recycled (should you ever want to!) it’s a totally planet-friendly building.
And while this weather continues to ruin our summer, at least with a cocoon you can enjoy your outdoor space from a comfortable haven; cosy, warm and safe in the knowledge you’ve built something that doesn’t have a huge environmental impact like most building works.
For garden advice or a consultation on how a cocoon could change your life get in touch.
Dominic Arnold
Dad to three, husband to one, MD of Cocoon Property Ltd, Brighton:
specialising in full-house refurbishments, eco-retrofit, loft conversions, kitchen extensions (side returns), interior design and condensation control.
01273 556800
www.cocoonproperty.co.uk
