Conservatory Decorating Ideas | Conservatory Interior Design Ideas

Whether you’re planning to use your new conservatory as a dining room, summer sun trap, extra lounge or even a study or playroom, you’ll need to carefully consider its design before you start decorating. Here are some conservatory interior design ideas to get some inspiration flowing.

Conservatory type

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to choose what type of conservatory you want to install – you might want to go for something that matches the style of your property or the period it was built in – of course, you could go for something completely different. Either way, it’s a good idea to keep your conservatory size in proportion to the rest of your home. The main styles to choose from are:

• Victorian conservatory
• Edwardian/Georgian conservatory
• Lean-to conservatory
• P or L-shaped conservatory
• Gable-fronted conservatory

Check out the benefits and decide which type of conservatory is right for you.

Conservatory colour scheme

A good way to start formulating a conservatory design is to choose a colour theme, some popular choices include:

• As conservatories are very connected with the outdoors, many people pick a colour scheme which reflects that. Nature-inspired schemes incorporating a lot of greens, blues, whites, tans and creams are ideal.
• Alternatively, you may have plans to create a warmer, Mediterranean-style conservatory using oranges, yellows and reds.
• Using a mixture of black, grey and white will help create a modern, minimalistic conservatory interior design.
• You might like to use the same, or a slight variation of  the colour scheme you’ve used throughout the rest of your home to create a seamless transition and avoid the ‘bolted-on’ feel many conservatories have.

Conservatory flooring

Flooring makes a real difference to your conservatory, both in terms of style and practicality; you’ll want something durable and long lasting that matches your conservatory design. Some common conservatory flooring options include:

• Wood
• Laminate
• Natural stone such as slate or granite
• Ceramic tiles
• Lino
• Bamboo

Read more about the pros and cons of these types of conservatory flooring.

Conservatory blinds

The right conservatory blinds will provide privacy, help filter the sun’s glare in summer or conserve heat in the winter. Choose blinds that match or compliment the rest of your conservatory design, think about material, colour and texture – options include:

• Pleated blinds
• Roman blinds
• Roller blinds
• Venetian blinds
• Solar blinds

Check out the pros and cons of these conservatory blinds. It’s worth hiring a professional to properly fit your blinds, whichever type you choose.

Conservatory furniture

The type of furniture you choose will be heavily influenced by the rest of your conservatory design – going for a nature-inspired theme? Then choose wooden or even bamboo furniture and include plenty of plants and some earthy-coloured rugs and throws for winter.  A Mediterranean-style conservatory might need some brightly-coloured fabric sofas, clay ornaments and ceramics; choosing glass and metal furniture for a modern conservatory works well too. Of course, you might want to go the other way and pick one or two signature pieces of furniture to base your entire conservatory design around.

Conservatory heating & cooling

Since it consists of so much glass, your conservatory will be much more subject to outside temperatures than other parts of your home, even if you use specially-coated glazing. This means you’ll likely swelter in summer and freeze in winter unless you think carefully about heating and cooling your conservatory. Installing ceiling fans or an air conditioning system will help keep your conservatory cool in summer while standard radiators or underfloor heating will allow you to carry on using your conservatory in winter.  Underfloor heating is a particularly good option that works well when powered by an eco-friendly ground source heat pump and combined with stone or ceramic tiles – find out more about the benefits of underfloor heating.