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With the survey completed and drawn to scale, you are ready to work out a design for the outdoor living room of your dreams. If one proceeds with a little thought and study, the final results are certain to exceed one's expectations. There is almost as much pleasure in planning and designing a garden room as in enjoying the final results. And it is a good idea to remember that it is easier to move a tree or shrub with an eraser upon a sketchpad than it is to move it with a shovel and spade after it is established in your garden.
A practical method to make plans is by securing the scale drawing or survey to a drafting board with thumbtacks. Then, by using tracing paper to work over the survey, any number of schemes can be drawn up and studied without soiling or destroying the original map.
The reason for planning your outdoor living room is to determine in advance where the plantings will be placed, where there will be a lawn or open area, where the central feature of interest will go and what is to be the general character of the development -- formal or informal. It is as if we first establish the boundary of a room by creating walls. Through these walls will be an entrance. Somewhere opposite the entrance will be a feature to attract the eye. On the walls we will have pictures -- except in the outdoor living room, real flowers will be used. There will be cozy corners, not under a lamp like indoors, but instead under a tree or shelter. The outlines of the walls and flower borders will follow no set geometric pattern unless we wish a very formal outdoor living room. There will be seats and benches at just the right spots to afford maximum enjoyment from our garden living room.
If we should attempt to arrange all this upon the ground without a plan or definite idea in mind, the results are likely to be haphazard and disappointing. We must clarify the type of outdoor living room we will enjoy most and strive to arrange the plantings in an orderly manner to achieve this. In developing our ideas, it will be helpful to consult as many sources as possible for suggestions. Books on gardening in which abound charming garden scenes will offer inspiration. Nursery catalogs show by illustration and description the use and placing of plants. Garden magazines with their wealth of illustrations and specific articles will be found to be valuable. Of course, one can always call in a specialist, but even he cannot assist in expressing yourself if you have your own ideas well worked out in advance.