With lots of greenery and cosy seating, furniture manufacturers are increasingly presenting balconies and garden terraces as an extended living room. Photo: Peter Scholl/Westend61/dpa
Almost gone are the days of balconies with perhaps a lone chair for the smoker who has been banished outdoors.
Balconies and terraces, especially in big cities but in the countryside as well, are now so lavishly furnished and decorated that experts are calling them second living rooms.
This trend has reached a new peak, says Frank A. Reinhardt, an expert with a European trade fair dedicated to garden lifestyle in the German city of Cologne.
“The quality of design and material is consistently very high across all price classes,” says the trend researcher. “I have rarely seen such a high, quality level. It looks like a furnishing fair.”
Furnishing trends always take a few years to go from trade fair to households.
“That is happening now,” says Reinhardt. “The second living room, which we have been talking about for several years, has definitely arrived.”
Comfortable sofas and lounge chairs have long since replaced uncomfortable garden chairs and rickety loungers in shops. But there are also carpets, lamps and anything else that you might find in a living room. The fabrics and materials are far sturdier and can withstand the weather and ultra-violet rays.
And there is another difference to real living room trends, where lighter and smaller furniture are dominant – a focus on larger seating.
“These are veritable landscapes of places to sit – like the collections we used to see in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.”
The trend has been somewhat in response to the pandemic and the accompanying restrictions which kept more people cooped up in their homes for longer, and drove demand for more quality balcony and garden furniture.
At first glance, this sofa doesn’t look like it’s made for use on patios and balconies. Photo: Koelnmesse GmbH/dpa
However, the transformation of balconies and terraces began long before Covid-19 spread and hit everyday life.
“Otherwise, the industry would not be as advanced as it is now,” Reinhardt said.
“The need to be close to nature is not just talk. Many people have craved that for a long time.”
As a result, this development is unlikely to end soon and will instead accelerate, Reinhardt says.
The possibility of being outdoors even at home is an increasingly important aspect of building houses and flats, he says.
“In my opinion, a property is no longer valued only on the basis of the return on investment and the location. I think the proximity to nature has become an immensely important factor,” Reinhardt says.
“Even if it’s just a small balcony where you can put a deck chair. That will also determine the value of a property in future.” – dpa
