The five most important elements of a comfortable relaxation area in the garden

The greatest advantage of concrete elements is their exceptional durability and interesting design. Concrete is a material that has long dominated architectural projects and allows for the creation of many interesting solutions. Concrete elements can be used to construct paving around the property, a driveway, a terrace, a fence, and street furniture, but also for more complex projects such as a comfortable leisure area as part of a comprehensive design.

First of all, sit back and relax!

Concrete elements can be used to build comfortable garden furniture. Fence blocks Neo are ideal for this. They measure 20x60 cm and are 10 cm high, and their geometric, regular shape allows you to build a concrete sofa with a backrest from them, just like building blocks. To do this, stack the blocks on top of one another, raising one side higher than the rest. The top of the backrest – the final layer of blocks – can be finished with a small roof or filled with soil and planted with ornamental grasses or flowers. In this way, you can create a piece of furniture that can also serve as a planter or a privacy screen. A concrete sofa, much like furniture made from Euro pallets, is best fitted with comfortable garden seats. Ready-made cushions for pallet furniture are a perfect match for a sofa made from Neo components. They can be purchased at DIY stores and online shops. Alternatively, the seats can be finished with wooden planks. Neo comes in neutral, stylish shades of grey: graphite and steel, making it suitable for virtually any interior design. In a single concrete furniture design, we can also combine hollow blocks Neo and L-shaped modules Tigela. The base of the seat can be made from Neo, whilst the top layer of the sofa can be finished with L-shaped elements Tigela, which will serve both as part of the seat and the backrest. Such a sofa will be very comfortable to use, as the L-ka module Tigela is contoured in an arc between the shorter and longer sides.

Secondly, enjoy a tasty meal from the barbecue

A barbecue is a must-have for outdoor gatherings… but what if, instead of a portable barbecue, you created your own barbecue area tailored to the number of household members and friends – in other words, tailored to your individual needs. This is very convenient, as the space for preparing meals is always right at your fingertips. A barbecue made from concrete blocks is a stylish, inexpensive and quick way to create a dining area in the garden. It can be built using concrete blocks Neo. The simplest form is an open, U-shaped structure. The first step is always to mark out the space for the barbecue, then level the ground and build the foundation for the barbecue walls. The firebox, i.e. the space for the fuel, should be positioned at a height of approximately 60–70 cm above the ground. Above the firebox, at a height of about 1 m, we place a metal grate. It can be set into the wall between the last two layers of concrete blocks. An open barbecue is, of course, not the only option; a structure can be built above the grate to act as a chimney, which will draw excess smoke upwards. A low wall Albero is also ideal for building a barbecue from concrete blocks. It resembles stone walls made of rock slate from sunny Italy and comes in two fashionable colours: a subdued grey nerino and a warm tone brenta. Albero is a solution that fits perfectly into idyllic, rustic and Mediterranean gardens, but can also be an interesting accent in modern designs.
Concrete elements can also be used to build a fire pit. The fire pit is set slightly below the surface so that the top edge is level with the ground. It can be built using Neo, Albero, or several L-shaped modules Tigela laid on their side to form a square

Thirdly, relax to the soothing sound of a fountain

A refreshing fountain is a ‘must-have’ in a relaxation area. The sound of water is incredibly calming and soothing. The sounds of flowing water calm and relax, so it’s worth adding a pond, mini fountain or waterfall to your ‘leisure set’ consisting of comfortable furniture and your own barbecue corner. To build the fountain enclosure, you can use the same elements as those used to construct the furniture and barbecue, namely Neo. They are ideal for building a water cascade flowing down a designer concrete wall built from Neo. The space created in this way will be modern, stylistically cohesive and very elegant. In rustic and Mediterranean designs, a fountain made from a low wall Albero will work better. We can also use it to create a cascade or a pond with water gushing from the stones.  In both variants, a tank with a water pump, connected to a power source, should be placed in the space between the walls, which will pump the water upwards. In the version where water gushes out, a grate is mounted above the fountain tank and, once in place, stones are placed on top of it.

Fourthly, contemplate the greenery all around

Greenery is undoubtedly the most important element of a garden. After all, without greenery there is no garden... Weary from our daily duties, we like to let our gaze rest on the green landscape stretching out before us. People who spend a lot of time in front of screens are advised, as a way to rest their eyes, to look into the distance at green trees and shrubs. Properly planned greenery is a key feature of a home relaxation area. Concrete elements allow you to organise it into beds, borders and flowerbeds. We also have planters at our disposal, such as those at Tigela. Their shape resembles a cube; they are minimalist in form and available in stylish shades of grey: graphite and steel. We can place them individually, but also arrange them in cascades along the flight of steps leading to the terrace. An original planter can also be created using L-shaped modules Tigela. A single element is shaped like the letter ‘L’. Depending on which side we place it on, we can create planters or borders with lower or higher edges. In larger gardens, it is worth attempting to demarcate borders and create more elaborate flowerbeds. This is where palisades and low walls come in handy. Using palisades, we can create planters of varying heights, thereby emphasising the importance of individual plants in the arrangement. The Hestra palisade is the perfect choice for minimalist-style compositions characterised by an austere form. It is available in five heights: 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 cm. We can also use the Albero low wall to build flowerbeds. It resembles the stone walls made of slate found in southern Europe. The components used to build the Albero low wall resemble stone and therefore fit perfectly into idyllic and rustic arrangements, but they also work excellently in modern designs. Palisades Hestra and low walls Albero can also be used to create boundaries between areas, for example, to separate a relaxation area from a dining or barbecue area. They can also serve as a garden wall marking the edge of a flowerbed on hilly terrain.

And fifthly, enjoy a refreshing dip on hot days in your own swimming pool

If you have a bit more space available, it’s also worth considering a swimming pool in the garden. On hot days, it will provide relief for the household and children, who are always eager to play. In home gardens in our climate, frame or strut-supported pools are most commonly set up for the summer. Anyone who has opted for this type of pool in their garden knows what the lawn looks like beneath the pool after the season. If it is to be a permanent, year-round feature of the relaxation area, it is worth preparing the space beneath the pool in a functional and aesthetically pleasing way. The surface beneath the pool can be laid with pavers or concrete slabs. If you opt for a round pool and want to secure the area strictly to the pool’s dimensions, small-sized pavers that can be laid in an arc are the best choice, e.g. Polbruk Carmino.  An interesting solution in this case would also be the slab Polbruk Exa. Its shape resembles a honeycomb or hexagon, allowing you to finish the surface in an unconventional way. Simply maintain the shape of the slabs and the resulting original irregularity.  If we have more space, we naturally have more design options. It is also worth planning a visually appealing path leading to the bathing area. It can be laid using concrete slabs in a ‘step-by-step’ method, i.e. at regular intervals of a person’s stride length. In this way, we preserve the lawn whilst simultaneously marking out a walkway.

Creating a relaxation area in the garden using concrete elements is an interesting design approach. Their huge advantage lies not only in their durability and ease of maintenance, but above all in the fact that they allow you to create original and one-of-a-kind garden designs tailored to your spatial possibilities and individual needs.