If there is no life on your balcony yet - it's easy to fix! It is enough to make a decision on the conversion of a personal piece of the street from a warehouse of empty boxes into a cozy kiosk where you can sit over a cup of tea, admiring the dying sunset sky ... How to make repairs on the balcony with your own hands? The main thing is to give vent to fantasy ...
The first balconies facing the street, appeared in the XVI century in the architecture of Florence: arranging lavish receptions on them, the owners of the palaces demonstrated their welfare to all who passed by. You can imagine what kind of opinion can have among passers-by when looking at the "indicator of living standards" of tenants from modern high-rise buildings! What can you not see on our balconies: sports equipment, household appliances boxes, and bags of toys, from which children have already grown up. But everything can be quite different if you make a balcony
(or loggia) the continuation of the apartment: just give yourself another one, even a small one, but a room. No, we are not talking about joining the glazed loggia to the rest of the living space: on the contrary, if external conditions permit, the openness of the space must be preserved. Another thing is that the approach to registration should be as serious and fundamental as in the rest of the apartment.
Step 1: Calculate and repair.
You will experience an incomparable pleasure when you take out of the balcony all the things. Perhaps, something will come back here, but already in the concept of the future "design project". Now, when the design can start, as they say, from scratch, it's time to choose the finish. Today it is not fashionable to cover the entire balcony with a lining or boards, and even more so it is not suitable to simply cover the floor with linoleum. Want to be in the mainstream of fashion - choose a ceramic tile or natural stone (better both on the floor and on the walls). However, you can paint the walls: straight on uneven concrete and preferably in some "expressive" (rather than moderately pastel) color. And you can use and fashion plaster with the effect of antiquity. Railings and barriers are a separate topic. The most ideal option - sparse, sometimes openwork grilles: they will suit both the usual balcony and the balcony. If you can still dream of repairing the balcony, do not worry: quite a lot can be done with furniture, gardening and accessories.
Step 2: Pick up the furniture.
Those who are happy owners of spacious loggias can afford a lot: a couple of armchairs, a chaise longue, a coffee table, a hammock or even a small sofa. But most of the balcony can not please us with a large area, so the furniture for its interior should be compact and multifunctional.
Get yourself on the balcony of useful friends - folding chairs, chaise lounges and stools. It is advisable if for the placement of furniture you use not only the floor and walls of your balcony, but also the external fence, and even the ceiling. For example, if your balcony has a wide window sill, feel free to use it instead of the bar counter. You can put high stools, make interesting lighting with wall and portable lamps - and you can invite your friends to a party with a view of the night city. Or, install a vertical axis between the floor and the ceiling of metal, on which you can "string" the shelves, pots for plants and even a table with chairs.
Considering that your balcony furniture will be open to all winds, it is desirable that it be made of a suitable waterproof material (plastic, glass, stainless metal, wood with special impregnation, vine). In addition, you need to take into account the style: because the balcony is actually a small town branch of the country house, then the style here is largely garden. Here's what you can use as an enrichment of the balcony interior:
♦ The forged furniture will look very impressive - a table with a glass top, a pair of armchairs with wicker seats
♦ The same standard set of furniture can be woven - from rattan or from wicker rods.
♦ Not so expensive (but quite relevant) option of colored plastic, if desired, can also be beautifully linked with all the other entourage
But this is all - the furniture that we need as an "infrastructure" of the balcony. On the territory of the "patio" you need to place and storage systems for a variety of things (remember, we talked about that part of the items taken out during the repair should come back here?). It can be proverbial skis or bicycles, dishes, flower pots, packets of land for plants, various tools, empty boxes ... It is best if all this is hidden in a bulky built-in wardrobe - there may be two on either side of the loggia. But if you have not a loggia but a balcony at your disposal, and the closet has nowhere to build a closet, you can consider the option of a simple narrow vertical chest-cabinet, which will perfectly stand on one side of the balcony. And some of the oversized things can be folded into special padded drawers: they can sit on them, and they fit quite a lot.
Step 3: Think about textiles and lighting.
If the home cosiness is your credo, you can use the simplest techniques for its achievement: it's wicker items and textiles. If your balcony faces the sunny side, you need to think over the transformable protection from the sun. It can be dense heavy mats or real blinds. Can be used and conventional tulle, but protection from the sun while it will be minimal. It is important to have on the balcony and artificial lighting. The main thing is that the electric lamps should be designed for outdoor use. It can be:
♦ electric lights,
♦ lamps with natural flame (oil).
Step 4: Flowers - the most important thing
In some ancient cities in Europe, mistresses of apartments and houses observe an unspoken rule: on the balconies and in the window boxes they only have flowers of strictly defined species. This is a kind of picturesque competition in which there are no winners. In a prize there are all - both townspeople, and their visitors. Today, colorful floral traditions gradually begin to penetrate into our cities. Increasingly, under the repair on the balcony with their own hands is meant the creation of a "green corner".
"Furniture" for flowers. Widely used plastic boxes with a width of 15-20 cm and a depth of 20-30 cm planted there plants in 2-3 rows or in groups. In meter boxes, 5 to 10 plants of 3-5 different species can fit. Be sure to take into account when marking which side of the box will go to the balcony, and which to the street. If the balcony box seems to you too cumbersome option of landscaping, you can use other, no less spectacular solutions:
♦ Pendant pots,
♦ pots (or ordinary wicker baskets),
♦ supports for pot plants (corner shelf or usual ladder-step ladder with wide steps),
♦ suspended rack (the lower floors can be used as an additional table),
♦ Simple wooden shelf with tin bracket.
And, of course, there is always an option that, for its apparent simplicity, will not look minimal for anything. It is a ficus, palm tree or other large and beautiful tree in a large tub.