30 Small Urban Garden Ideas

Upgrading humble Victorian and Edwardian terrace houses with indoor-outdoor patio rooms is becoming increasingly popular as a way of maximising the footprint of the property to provide the largest living space possible. And, looking at these houses it is easy to understand why the trend is so popular, as the sense of space, nature, fresh air and outdoor living in such a manageable fashion is unbeatable.

An example of contemporary new build urban detached housing where the garden has been designed to be a functional extension of the house – the so-called “fifth room”. In this case, the flat roof kitchen opens directly in two directions on to patio terraces with two seating areas to catch sunlight at different parts of the day.

Whitewashed brick walls provide the strongest contrasting backdrop for this contemporary London garden. Light grey porcelain paving and black composite planters add to the monochromatic framework on which the vivid greens of the foliage and tangerine of the sofa can then “pop”, to create a fresh and energetic feel.

The plain white planters and grey granite paving are designed to sit back visually and allow the flora to shine in this garden. The steel and glass pergola provide a weatherproof outdoor space whilst letting in light and a sense of space within the limited space provided.

This contemporary styled central London garden provides an upmarket but flexible space within a small footprint. The planters and raised beds are kept to the perimeter to maximise the space. The porcelain slabs and resin sealed river pebble paving make this small garden easy to clean and maintain, making it ideal for drinks parties and social gatherings.

Gazebos and pergolas help create outdoor spaces that are essentially garden rooms. If fitted with exterior lighting, they also allow you to use your garden room by both day and night. Here, we see the mellow light of paper lanterns creating a relaxed and inviting atmosphere.

A pergola allows you to have both shelter and privacy, and if fitted with lighting gives you an outdoor room for evening entertaining. In a compact urban garden, they offer you maximum use of space and function, whilst also looking absolutely great too.

Large planters are great for low maintenance gardens, and gardens with limited space. This riverside terrace deck uses simple topiary and shrubs to provide some natural green foliage without distracting from the wonderful city views, which can be seen from the luxurious daybed/sofa.

A small rooftop terrace with porcelain paving slabs, an Arabic style mosaic coffee table and twin sofas with matching colour-scheme fabrics creates a cohesive looking garden with a magnificent view.

Your garden is your retreat or sanctuary, a tranquil place to relax and unwind. Here, through the careful selection of Indian furniture and the dense arrangement of pot plants with lush vegetation, the appearance of an exotic and romantic eastern garden is evoked.

Urban gardens by their nature are smaller than suburban and rural gardens. Land is at a premium, and existing housing stock usually prevents expansion of the garden. Therefore, maximising the space of the house and garden as one indoor-outdoor living space is a great way to make both the garden and/or kitchen/sitting room feel much more spacious.

Using matching wood-effect exterior porcelain paving slabs and interior porcelain paving tiles, this house is able to provide a continuous living space that is both kitchen and garden. This makes the compact garden feel much more spacious as it is sandwiched together with the available space of the open-plan kitchen.

A small brutalist style garden with raw poured concrete walls, granite paving slabs and simple borders on the flanks. The brightly coloured pillbox red bench is designed to starkly contrast with the drab greys of the concrete and granite for maximum visual impact and draw the eye to that point in the gardens.

Just because you have limited space, does not mean you should limit your aesthetic ambition. Sculptures and artwork can make a small garden space feel grander and more sophisticated. Here, we see the use of an abstract piece in this modest garden where it is given enough space to be seen, whilst leaving enough room remaining for seating, planting etc.

An indoor-outdoor living style extension can make small Victorian terrace houses and their gardens feel much more spacious, and add huge value to the property. Here, a modest-sized terrace feels much more luxurious and desirable than the size of the house would suggest by opening up the kitchen-patio space.

Maximising the available space, this Victorian terrace house garden exemplifies the trend for indoor-outdoor living. The kitchen and patio are one deck, with bi-fold doors. The porcelain patio encompasses almost the entire garden space, save the border with the boundary wall, providing a low maintenance and easy to live with garden.

The open-plan kitchen extension with large bi-fold doors and skylights allows this home to blur the lines between the indoor and outdoor space. The offset L-shaped patio gives the owners the ease of outdoor dining and seating, whilst providing a large enough space to enjoy an actual lawn too.

In this urban garden, we can see the use of louvres to create shelter and privacy. Here they are incorporated into the roof and sides of this exterior kitchen to create a distinct outdoor room that afford the owners some privacy from the neighbouring overlooking properties.

This small contemporary terrace garden is inspired by modernist design elements. The monochrome palette has been deliberately designed to contrast with the striking colour of the sofa, to create an immediate focal point. Large format porcelain paving slabs, decorative aggregate and large black and white raised bed planters give it an elegance and poise.

This contemporary garden uses the classic white, black and green colour palette. The black stone-composite planters have exotic bamboo, ferns and ornamental grasses with a white painted wall backdrop. The anthracite porcelain slabs are surrounded by river pebbles. The overall aesthetic is one of playful contrasts and elegance.

A small Mediterranean style garden in this Victorian terrace. The use of large terracotta pots and the mosaic paving give this space a warmth and charm, and the planted borders provide a lush green backdrop whilst maximising the available space.

A Moroccan mosaic topped bistro table is used in conjunction with a custom-built paving circle of mosaic ceramic tiles, giving this very compact garden bags of character and charm, whilst providing as much space as possible.

Sometimes keeping things simple works very well. Here we see a porcelain paving patio and lawn with a few planters to add a bit of strategic colour. This design provides a lot of flexibility for entertaining friends and family and makes the compact space feel bigger.

The matrix of square porcelain paving slabs interspersed with pebble ground cover creates great visual interest. Combined with the white pergola and wooden furniture with natural linen/flax upholstery and terracotta vases gives this compact garden a real Mediterranean vibe.

This small city garden achieves privacy with high screening fences and the planting of shrubs. The light grey porcelain paving echoes the colours of the large L-shaped sofa’s upholstery. Contemporary black planters are used to border the patio.

This small basement garden is a highly stylised modernist space using glass, concrete and porcelain and playing with a light grey and black palette to contrast with the lush green vegetation to create a striking tranquil sanctuary.

The grey granite paving slabs and tan vertically slatted wooden fencing creates a simple but elegant contemporary space in which the parasol and soft furnishing accent the same colour palette to bring it all together as a cohesive whole.

This low-cost small urban garden was achieved by recycling old paving slabs, upcycling pallets as furniture and utilising barrels and baskets as planters.

This compact contemporary Mediterranean inspired garden has a day bed under a canvas canopy providing both shelter and privacy – ideal for urban gardens with overlooking neighbouring properties.

A Thai inspired hardwood gazebo pavilion with fixed sofa seating, a porcelain paving path and offset pond recreate the spirit of South East Asia. The potted banana plants allow them to be wintered indoors.

Combining and contrasting traditional stone setts with contemporary porcelain paving creates a nice juxtaposition between old and new. Likewise, the retained brickwork raised bed contrasts nicely with the raised bed with chiminea clad with exterior porcelain tiles.