Balconies are extensions of houses and apartments having both a practical and an aesthetic purpose. For people who don’t have gardens the balcony sometimes becomes a small garden. Others enjoy drinking a cup of coffee and watching people on the street from theirs.

Being usually a small space the activities you can do on your balcony are also rather limited. But for those who live in apartments, having a balcony in absolutely vital. It is their only connection with the nature, the only place where they can breathe fresh air and enjoy the sunlight.

Decorating a balcony is a quite tricky job, because it is a part of the exterior of a house, or of a block of flats. So first of all you must consider the fact that if you are thinking of major changes, you could need council approval. Even the change in the color of your balcony might be forbidden in some cases or limited.

So keeping all this in mind and according to your specific situation, start planning on how to embellish your balcony. For example a house in the countryside could have a balcony painted in strong colors, in harmony with the colors of the trees and flowers in the garden and with the rest of the house. For buildings situated in historic centers around historic monuments color is a very problematic issue. Usually the ancient color needs to be preserved or renewed.

When you live in a block and you have the necessary approval you could paint it in pastel colors. The main idea is not to disturb the urban landscape. If you have decided to close your balcony with large windows, increasing thus your living space, you have more freedom in choosing the color you wish.

The thing we must remember when decorating the exterior of a building is that we interfere with nature with our houses, restaurants and office buildings. That is why common sense is highly valued in a decorator, rather than his/her eccentricity.

Article originally published at Source by Paul James Harrison