[MUST READ] Creative Rectangular Garden Design Ideas for your Outdoor Space

Have you ever wondered about the different options and opportunities available to help liven up and inspire your outdoor space? Having a rectangular garden can require some pretty creative ideas to make the most of the available area; however, this doesn’t have to be an impossible goal. With this thought in mind, today, we’re looking at some of the key things you need to know to optimize your rectangle garden design. Hopefully, this will help you find out a little more about the different options and opportunities available to you.

35 Amazing Rectangle Garden Design Ideas to Transform Your Space

When it comes to your rectangular garden, finding the perfect design ideas may seem a little tough. Fortunately, with the following tips, you’ll be able to add a massive amount of charm, style, and character to your property. After all, your garden has a massive impact on the overall feel of your home, so ensuring you’ve given it a little TLC and care is crucial.

#1 Divide the Garden into Sections with Feng Shui

One of the first tips you could try to transform a small rectangular garden is to add ideas from the Feng Shui garden design concept. Dividing your garden space up carefully following Feng Shui principles of balance and harmony can be an excellent way to make any space feel like home.

Plus, while the concept of Feng Shui can sound a little intimidating at first, this isn’t the case. In fact, simple changes – such as focusing on specific design elements in each corner of your garden – can be an excellent way to add a little Feng Shui charm to your property. For example, aim to include small plants in North Eastern corners. Meanwhile, you can also add year-round flowers and plants to the South Eastern areas of your garden to strengthen familial bonds.

#2 Have a Purpose for Every Space

There’s nothing more damaging for your narrow, rectangular garden’s aesthetic than leaving some spaces and focusing exclusively on others. As such, ensuring that every space in your garden has a purpose or its own style is an effective way to transform the look.

That’s not to say you should clutter up your garden with decorations from every angle, but making sure you use spaces to the fullest can transform your property’s appeal. This is a simple part of designing your property’s patio or long, narrow garden for the best results.

#3 Create Curving / Diagonal Paths

Few things are more damaging in a long, rectangular garden than a straight path as this further accentuates the shape of your garden. With this thought in mind, try to lay gently curving or diagonal paths. This helps ensure you don’t cut off your available space while adding a whimsical charm to the property that helps make it feel larger and more stylish overall.

#4 Add More Round Shapes

Along a similar line of thought to adding curved paths, ensuring you have plenty of round shapes in your rectangular garden can help offset the feeling of tightness overall. Indeed, round shapes – such as a large, circular patch of grass in the center of your garden – have an incredible ability to help open up the space and make it feel more welcoming. As such, this could be a hugely valuable addition to your own long, thin garden, too.

#5 Add Multiple Levels to the Space

One of the main constraints of a thin, narrow rectangular garden is that it can easily feel cramped or small. With this thought in mind, breaking up the space into several elevated levels can be a simple yet effective way to transform the look. This allows you to create several smaller square platforms on your property, which can be far easier to design accordingly. In doing so, your long, thin garden may feel much more balanced in proportions overall.

#6 Transform it Into a Mini Football Field

Sometimes, you just have to work with what you’ve got. With this thought in mind, transforming your rectangular garden into a mini football field may be ideal if you have family members or children who love football. This is one of the simplest small rectangle backyard ideas, and it’s also got a practical purpose; a game of garden footie in the evening can be an excellent way to relax after a busy day.

#7 Create a Child’s Playground Area

Kids don’t need a lot of space to have a great time – and creating a child’s playground area as part of your rectangle garden could be ideal accordingly. Not only can elevated platforms and climbing frames increase the amount of space for your child to play, but it’s also a brightly colored environment that might be ideal for increasing the feeling of energy in your garden.

Plus, by taking up part of your garden with large equipment, you’ll also help the remaining garden space feel much more balanced.

#8 Make the End of the Garden Maintenance-Free

Our modern lives are all becoming increasingly busy, which can leave us struggling to find time to spend in our gardens sometimes. As such, making the end of your garden maintenance-free is an excellent option to keep things looking their best in your long, thin rectangular backyard, no matter how much (or how little) time you have.

#9 Create a Small Office Space at the End

If you’re now wondering about the different options for a maintenance-free design for the end of your garden, why not create a small office space? This offers a highly practical solution for your garden and might be just what you need if your house is starting to feel a little cramped, too.

#10 Design a Garden Room

If you already have a great office inside your property, you could try creating a garden room for the space instead. Garden rooms are incredibly effective for many different applications, but most people just use them as a place to relax and enjoy the tranquility of your outdoor space. Alternatively, you could create your garden room to showcase some of your successes and achievements. Or, you could even make it a practical space for entertaining guests if needed.

#11 Create a Sunken Area

Similarly to creating elevated platforms on your garden, if you’ve been struggling to find an ideal rectangular backyard idea, a sunken space could also help. Sunken regions help add a little variation to the garden, taking away focus from the narrow shape. They’re also an excellent way to set aside an area for entertaining guests, especially if you can create a gorgeous sunken area with entertaining equipment (such as an outdoor canopy umbrella or an outdoor wood fire pit).

#12 Add Stepping Stones

They’re simple and whimsical, but stepping stones might be just what you need to transform the look and appeal of your long, narrow garden. Each stepping stone adds a certain level of charm to your garden, and the broken-up design helps draw attention away from the garden’s narrow fences.

#13 Add Privacy Fences

If you want to break up the feel of narrowness in your rectangular garden, adding privacy fences is a great idea. These offer a great way to create multiple different areas in your narrow garden and make the immediately visible space feel squarer and more in proportion. As such, this could be an excellent and cost-effective solution to transform your space accordingly.

#14 Fence Off Patio Areas

If you have a patio in your rectangular garden, an excellent idea you could consider is fencing it off to keep it separate from the rest of the property. This helps divide your garden into two sections, similar to a privacy fence, keeping each part of the garden contained and balanced in shape.uy

#15 Add Retaining Walls

If your property’s garden is on a slope, adding a retaining wall could be an excellent way to create a stunning aesthetic and combat the thin feel of the garden. Creating slopes in your garden with a retaining wall can help remove some of the sharpness of your property’s fencing. This can help make it feel much easier on the eye and wider accordingly.

#16 Concrete Decking

Concrete is an exceptionally versatile material, and its light color offers a further benefit: it helps make your garden feel wider than it actually is. As such, if you have a long, narrow garden and want to increase the feeling of spaciousness, this may be an excellent and simple option to consider.

#17 Wooden Decking

You could always consider investing in wooden decking for your property as an alternative to concrete decking. This natural material offers a stunning aesthetic for many homes and a similar ability to make your garden feel larger thanks to its light color. It’s also highly practical, making wooden decking a good option to consider.

#18 Create a Bench Corner

Your long rectangular garden will likely have quite prominent and noticeable corners. Since these tend to draw the attention of visitors immediately, why not make the most of the space with a stunning bench corner seat instead? These offer the perfect blend of practicality and style, making them a must-have addition to many rectangular gardens! Pair them with wooden decking for an even more stunning aesthetic.

#19 Design a Living Wall

Living walls offer an excellent way to “take the edge off” for rectangular gardens since they feature a broad array of brightly-colored plants. These can help soften the sharp edges of your fences and create a welcoming feel to your rectangular, narrow garden while also making the most of the available space.

#20 Open Air Seating Corner

If your rectangular garden feels a little out of proportion, an open air dedicated seating area might be the perfect option. These stunning designs are the ideal way to split your garden into two distinct sections, breaking up the narrow look and helping everything feel more balanced accordingly.

#21 Create a Pergola or Arbor

A pergola or arbor is an excellent way to ease the transition from your home to your garden – making the garden feel much more balanced and less thin as a result. A pergola is also a breathtaking aesthetic for almost any property, making it the perfect option for a little late-night relaxation. Go on – you deserve it!

#22 Invest in a Fire Pit

There’s something quite soothing and relaxing about the gentle warmth of a flickering fire pit, which might make them an excellent addition to your garden. Fire pits come in numerous shapes and sizes, and there’s no single way to define the perfect fire pit for every property. Fortunately, Bluu fire pits are designed to offer a gorgeous aesthetic for any space, making them highly effective solutions to make your rectangular garden feel a little more relaxing overall.

#23 Create a Family Dining Area

A long, rectangular garden offers numerous opportunities for adding new sections and areas to your garden, and a family dining area might be ideal. This can allow you to spend more time as a family, offering a simple way to spend more time in your garden.

#24 Design a Backyard Movie Area

If your garden feels too long and narrow to do much with, why not turn it into something completely different instead? A backyard movie night doesn’t need much space – just enough room for a projector screen and plenty of cushions, throws, rugs, and blankets. So, why not give your garden a new lease of life – you’ll literally bring a whole new world into your garden as a result.

#25 Design a Resting Area with a Roof

Whether it’s just starting to rain or if the sun is blazing down and it’s too hot to be out in it, creating a resting area with a roof is an excellent option to make your garden more enjoyable all year round.

#26 Add White Garden Flowerbeds

It’s been proven on numerous occasions that adding a little greenery to our homes and gardens can help us feel more relaxed and at ease. However, you can also take things one step further with your long, narrow garden by investing in white planters and garden beds. The color white is synonymous with making a space feel larger, making it an excellent design hack to use in cramped rectangular gardens.

#27 Make Your Own Kitchen Garden

Creating a kitchen garden could be the ideal, rewarding opportunity if you have a long rectangular garden with plenty of space. A kitchen garden helps provide fresh, delicious produce for your recipes year-round. Plus, with the right planter style, you may see even greater results in opening up your garden space.

#28 Create a Water Feature

Water features are excellent for a rectangular garden, as they don’t take up much space but immediately capture the attention of guests and visitors. This feature transfers focus from the shape of the garden to the water design itself, complementing the style of your garden.

#29 Add a Round Pond

We’ve already mentioned how circular designs can help ease the look of your rectangular garden – and the same is true for small, round ponds. A pond is an excellent way to add a little life to your garden, and a round pond design is even better!

#30 Try a Round Kids’ Pool

If you don’t feel like investing in a genuine pool for your property, you could consider investing in a round artificial swimming pool for your kids instead. A DIY patio pool is a quick solution to transform the look and style of your property, making it a classy solution overall.

#31 Give Pool Deck Pavers a Try

Once you’ve invested in your perfect round pool or swimming pool, you may want to also invest in pool deck pavers to finish the look. These offer a simple design that can immediately transform your property’s style. They’re also slip-proof and waterproof, helping keep your pool safer accordingly.

#32 Add Lighting Effects

Did you know strategically placed lighting (ideally in an arced design) around the corners of your rectangular backyard can give the illusion of making your garden wider? Furthermore, this simple change helps ensure that your garden is bright, welcoming, and well-lit all year round, even during those dark winter evenings.

#33 Include DIY Children’s Decorations

Why not add a little personal touch to your property with simple, DIY children’s crafts and decorations, especially over the holiday months? Painted stones or clay sculptures are both excellent activities to try with your little one, and these could help make your property’s garden feel so much more welcoming and homely as a result.

#34 Plant for your Climate

In many cases, it’s easy to fall into the trap of planting whatever looks prettiest. However, this could have almost devastating consequences down the line. Indeed, if you plant the wrong type of species for your climate or soil type, you might find that your brand new plants fail to thrive – leaving them looking dry, dull, and lifeless before long!

#35 Balance Shapes and Textures

Creating a balance between shapes and textures for your property’s garden can be an excellent way to help redirect focus towards the areas you want. In turn, this reduces the sharp, rectangular edges of youhen a mismatch of everything rather than a carefully balanced design.

Final Thoughts

Coming up with unique rectangular backyard ideas can seem tough. The limited space that a rectangular backyard offers makes it harder to come up with an effective, inspired design in many cases. Still, we don’t think it should have to be this way, which is why we’ve outlined some of the best rectangular garden ideas today to help. Find the perfect style for your garden now.