12 ideas on how to make a relaxation area at your dacha with your own hands

Idea 7: hammocks

If you hang one hammock, you will get a cozy nest where you can lie down with a book or take a nap in the fresh air. And if you secure several hammocks in the shade of trees at once, you can have a “lazy” bachelorette party.

Comfort, mobility and an interesting color combination will be provided by hammocks from, because they are an ideal element of a country holiday.

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Choosing the right place

It is important that the lounge area is located in the right place: this determines whether anything will interfere with your relaxation and whether it itself will not become a thorn in the landscape design.
There are certain requirements that will make it easier for you to choose a place to relax on your summer cottage:

Aesthetics. It is important to arrange the area in a beautiful place and take care in advance to ensure that those in it have a beautiful view. Nearby there may be a lawn, an artificial pond, or a multi-tiered flower bed. But no sheds, dung heaps or other household parts should be visible.
Sun protection. Few people would like to constantly be in a recreation area under the scorching sun. In summer, on the contrary, you want to hide from the heat in the shade - for this you either choose a shaded corner of the garden with fruit trees, or put up a canopy.

Advice! If you plan to use the recreation area for sunbathing, leave part of the area in the sun - do not cover it with a canopy.

"Mega swing" in Gorky Park

Photo: Anton Donikov © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Photo: Heliocity

Photo: Anton Donikov © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Photo: Heliocity

On the territory of one of the best playgrounds in the capital in Gorky Park there is an impressive structure of “Mega Swings” - a complex of 29 swings with all kinds of swings and rotations. “Mega swings” are multifunctional and have no age restrictions: both children and adults can swing, and they can also do it with two or three, sitting, lying down, etc. By the way, the shape on which the swing is attached is a slightly inclined ellipse - this is a metaphorical reference to the Ferris wheel, which for many years was a symbol of Gorky Park. At night, the swing is beautifully illuminated with the entire color spectrum - from warm orange to mysterious cosmic azure.

st. Krymsky Val, 9, building 12

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Features of the location of the pool and relaxation area

An open place is chosen for the pool. Reasons: It is easier to care for away from trees. Plus you need a place for sunbathing. The pool should be visible to parents from most points on the site. It is better to place a secluded bench or hammock in the garden in a place covered with greenery. Greenery fences off the space visually and muffles noise.

We bring to your attention an article on the website “What needs to be done at the dacha in September”

Gabions

These are steel mesh containers filled with natural stone. Round pebbles, crushed stone, large pieces of sandstone or shell rock. The traditional use of gabions is fences. But the use of stone sculptures is not limited to this.

Gabions make beautiful screens that protect the resting place from wind, noise, and indiscreet glances. Or retaining walls enclosing terraces on an uneven area. They can fill the base of benches, tables and benches, build multi-tiered flower beds, and decorate a well. Gabions look very interesting as the basis for a waterfall or fountain.

We decorate beautifully

Designing and decorating a recreation area at your dacha is an important step that will help you make the space original and unique. Used as decoration:

Plants. A budget and beautiful option to add a festive mood. You can place it either inside in a flower pot or plant it outside along the paths.
Lighting. Lanterns, garlands, and candles will set a romantic tone for any gathering.

Textile. Pillows of different shapes, blankets, curtains will take the relaxation area to a new level.
Reservoirs. Contemplation of waterfalls and decorative ponds calms you down and helps you relax.
Fire pits. Organizing an open fire source in a recreation area means adding at least 40% to the comfort.

The photo shows an example of a decorative pond

Setting up a recreation area

The layout and furnishing of an outdoor recreation area depends primarily on its purpose.

If the main purpose of creating such a place to relax is lunch and dinner, you will need a large table, chairs, armchairs or sofas.

A place to relax, suggesting relaxation, is equipped with comfortable sofas and sun loungers. For a relaxation area in the form of a living room, low wicker furniture with pillows and a coffee table with a fireplace in the middle is suitable.

Arrangement of beds

To prevent the beds from taking all your energy to weed them, you can cover them with black film, cut holes and plant strawberries, onions, cucumbers and other crops there. The film will act as mulch - it will retain heat, moisture, and also become an excellent barrier against weeds.

The paths between the beds can be covered with roofing felt or rubber. It won't look very nice, but you won't have to fight any weeds. By the way, in stores there is decorative roofing felt with a pebble surface, which looks more aesthetically pleasing.

How to make it yourself

Many elements for the recreation area can be made independently. For example, it is quite easy to install several gabions with your own hands . Containers for them can be bought in many construction supermarkets. They are made of galvanized double torsion mesh with anti-corrosion coating. You can also buy durable “containers” with jumpers connected by welding. The filler is selected depending on the desired appearance and color of the stones, sometimes they are even laid out in a pattern.

The sequence of actions during installation is as follows:

Clean and level the area for the gabion.
Remove the layer of turf and dig a hole the width of the gabion.
It is advisable to lay geotextiles on the compacted bottom, sprinkle it with gravel and compact it.
Assemble the gabion walls into a box, first connecting the corners and fastening the edges.
Place the resulting box in the trench. Fill in the stones, placing them as closely as possible to each other.
After filling a third of the box, the walls must be tightened with special hooks.
The box should be filled a few centimeters above the top edge, since the stone will settle over time.
The last step is to rinse the gabion with water from a hose.

It is also quite possible to create a small pond from a ready-made mold. To do this you need:

Place the shape in the chosen location and trace its outline, adding approximately 30 cm around the perimeter.
Dig the soil to a depth of 30 cm to plant coastal plants.
Place the mold again and circle the bottom, adding 20 cm.
Select soil to a depth exceeding the depth of the form itself by 5–10 cm.
Fill 5–7 cm of the pit with sand and compact it.
Set the form. Fill the deepest part with water, then fill the space between the walls of the pit and the mold with sand. In the process of falling asleep, compact and water.
Decorate the shore with tiles or stones, laying them on a cement solution so that the edge hangs over the water.

Pavilions

An economical option if you don’t have a country house, but you really want to go out into nature. In good weather, the pavilions provide protection from the sun and can be used to wait out the short summer rain.

The pavilion is essentially a beautiful canopy. Craftsmen will assemble it with their own hands in a couple of days, or even less. With the help of wicker furniture and light textiles, both style and mood are created. Instead of regular curtains or curtains, you can use a large mosquito net.

If you don’t want to tinker with buildings, just buy ready-made collapsible structures. Fortunately, the time of plastic pavilions reminiscent of street stalls is long gone.

Garden lighting

At night, ANY garden becomes magical if it is illuminated correctly.

Garden lighting is divided into two categories: functional and decorative. The first designates paths and objects, the second turns the garden into a fairy tale.

When you choose lighting for the garden, remember that, firstly, you need to choose corrosion-resistant lamps with the GS TÜV marking, and secondly, follow safety precautions when laying the cable and bury it deep enough.

Devices	Peculiarities	How to install
Directional light sources with halogen and LED lamps	Used to illuminate paths and plants. Safe and low energy consumption	Choose lamps of a warm shade with a reflected light height of no more than 1 meter, so as not to blind people walking along the paths
Lanterns	Variety of models	Install solar-powered or motion-sensor lights to save energy
Candles	Create a cozy atmosphere, you can make hand-made candlesticks	Never leave an open fire unattended, even if it is just a small candle. Do not hang on trees to avoid damaging the leaves.
Water lamps	Original solution	Choose floating balls that can be used in or on land. The lawn illuminated with balloons looks amazing

A budget option is DIY garden lamps. During the day, when you get tired of resting, do something creative, and in the evening look at the results.

Circular swings at the Lyublino estate

Photo: @inkerkate

Photo: mos.ru

One of the largest city playgrounds with swings appeared in the summer of 2022 as part of the planned improvement of the territory of the Lyublino estate park. 28 wooden swings – decorated with decorative larch panels – are arranged in a circle. The structure, with an impressive area of 350 square meters, is located on the lawn in the south-eastern part of the complex and is hidden from prying eyes by a “hedge” of trees. The circular area and areas leading to the seats are paved with tiles. The swing is located in a secluded place, which is ideal for relaxing, reading a book or having a romantic photo shoot. Along with the giant swings, a new boat station, an amphitheater, a dance floor and a ceremonial pavilion for weddings and celebrations appeared in the estate park.

st. Letnyaya, 1, building 1

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Playground

A real sports ground suitable for serious sports can only be built if you have a large enough plot of land. Sports fields are placed so that the long side is located along the meridian line (north-south) with a maximum deviation of 5-10 degrees. Then the players will be in the same conditions (lighting, sun/shade).

Standard sizes of sports fields (m): for volleyball - 24 x 15, for basketball - 31 x 16 m, for tennis - 38 x 18 m, for table tennis - 8 x 4.5 m, for playgrounds - 28 x 13.

If you are not preparing for the Olympic Games and play sports only from time to time or simply have little space, try to allocate the largest possible area free of plantings and structures, preferably with a soft surface (gravel, granite screenings, sand, trampling-resistant lawn) . For example, badminton can be played on the lawn, a basketball hoop can be hung on the wall of the garage, and a lightweight portable table can be used for table tennis.

To choose the optimal location for a sports field, draw it on whatman paper on a design scale and cut it out. You will get a kind of layout that you can move according to the site plan until you find a suitable option.

Swimming pool at the dacha

Summer is not summer without swimming. Not everyone is lucky enough to buy a summer cottage on the banks of a river or sea, but everyone can build a swimming pool.

Installing a permanent pool will be expensive, and its maintenance and cleaning will take more time than swimming. The solution is an inflatable or frame pool. It is inexpensive, can be assembled in a matter of minutes, is easy to care for, and offers a lot of pleasure.

If you prepare a site for installing a pool, then it will look no worse than a stationary one.

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