How to Dress Gazebos

You've decided to throw a party and you don't have quite enough space. You have considered buying a pop up gazebo to manage the over-spill of people but you don't quite know what you need to do to it to make it look good (plus you've a whole house to prepare), as well as which it's not quite the weather to be outside.

Well luckily for you, you don't need to do much to make a gazebo look fantastic. Follow these steps below:

1. Showerproof or Waterproof? With our weather, showerproof may as well mean 'it comes with ready-made holes'. Don't buy showerproof as we don't have showers in the UK. We have wet, heavy rain so buy waterproof pop up gazebos unless you want to really upset your guests
2. Plan the space well. If you can, place your gazebo directly next to a back door, or patio door so that people aren't having to walk across the garden to get to it.
3. Secure it down. Don't risk your pop up gazebo blowing away mid-party, invest in some cheap weights to weigh it down. Pop up gazebos can be extremely lightweight these days, even ones that claim to be heavy duty so don't compromise on these.
4. Make it look like part of your house. By this I mean if you have a gazebo that is unlit and undecorated, it will just look totally out of place. Perhaps have some rope lighting from the internal door of your house into the gazebo which will make the gazebo look welcoming and part of the party.
5. Light your Gazebo. It doesn't take much to make pop up gazebos look fantastic and one way is through the lighting of it. I'm a fan of fairy lights which are cheap to buy. Drape them carefully around the internal frame of the gazebo and if you buy outside fairy lights, these can be used to dress the outside of the gazebo.
6. Go natural. A way to make pop up gazebos look stunning is to use foliage from the garden. Climbing ivy is particularly effective (and free!). Break off long sections of ivy and twine it around the frame. Ivy mixed in with the fairy lights will look beautiful. Obviously you could use any flowering plant that your garden can provide.
7. Warm it. No one is going to want to hang around in a cold gazebo. Buy some battery powered heaters to place inside.
8. Think of your shoes. Do you want to be standing in the garden in your party shoes? Lay a ground sheet down in the gazebo and that way not only will you be preserving your shoes, but also the carpets in your house. Make sure it's pegged down really well to avoid any embarrassing trips or falls.