If you live in a high-rise apartment, the balcony is the only space where you can enjoy the outdoors, get some sun and take advantage of a cool breeze in the evening, yet many people don’t even use their balcony at all, which seems a shame. After all, it offers that bit of extra space and can be set up to enhance your lifestyle without too much trouble.

Here are 4 ways to make the most of your balcony.

• • Have comfortable seating on the balcony. Without comfy chairs, you won’t be encouraged to spend much time on the balcony. But with the addition of a chair or two you can sit out there with your morning coffee, take a lunch sandwich out or relax with your loved one in the cool of the evening, when the approaching darkness gives you more privacy. Make sure the chairs are truly comfortable, but keep them away from the outside edge if you have children who might want to climb up and look over. Add a small table so you have somewhere to put your coffee mug, iPad or book. A table will also encourage you to spend time out there for a meal or a snack.

• Add some pot plants. Pot plants on the balcony look attractive and enhance your experience of it. You can personalise this high space with vegetables, flowers, a small fruit tree or a climbing vine. Having some greenery around will make a hot place cooler and create a small oasis in the middle of the sky, so to speak. Vegetables especially will encourage you to go out on the balcony to water them and see that they have everything they need to grow and ripen. Once they get ripe you can sit in your comfy chair and enjoy the fruits of your labours. Strawberries and cherry tomatoes are particularly suitable for growing in pots. Plants also help to create shade.
• Add some other elements to help bring the outside into your living room. Statues, glazed balls, rocks and shells all add visual interest to the balcony, but when you also have a few of them just inside the door it really does bring the outside space in and create a flow from inside the apartment to outside. You won’t feel as if you are stepping into alien territory when some of your inside decorations can also be found on the balcony – or vice-versa. Choose fairly heavy ones that won’t blow over.
• Add a water feature. This can create a real haven, especially when it is combined with plants. Water also creates a little humidity, something that your plants might need if you are very high up. A water feature should not be so big that it takes up half the space available. You don’t want to feel crowded out there. There is also the weight to consider. Find out what weight your balcony can take and don’t forget the weight of the water when you are working it out. If you are not sure, keeping the feature to the back or sides will reduce its impact on the flooring.

Once you have redecorated your balcony you are sure to find excuses to sit out there and enjoy all you have done. You may also want to add outdoor carpet or fake turf so that it will be comfy underfoot, too.