Today, we continue our tour of Lola Thompson's exciting outdoor living spaces. On Tuesday, we visited Lola's front courtyard, and, today, we tour Lola's interior courtyard in two different looks. Design as intended is never finished - just as life is not static, the best of spaces evolve with us. Lola takes this design theory to heart and is continuously redesigning her spaces to evolve with her changing decor needs and tastes. The result is always refreshing and inspiring.

In the courtyard, the two different looks serve two different purposes, one is designed with entertaining in mind, while the other serves as a personal sanctuary akin to a boutique hotel room's balcony. Both looks, however, bring elements of the inside out, artfully layered to create an inviting, lovely outdoor living space.

The first look invites entertaining, with its modern benches diagonally placed on the carpet with an antique bistro table centered in between them.

The second look, featuring the acid green chaise with a Turkish towel blanket thrown across it, makes me want to curl up with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. This look is a retreat designed for peaceful and quiet seclusion.

Whether lucky enough to visit this courtyard as a dinner guest or as a personal retreat, you are enveloped by an enchanting environment. Boxwood topiaries frame the courtyard, an antique window guard and shutters provide a photographic backdrop, and twinkling bistro lights are strung overhead. Carefully curated artifacts bring depth to the space and invite guests to linger as their eyes absorb the surrounding beauty.

Succulents Bring Vibrant Chartreuse Colors to The Space

Antique Corbels Transformed Into Planters

Remnant of Antique Chinese Lantern Serve as a Candle Holder

Design Notes
Elevate the design et décor of your outdoor living space.

Create a room by defining the space with a rug and a border. Structured boxwoods create a linear border around Lola's courtyard.
Center your courtyard around a seating arrangement, water feature or sculpture.
Create a private sanctuary in your courtyard by using a privacy screen created from plants (such as tall hedges, Cyprus trees or a flowering trellis), outdoor curtains or architectural elements, such as shutters in Lola's space.
Create a moody environment with string lights and candles.
Keep plenty of side tables on hand for functional entertaining. Chinese drum tables are versatile and easy to move around.

Images by Brooklyn Boheme.

Wasp nest artfully layered on freshly-cut lavender

From layered interiors to flowers and gardens, everything she touches is gorgeous and trés chic. Today we explore Lola Thompson's high-style courtyard. The cornerstone of her landscape design is to bring the inside out, to be at home in the garden. Interior fabrics drape over pillows, mirrors hang on exterior walls and oil paintings find a home in the garden alongside religious artifacts and statuary.

Lola has created a garden space that integrates with the home's eclectic interior - it fluidly transitions for entertaining and just enjoying a daily read in the garden.

The crunching of the decomposed granite beneath your feet and the glimpses of statuary through the greenery invokes the feeling of a stroll through France's finest of manicured gardens. Varying topiaries, native grasses and succulents, all artfully contained, are highlighted by pops of fuchsia mumms and lavender lilies. An assemblage of cast aside flea market tables, statuary fragments and remnants of vessels provide design-depth to this space. A discarded old workbench becomes the perfect hostess coffee table.

French wine bottle dryer becomes garden art alongside concrete spheres

Legs of interior chair peak thru the layers of grain sack and French flag

Design Notes

Indoor or out, the décor goal is the same, to create an inviting, stylish living space.

Instead of throwing out that old chair, use it to create an impromptu living space in your garden.
An eclectic mix of garden furniture, in varying styles, are more inviting, relaxed and visually pleasing than a matching set. Garage sales are a great place to score one-off patio chairs and urns.
To ground the eclectic space, paint the mismatched tables and planters in a coordinating color or pair with coordinating pillows.
Grain sacks bring a tactile quality to a garden and fare inclement weather surprisingly well. (As with any fabric, prolonged use outside will cause the fabric to fade or mildew.)
When decorating the garden with paintings, place the painting out of direct sun and under an overhang to protect from rain.
Include statement pieces, eye-catchers, such as Lola's oversize statute or bottle art, in the distance.
Antique gates add style, function and interest.

Images by Brooklyn Boheme.

Garden Design: One Berkeley Courtyard Two Different Designs

Garden Design: Bringing the Inside Out