So you’ve bought a hot tub. Great move! Now you can look forward to summers relaxing in the balmy air, winter dips surrounded by steam like a hot spring in Iceland, Indian summer-style autumns lounging with the people you love, and refreshing spring hot tub experiences to remember. 

The thing is, a hot tub isn’t always the best-looking item. They’re big, bulky and chunky, and they stand out a mile. In this article we explore how to create a stunning setting for your hot tub, transforming it from something that isn’t particularly easy on the eye into irresistible eye-candy.

Here’s how to make a comfortable, stylish entertainment area you’ll love to spend time in.

The perfect practical hot tub location

First of all you need to pick the perfect spot, mostly a practical choice.  For a start you’ll need a solid, flat foundation surface for it to sit on, simply because hot tubs are big and water is incredibly heavy.

Place it under a tree and you might end up with a hot tub full of bird poop or that horrible sticky stuff dropped by aphids.

You’ll need a water source close by, easy access electricity, and the right potential for drainage. You want to be able to reach the control panel easily and comfortably and you’ll want to be private, not overlooked by your neighbours. A view is a wonderful thing, too.

While most of this is simple enough to achieve, the privacy element and the beautiful view are something you can create yourself, so don’t worry too much if you don’t have either of them. The landscape around a hot tub can be stunning when you make your own views.  

Creating privacy around your hot tub

You might not mind. But if you’d rather the neighbours can’t see you half-naked or even full-on naked climbing in and out of your hot tub, you’ll need to create privacy. Here are some bright ideas:

• Build permanent walls around the hot tub area to enclose it
• If there’s only one angle the neighbours can see in, just build a wall or fence to block their view and leave the rest open. You can always grow climbing and rambling plants to soften the look of the wood, stone, hazel hurdles or bricks
• Erect a big, beautiful gazebo over the hot tub as a temporary privacy measure you can take up and down as required, giving you more flexibility. Today’s gazebo designs are absolutely gorgeous
• As an alternative to a traditional fabric gazebo, try an open-sided permanent gazebo in metal or wood, or one with a sliding roof so you can shut the roof in bad weather and still enjoy the great outdoors
• Garden umbrellas and shade sails also create privacy from above in a stylish way that’ll complement your garden. Today’s grey parasols and sails are a popular choice, styled to go perfectly with contemporary grey garden furniture 
• Planting alone can give you the privacy you want. Bamboos come in a multitude of colours, sizes and types, a brilliant evergreen screen to keep your party to yourselves. There are many types of evergreen shrub and tree, some fast-growing, some super-easy to trim neatly or cut into interesting shapes
• Willow screens are flexible and lightweight, easy to fit and move around with a lovely natural look
• Voile curtains strung on rope between two wooden posts makes a pretty, removable screen to add privacy
• If it’s a lawn, think big beach windbreaks – there are some fabulous ones in the shops, in both plain colours and patterns
• Use openwork trellis panels, growing flowering climbers up them to make a fragrant natural barrier
• Paint the fence or walls to add colour and vibrancy – aubergine, grey, purple, scarlet, magenta, orange, black, they all complement the greenery of a garden beautifully to give you a seriously stylish backdrop. Go mad if you like, painting the surface in stripes, spots, hearts, flowers… there literally isn’t a rule book!  

You’ll find oodles more brilliant garden fencing ideas here.

Add heat for sheer outdoor comfort

There are always safety issues around fire, indoors and out, but do it wisely and you can create a gorgeous, cosy space for people to stay warm while they dry off, have a snack, enjoy drinks or take  a break between hot tub sessions.  

• A BBQ for great fast food cooked outdoors
• A chimenea for a fabulous look, heat, cooking, and beautiful mood lighting
• A firebowl or fire pit to admire the magic of the flames 
• Patio heaters strategically placed to demark the hot tub entertainment area and provide a focused heat source 

Bring lovely light into the picture

Solar garden lanterns and lamps to light the way for safety and a mellow after-dusk ambience. It’s a lot safer than trailing electricity cables around the garden in the presence of water. You won’t trip over the cables and they’re a greener choice, too. The best solar garden lamps come with batteries chargeable by the sun or via a USB port. And there’s a massive choice of attractive designs.  

Modern resin rattan garden furniture

Today’s resin rattan garden furniture resists moisture really well, built to live outdoors year-round. It doesn’t rot or go mouldy, degrade or break. The cushions are shower proof, often completely waterproof. The table tops are ceramic or toughened glass. 

Like solar lamps for gardens, resin rattan furniture comes in a vast choice of styles, from cool 1950s mid-century to traditional wicker furniture looks. All this makes it absolutely perfect for a hot tub setting.

Go for full-on outdoor dining if you like. Add a lounge set, a bistro set, garden chairs, loungers or even day beds for chilling once you’re out of the water.

Making the best of the space

Draw everything out beforehand, on an app or paper, so you know exactly where everything will fit and how it’ll flow. Then you can figure out the best arrangement in advance rather than spend days physically shifting everything around.

You might want the hot tub to be the focus of the area. Maybe you’ll put the dining set further away from the hot tub than your seating, along with the BBQ, chiminea or whatever, so it’s safely away from the water.

Ask yourself questions. Where do I most need shade and shelter? Which direction does the wind usually blow? Where are we overlooked from? Can people flow between dining, hot tubbing and lounging without tripping over furniture or falling over the BBQ? Have I accidentally made a place where a traffic jam develops whenever people try to move around?

Then… go accessorise. Think warm throws and snugly blankets to relax into, colourful scatter cushions, waterproof floor cushions, garden rugs, and bunting. How about flickering candle lamps and strings of twinkling LED lights? You might even build or buy your own bar. Whatever inspires you.

All done? Now you’re the lucky owner of a highly desirable entertainment area with your hot tub in the starring role.

Start your own hot tub adventure

Are you ready to start your own hot tub adventure? First, you need a tub to base everything around. Take a look at what we’ve got in store.