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Patio Power: 12 Ways to Energize Your Outdoor Room
From free and easy to pro skills required, we give you a range of options for boosting the look of your patio for summertime entertaining
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
If your patio is not inviting, you're unlikely to take full advantage of it. But just one move can completely transform your patio from a boring slab of concrete into an inviting outdoor room. Assess how much time, money and help you have, and figure out what's bumming you out about your patio. Perhaps there is too much sun, there is not enough light at night, it's too chilly most of the year, your tabletop gives people splinters or there are so few plants nearby that you don't even feel like you are outdoors.
Check out these 12 patio enhancement strategies and decide which one can make your patio a place where you'll enjoy spending more of your time.
Check out these 12 patio enhancement strategies and decide which one can make your patio a place where you'll enjoy spending more of your time.
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Throw a Tablecloth Over Your Table
Time: 1 minute; 5 minutes if you iron it first.
Starting budget: I recently found the cutest DwellStudio for Target tablecloth on clearance for $7.
This quick and easy move can tie the patio to the plants around it through color. Your table will look fresh and inviting for your guests.
Time: 1 minute; 5 minutes if you iron it first.
Starting budget: I recently found the cutest DwellStudio for Target tablecloth on clearance for $7.
This quick and easy move can tie the patio to the plants around it through color. Your table will look fresh and inviting for your guests.
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| Add Candlelight Time: 5 minutes to dig out that long lighter and get things lit. Starting budget: Try these Black Hurricane Lanterns at $10 each. Oversize hurricanes glow with warm light, instantly adding a romantic ambience. See more outdoor lanterns |
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| Bring the Indoors Out Time: 15 to 30 minutes. Starting budget: $0. Use what you've got. If you're saving for patio furniture but want to host an al fresco dinner party, you don't have to wait. Simply move your dining room table and chairs onto the patio temporarily. |
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Add the Sound of Water
Time: A fountain like this one takes time for a designer to draw up plus a few days for a pro to install. But it takes just minutes to add a tabletop fountain to your patio.
Starting budget: You can get a tabletop fountain for around $35.
Whether it's a tiny bubbler or more permanent, custom architecture, a feature with the sound of splashing water will relax and delight you.
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Time: A fountain like this one takes time for a designer to draw up plus a few days for a pro to install. But it takes just minutes to add a tabletop fountain to your patio.
Starting budget: You can get a tabletop fountain for around $35.
Whether it's a tiny bubbler or more permanent, custom architecture, a feature with the sound of splashing water will relax and delight you.
See more fountains
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Add Textiles
Time required: 30 minutes.
Starting budget: Find colorful outdoor rugs (4 feet by 6 feet) at Home Infatuation for around $45.
Throw pillows and outdoor rugs now come in fabrics that stand up to weather, so you can use print, color and pattern with these items as you would indoors.
Time required: 30 minutes.
Starting budget: Find colorful outdoor rugs (4 feet by 6 feet) at Home Infatuation for around $45.
Throw pillows and outdoor rugs now come in fabrics that stand up to weather, so you can use print, color and pattern with these items as you would indoors.
by A Pleno Sol
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Bring in the Shade
Time required: For setting up one large umbrella or a pop-up tent, less than an hour. For a more permanent structure like shade sails, permanent concrete footings can be involved and it can take a few days.
Starting budget: Find a 95-inch umbrella at West Elm for $125; the stand is sold separately for $58.
A larger umbrella transforms this space, providing a temporary ceiling that encloses and defines the space.
See more outdoor umbrellas
Time required: For setting up one large umbrella or a pop-up tent, less than an hour. For a more permanent structure like shade sails, permanent concrete footings can be involved and it can take a few days.
Starting budget: Find a 95-inch umbrella at West Elm for $125; the stand is sold separately for $58.
A larger umbrella transforms this space, providing a temporary ceiling that encloses and defines the space.
See more outdoor umbrellas
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Add Plant Racks
Time required: 1 hour, including time to pot the plants.
Starting budget: This curvy plant rack from Target is $64. Pick up terra-cotta pots for a few dollars and some herbs for a few more.
If you don't have much space around the edges for planting, add a rack or two to fill with potted plants.
See more plant racks
Time required: 1 hour, including time to pot the plants.
Starting budget: This curvy plant rack from Target is $64. Pick up terra-cotta pots for a few dollars and some herbs for a few more.
If you don't have much space around the edges for planting, add a rack or two to fill with potted plants.
See more plant racks
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Add a Trellis
Time required: If it's one that leans against or attaches to the house, just a few minutes. For something more elaborate like this one, you'll likely need to hire someone for a day.
Starting budget: An architectural trellis from Hayneedle is $70.
You can attach one to a wall, build a wall of trellises or create an outdoor divider with one like you see here. Leave it plain or plant vines like clematis at the base and watch them climb.
Time required: If it's one that leans against or attaches to the house, just a few minutes. For something more elaborate like this one, you'll likely need to hire someone for a day.
Starting budget: An architectural trellis from Hayneedle is $70.
You can attach one to a wall, build a wall of trellises or create an outdoor divider with one like you see here. Leave it plain or plant vines like clematis at the base and watch them climb.
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| Paint Your Patio Furniture Time required: Half a day to clean, prime and paint two coats. Starting budget: A gallon of primer, a gallon of paint and a brush will run you around $50. Chances are, you already have a few of these things stored somewhere. Your tired old picnic table will take on a whole new look with a bright coat of paint. If you want to get a mix and match look, paint the table and chairs different colors. |
| Fill the Edges with Exuberant Plants Time required: 1 day. Starting budget: I recently found a 3.5-gallon Endless Summer Blue Hydrangea at Lowe's for $30. If you keep your eyes open, you can find 2.5 gallon shrubs for around $15, and perennials and annuals for just a few dollars. Perennials, annuals and shrubs enliven the patio and transform the color palette. See great design plants |
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| Add Fire Time required: A weekend. Starting budget: I found a 30-inch portable fire pit for $40; the DIY fire pit shown above cost $450 in materials. Whether it's a permanent installation or one of the many portable versions available on the market, a fire pit lets you enjoy your patio later into the night and later into the fall season. Best of all, you can toast marshmallows over it. Erin Lang Norris shows us how she built this one. Browse more fire pits |
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| Build a Pergola Time required: A weekend if you're very handy, potentially a lot longer if you're not. Hiring a professional may be in order, as you will want sturdy foundations for your structure. Starting budget: If you use cedar to build a DIY 8-foot by 8-foot pergola, it will run you around $700 to $1,000 in lumber. These architectural structures define outdoor rooms, and you can suspend items like candleholders, paper lanterns and hanging plants from their rafters. More: DIY: Turn Your Carport Into an Outdoor Dining Room Outdoor Rooms: The Perfect Pergola |
Comments
Stephanie Wiley Photography Thanks so much for including my tree house patio with the lime picnic table - great idea book!
12 months ago · Like
UPSTAGING YOUR HOMES another great article Becky!!! I luv the outdoor rooms at my home, open back patio off breakfast room, open upstairs deck, we call the "Twilight Lounge", and covered front patio for the rainy days or when the sun is too hot 
12 months ago · Like
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Bowden Carroll Design I would love any one of these spaces at my house. But first I would need to figure out how to keep the various critters who have eaten everything I've planted this year out of my space...
12 months ago · Like
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freebirdliving Rabbits, quail, even coyotes....Strong scents sometimes work...I planted lots of trailing rosemary and they don't eat that....I found some yellow daisies that so far, seem safe....most herbs once they are established will live...I live in the desert and love the wildlife but hate that it limits my gardening so much. Good luck.
6 weeks ago · Like
Bowden Carroll Design I, too, live in the desert, freebirdliving, and have planted just about everything that has been described as 'inedible' at local nurseries, but guess what??? Yep, something out there likes to dine on the inedible! I am actually going to investigate fake plants for my pots, but don't tell anyone... Like you, I love the wildlife, so traps are out of the question. Thanks for your ideas and I'll be looking for yellow daisies at the garden center soon!
6 weeks ago · Like
freebirdliving My coolest addition to my desert backyard has been my "living fence" made out of Ocotillo spikes wired together and planted. They almost all have bloomed and many have flowered. Now I am trying to grow my own fence stock and add too it. No one believed me when I bought these "dead" looking sticks and planted them. Everybody loves them now. Actually I have intermixed some fake flowers among my real stuff and it looks good. This year something even started eating the tips off the agaves....that is a first. Good luck. 
6 weeks ago · Like
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La Lune Collection Lovely feature, Becky - thank you! Well, I'll pick "Bring in the Shade", as shown in this pic of a La Lune Collection outdoor table and chairs, protected by a big umbrella. 
5 weeks ago · Like
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GRAND HOME AUTOMATION Here's a link to a previous story Becky wrote for Houzz about an outdoor entertainment space in Michigan.
Ideabook: Double Take: This Outdoor...
Ideabook: Double Take: This Outdoor...13 days ago · Like
larryboy47 I have heard that deer stay away from anything blooming 'yellow' in color as well as anything that has 'silver' leaves...
40 hours ago · Like
Ideabook published on May 31, 2012.
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