Patio Power: 12 Ways to Energize Your Outdoor Room

Patio Power: 12 Ways to Energize Your Outdoor Room

If your patio is not inviting, you’re not likely to take complete advantage of it. But only one move can completely transform your patio from a boring slab of concrete to an inviting outdoor area. Assess how much time, money and help you have, and determine what’s bumming you out about your patio. Maybe there’s too much sun, there is not enough light at night, it is too cold most of the year, your tabletop gives people splinters or there are so few crops near that you don’t actually feel like you are outdoors.

Check out these 12 patio enhancement plans and choose which you can make your patio a place where you are going to enjoy spending more of your own time.

Lisa Borgnes Giramonti

Twist a Tablecloth On Your Table

Time:
1 moment; 5 minutes if you iron it .
Starting budget: I lately discovered the most adorable DwellStudio for Goal tablecloth on clearance for $7.

This fast and effortless movement can tie the patio to the plants around it via color. Your desk will look new and inviting for your guests.

Kirkpatrick Design

Insert Candlelight

Time:
5 minutes to dig out that long lighter and get items lit.
Starting budget: Try these Black Hurricane Lanterns at $10 each.

Oversize hurricanes glow with warm light, instantly adding a romantic ambience.

See more exterior arenas

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 wish to host an al fresco dinner celebration, you do not need to wait. Just move your dining room table and chairs onto the patio temporarily.

Insert the Sound of Water

Timing:
A fountain like this one takes some time to get a designer to draw plus a few days to get a professional to set up. Nonetheless, it takes only minutes to bring a tabletop fountain to your patio.
Starting budget: You can get a tabletop fountain for about $35.

Whether it is a tiny bubbler or more durable, customized structure, a feature with the sound of splashing water will unwind and pleasure you.

See more fountains

Amazon

Insert Textiles

Time required: 30 minutes.
Starting budget: Findcolorful outdoor rugs (4 feet by 6 feet) in Home Infatuation for about $45.

Throw cushions and outdoor rugs now come in fabrics that stand up to weather, so you can use print, color and pattern using these items as you would indoors.

A Pleno Sol

Bring from the Shade

Time required:
For setting up one large umbrella or a pop-up tent, less than one hour. To get a more permanent arrangement such as shade sails, permanent concrete footings may be included and it may take a few days.
Starting budget: Find a95-inch umbrella in West Elm for $125; the stand is sold individually for $58.

A bigger umbrella transforms this distance, giving a temporary ceiling that encloses and defines the distance.

See more outdoor umbrellas

Kim Woods

Add Plant Racks

Time required:
1 hour, including time to pot the crops.
Starting budget: This curvy plant stand from Target is 64. Pick up terra-cotta baskets to get a few dollars and some herbs for a few more.

In case you don’t have much space around the edges for planting, add a stand or two to match with potted plants.

See more plant racks

Banyon Tree Design Studio

Insert a Trellis

Time required:
When it is one that leans against or attaches to the house, only a few minutes. For much more elaborate such as this one, you’ll probably have to employ somebody 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 make an outdoor divider with you like you see . Leave it plant or plain vines like clematis in the bottom and watch them climb.

S / Wiley Interior Photography

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 about $50. Chances are, you already have a few of those things stored someplace.

Your weary old picnic table will take on a whole new look with a bright coat of paint. If you want to receive a mix and match appearance, paint the table and chairs distinct colors.

Westover Landscape Design, Inc..

Fill the Edges using Exuberant Plants

Time required:
1 afternoon.
Starting budget: I recently discovered a 3.5-gallon Endless Summer Blue Hydrangea in Lowe’s for $30. Should you keep your eyes open, there are 2.5 gallon shrubs for about $15, and perennials and annuals for only a few dollars.

Perennials, annuals and shrubs enliven the patio and change the color palette.

See great design plants

Erin Lang Norris

Insert Fire

Time required: A weekend.
Starting budget: I discovered a 30-inch portable fire pit for $40; the DIY fire pit revealed above price $450 in materials.

Whether it is a permanent installation or among the many portable versions on the market, a fire pit allows you enjoy your patio later into the evening and later to the fall season. On top of that, you are able to toast marshmallows over it. Erin Lang Norris shows us how she built this one.

Read more fire pits

Tatiana

Build a Pergola

Time required:
A weekend in case you’re really handy, potentially a lot longer if you’re not. Hiring an expert may be in order, as you will want sturdy foundations to your own structure.
Starting budget: Should you use cedar to build a DIY 8-foot by 8-foot pergola, it is going to run you about $700 to $1,000 in timber.

These architectural structures specify exterior rooms, and also you are able to suspend things such as candleholders, paper lanterns and hanging plants out of their rafters.

More:
DIY: Turn Your Carport Into an Outdoor Dining Room
Outdoor Rooms: The Fantastic Pergola

See related