Spring is just around the corner, bringing fresh, warm evenings, longer days and plenty of opportunities to enjoy your porch, patio, balcony or backyard. Get your outdoor living space ready for the new season with these décor and furniture ideas.
Small gardens and balconies
Not everyone has a massive garden with a deck and a pool they can retreat to. Some of us have a small garden, especially in urban spaces, or even a balcony in an apartment.
1 Create an intimate space
Treat this space as an intimate refuge, with a comfortable place for you and your partner to enjoy long, lazy dusky evenings. Keep the furniture to a minimum, with a simple, small table and two chairs.
2 The secret garden
Small gardens and balconies can easily feel drab and boring, so give them all the life and beauty they can handle with bright flowers, plenty of climbing and trailing plants and even a few sweet-smelling and delicious vegetables and herbs.
3 The bare minimum
Of course, you may prefer the sleek, beautiful lines of your balcony and simply enjoy the spectacular views it offers. There’s much to be said for allowing the architecture to shine on its own and keeping your décor to a bare minimum.
4 Tiny lights
Think the fairy lights need to come down just because the holidays are long gone? Add a touch of whimsy and fun to your small space – and keep it illuminated at the same time – with fairy lights in white or various colors. The light will be enough to enjoy evenings in the garden without flooding the space with bright lights.
Medium gardens and patios
From small urban gardens and balconies, we move to homes with a bit more garden space and even a small patio. Here, you have some room for the kids to play, and maybe even space to set up a backyard barbecue.
5 Sunshine furniture
If you have an open patio or a garden with no shade cover, remember that any furniture you get will be exposed to the elements 24/7. We do not recommend getting beautiful, hand-crafted wooden furniture here, unless you’re happy to replace it after a couple of years of rain, sun and wind. Metal and glass, however, make for elegant and hard-wearing outdoor furniture.
6 Soak up the sun
Use your patio as a comfortable space to get your daily dose of Vitamin D. Get a set of comfortable, easily packed away deck chairs and spend your summer afternoons catching up on your reading or for warm, lazy naps – just don’t forget to use sunscreen!
7 Flexible shading
Open patios are great for catching some rays, but they can also get pretty hot – and let’s not forget how uninviting they can be in the rain. Enjoy the best of all worlds by installing a giant umbrella or other waterproof shading that can be put up or collapsed easily to suit your mood and needs.
Going big
A good suburban family home is going to have a much larger garden and probably some decent patio space, or even a deck for you to enjoy. You may even have a swimming pool, which makes hanging out in the backyard guaranteed during the summer.
8 Indoors outdoors
Treat your covered patio like another room in your home, and decorate it with similar furniture. Add some beautiful pot plants to marry the indoors and the garden, and create a unique and attractive extra space in which to enjoy both luxury and nature.
9 A trip to the islands
Conjure a feeling of clear blue seas next to pristine white beaches with a classic blue and white color scheme for your outdoor furniture and décor. It will entice you to enjoy ice-cold teas on your own and refreshing frozen cocktails with family and friends, late into the summer evenings.
10 The inviting garden
Create a garden that invites exploration, interaction and play, with a large variety of flowering plants, herbs and vegetables that you can use indoors, paths to wander and run on, and even a bridge to enjoy flights of fancy on.
If you’re looking to create an indoor-outdoor space using Amish furniture, please spend some time reading up about our woods, finishes and the care involved in keeping your Amish furniture in good condition.