I think it’s time for a little deck decor, don’t you? Where I live the weather is getting nice, and my attention has turned to decorating outside for summer, and for spring too! I have a few tips and tricks that I want to share with you for decorating your deck or patio space.
How to add some Deck Decor or Patio Style
Are you thinking about doing up your deck? But maybe your aren’t really sure where to start, or what you need. No worries, I have put together some tips to help you get started and finish with flair. Let’s get this done, so you can get to the serious business of lounging, reading and of course, having cocktails and snacks out there.
Size Doesn’t Matter
Depending on what kind of space you have, will depend on what you can do with it. Now, don’t worry, I don’t live on a 10 acre ranch. Hell, I don’t even live on one acre. And one of the examples that I’m going to share with you is a condo, so no excuses, we can make any space fabulous!! As a matter of fact, one of the decks I’ll show you at the end of the post is only 7′ x 12′.
Assess your Needs
The first thing you will want to do is to figure out what you want in your space. What are the things that are important to you? Maybe for you an eating area is important, or a fire pit, a lounging area, or a bar? So Step One is to figure out what is important to you and what you want in your space. This part is easy, you probably already know the answer.
Assess Your Space
Step Two is to then see what you can fit into your space. If your are limited in your space and can only fit one thing. I would do a conversation set. These are great for socializing, relaxing and there’s even a coffee table for snacks, drinks or dinner. Nothing like a piece of furniture that multi- tasks!
This first example is from my previous home, which was a condo, That condo had 2 decks, and the one shown below is the larger of the two. It was 14′ x 14′.
This deck was situated off of the master bedroom, so I did not incorporate an eating area. This space was all about lounging and relaxing. For this deck’s decor, the features that I chose were a conversation area and a daybed. The conversation set consisted of a love seat and 2 chairs, and a coffee table. These pieces were Gluckstein Home. The outdoor daybed on the left was built by me.
Pick a Neutral for Base Pieces
I adhere to this same principal for both indoors and out. If you stick with a solid neutral for your main furniture pieces, then you can always change out the accent colour, it you want to completely change up your space, without actually changing everything out. So better to stick with black, grey or natural, rather than bright colours that may go out of style in a few years.
Tie it into your House Colour for Cohesion
When I purchased my furniture for the house, I went with a very similar shade to the house. EVERYTHING in this house was grey, grey, grey and grey. And though I really wanted some contrast, I also wanted the furniture to look like it fit the existing colour scheme, and since I was planning on adding a big bold pop of colour, I stayed with a nice dark grey to play off of the house colour.
Pick a Pop of Colour to Make it Bold
For contrast, I chose this really bright and pretty aqua to play off of the dark grey. The thing that I love about this colour, is that it reminds me of the same blue as you find in a swimming pool, and since I don’t have room in my back yard for a pool. this gives me my pool vibe without the expense, and sadly minus the pool boy 😉 I used this fabric to make my accent cushions and to cover my daybed. Here’s a tip for you. If you are buying fabric to cover your cushions, it’s a good idea to buy a little bit extra and tuck it away. That way if you need to add more in the future you can tie it in using that colour as a complementary colour against a new fabric. This will pull the pieces together. See what I did below with the red fabric.
Use Colour to Connect your Pieces
In both of these spaces I made a conscious effort to use colour to tie the space together.
In the space below, I chose the solid red fabric to cover the the daybed mattress and the matching canopy and pillows. The accent pillows on the conversation set were a beige colour with flowers on them, and I recovered them in a pretty red and white patterned outdoor fabric I used a little bit of this fabric in the pillows for the daybed to make the whole space seem intentional.
See how I did the same thing on this deck? I used the aqua fabric on the accent cushions for the conversation area, and also to cover the daybed mattress, this way they look more like a set of furniture, as opposed to 2 completely separate pieces. Also, I re-painted the daybed in the same dark grey as the French doors, which is very similar to the grey wicker of the love seat. See how it looks like a set of furniture? Instead of one purchased and one home-made piece!
Anchor it with a Rug
A rug serves a couple of purposes.
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It defines the boundaries of the space. If you have an eating area of a conversation grouping, it works to provide a room divider where there are no walls.
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It gives you that indoor space outdoors feeling, because you have a nice warm rug under your bare feet.
Just make sure that you buy a rug that is made for outdoors, so that it will stand up to the rain (and more importantly) the sun. And best if you can clean it up with a hose. I would steer clear of Indoor/outdoor rugs, unless your space is fully covered like a porch.
Provide some Shade
Depending on what exposure you have this may not be an issue for you. Both of these spaces are very sunny, and get very hot during the heat of the day. Also because I tend to do my work outside when I can I need some shade to be able to
a) See my laptop
b) Not get skin cancer
On the condo deck I had a canopy on the daybed and this provided shade when the rest of the deck was in the sun. This was also my outdoor office, if you can call lying on a daybed, propped up against pillows an office :)… The best office!
In the yard, I purchased a really big cantilever umbrella. The umbrella is square, so it gives a lot more shade than a round umbrella would, and it is 10′ across, so it’s pretty huge. Again, I tied in the colours so the whole thing looks cohesive despite all being separate bits and pieces. Sometimes it takes a bit longer to gather up your pieces, but I think it’s totally worth it in the end.
Bonus to have a Rest Stop
If you have the room for it, I would definitely reccomend a lounging area. This could be an outdoor daybed, a hammock, a swing or anywhere that you can have a little nap or lay around and read a good book. I made my original daybed when I had the condo, and then revamped it to match the decor at the house. It has a twin sized mattress on it, so it’s a GREAT place to take a little nap in the outdoors or lay and tan if that’s your thing. The dog and the cat both really like it too, on top AND underneath. Normally I have a little step up, so Sage can get up there on her own.
Where to $pend vs $ave
I’m not really a big spender, and generally prefer a bargain over a designer piece. But I do recommend buying good quality furniture that will stand up over time, especially if you will be leaving it out year round like I do. Just the furniture, not the cushions or the umbrella. The other thing I reccomend you don’t skimp on is quality outdoor fabric, for both the pieces that you are purchasing (check the label to make sure it is sun and mold resistant, and bonus if it’s washable!) and also for anything that you are covering.in fabric.
Remember, It’s not the rain that ruins your fabric it’s the sun.
When I made all of the covers for the red daybed, I did not use outdoor fabric. And by the second year it was all faded to a not so pretty shade of pink, where the sun had hit it. So, I flipped everything over for the second year. but it had to be tossed after that. Fortunately, by then we were moving and I was going to be changing the colour palette anyway.
Where to save is with almost everything else. I like to make my own deck decor pieces. You can add your own style to inexpensive dollar store or Walmart pieces, and don’t forget that you can change the colour to match your decor with paint. I am working on a few fun projects for outdoor deck decor, that I will be sharing soon.
Coordinate your Accent Pieces
I usually like to concentrate on one or two colours to keep everything looking cohesive. I managed to find a shade of spray paint that is pretty much a perfect match for my aqua fabric. So, I can use that to perfectly match up any pots or decor items so they match my deck decor theme. I like little bits of other colours too, just not too many. My personal style tends more to minimalism than boho.
Potted Plants for that Finishing Touch
And the final touch that will take it to the next level is an addition of some greenery and flowers. Some of my favourites are ferns and boxwood in tall planters. Plus everything looks nicer with pretty flowers. Here’s another look at my former condo.
Deck Decor on a Small Scale
Oh and because I promised I would show you a really small outdoor space. Here is my 7 ‘x 12’ foot condo deck. This is from the same unit as the large back deck. This is the smaller front deck. And I made this deck over for $100 as part of the $100 room challenge. Here is the before and after from that challenge. If you want to check it out, here are the posts for the 4 week challenge.
Week One|Week Two/Week Three|Week Four
Just add Cocktails…and Snacks 🙂
And that’s about it, last thing you need to do is grab yourself a cocktail, and get out and enjoy the amazing deck decor or patio decor in your newly updated and decorated space.
Deck Decor – Shop the look
Aqua Yard Deck
Condo Large Deck
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