Decorating Your Patio
by Joey Pebble

Description: Tips for decorating your outdoor patio to be a more stylish, comfortable space for your family to enjoy.

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The most important aspect of a patio is that it is a part of your home which is outside. That means that it is exposed to the elements on a daily basis. Aside from taking care to protect the wood or stone flooring, rails, and other architectural parts of the space, you also have to make special considerations for any decorative or functional items which you add to it. That means only using weather resistant products, and being certain to care for them in whatever way is necessary to prevent damage.

Certain materials are going to be more resistant to damage from rain, heat, and cold, than others. Items made from Teak, a resilient type of hardwood, are able to withstand outdoor conditions for a long period of time, without showing any appreciable wear and tear. Products made from Slate, a type of natural stone, will also be resistant to weather damage. Plastic is a less expensive alternative which can also withstand just about anything.

When arranging seating on the front porch, you should take your cues from the living room. Place seats in circular or semicircular arrangements, to force people to face one another, and encourage communication amongst guests. A central table can also be used to draw the circle of the space together.

There are a variety of decorative and functional items which can be brought into the space to create points of interest and beauty throughout. Of these the most natural are probably potted plants. Living, breathing, growing, sources of oxygen, plants are the perfect accessory for a stylishly decorated patio.

The floor is another place where you can add decorative touches. There are a variety of rag carpets, and throw rugs, which are made from weather safe materials and are appropriate for outdoor use. If you can find a rug that is machine washable, all the better, because this will allow you to throw it in the washer any time you want it to have a fresh clean look.

Lighting is another important decorative consideration in this space. At night, the patio will become cut off from the rest of the home, and isolated in the dark. Many people use torches, scattered around the edges of the space, as a way of beating back the night in an attractive, primal, statement. Candles are another popular option for outdoor lighting.

There are also a variety of electrical lighting options including lanterns, globes, and other fixtures, which can make the outside as bright as the inside, even on the darkest of nights. However since these items will be exposed to wind and rain you have to make sure that they are properly installed or they could become a fire hazard. Some people also opt for less expensive, less dangerous, battery operated lights.

Stone accessories are another popular option for outdoor settings. Slate, granite, travertine, limestone, and quartz are all extremely hard natural stone materials, which will resist even the harshest of weather conditions. These can be made into a series of clocks, coasters, and even decorative fruit, which can be placed in bowls for display purposes.

As far as style, there are two major options when decorating the patio. On the one hand you can integrate it into the rest of the home, decorating in colors and patterns which match the living room and other areas. On the other hand, many people prefer to turn a patio into a completely different world, decorating it in such a way that you wouldn’t know you were in the same house when you stepped out onto it. This gives them the option to create fanciful hideaways and exotic locations, right in the comfort of their home.

The patio has the potential to be the most beautiful and fun space in your home. You do have to take special precautions when choosing furnishings for this space, but the wide variety of weather resistant products on the market makes it easy to find the perfect piece to complete the look you want. Aside from weather constraints, this space uses many of the same decorative strategies found in the rest of the home, and you can choose to either integrate it into the space, or make it an exotic separate location all of its own.

This article was sponsored by PebbleZ.com – makers of rustic home décor products that are crafted by hand from raw natural stone materials. The writing was done by artist Joey Pebble.

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