How to Design a Patio Area

A patio area provides a comfortable space to entertain, relax or dine al fresco. Before choosing materials and furniture, determine the patio’s intended goals. A general seating and resting area will require different furniture than a dining space for quick turnover.

Opt for natural materials to create a patio that feels like a natural extension of the house. Flagstone, slate and sandstone provide a warm, organic feel, and can be used to define separate seating or dining areas.

Shade Garden Ideas

Use a variety of colors and foliage textures to create an appealing shade garden. For example, the slender leaves of Ice Dance Japanese sedge combine with wide ajuga and the dark-purple hues of Sirens’ Song orange-delight heuchera in this pathway planting. The low-maintenance combo is ideal for shady conditions.

Eliminate traditional turf grass in shady areas and replace with shade-tolerant ground cover such as moss, ferns or hosta. Or, plant massed beds of shade-loving perennials, shrubs or annuals like impatiens and tulips for year-round color.

Add visual interest to shady gardens with pathways of gravel or brick or install a pergola that floats over a seating area. For an added touch of whimsy, include round millstones or old barrels as containers and use interesting paving materials to delineate planting areas. Installing a water feature can also make shade gardens more enjoyable through the sound of trickling water.

Container Gardening Ideas

Container gardens are a great way to add lush color and texture to your patio, especially in spaces that can’t support a full garden bed. Look for containers on casters or rolling plant caddies to make them easy to move around, and set your plants up with automatic drip irrigation so they water themselves.

Bright, rounded plantings soften hardscapes and conceal the containers that hold them. Purple heart, pansies, and calibrachoas in shades from pink to deep violet create a traffic-stopping color palette that complements the natural wood stairs of this patio garden.

Plant a mix of foliage and flowering plants to get the most visual impact from your patio container garden. Here, an abundance of vibrant plants fills a pot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade on this Boise, Idaho, patio garden: lemon-scented geraniums, yellow-orange impatiens, red-flowering ‘Baby Tut’ dwarf papyrus, bright orange-red banana plant, lime green euphorbia, strappy variegated phormium, and trailing Algerian ivy. A ‘Vogue Audrey’ mandevilla climbs the pot, offering seasonal flowers and year-round interest that beats the heat.

Furniture

Create an intimate nook for reading and relaxing with a cozy outdoor lounge or go big and transform your patio into an inviting dining and entertainment area. Whatever the purpose, you’ll need durable furniture that can handle the elements, such as weatherproof cushions and seating made from materials that stand up to sun, wind, rain and debris like leaves or twigs.

Metal furniture works well for patios because it’s lightweight and resistant to corrosion, even in coastal areas where salt content can damage other types of metal. Look for wrought iron that features a rust-resistant coating or powder-coated metal that comes in any color you want, such as this striped set from West Elm.

Teak, a sustainable wood that’s highly water resistant and has great durability, is another good choice for poolside seating or structures. Or, choose a low-maintenance material such as aluminum that is easy to clean and resists fading, scratches or rust. Make sure to leave ample space for people to move around your furniture comfortably, especially if you plan to add a fireplace or other large structure to the patio.

Lighting

The right lighting can transform your patio from daytime sunbathing into a nighttime entertainment space. Use a combination of light sources to create a balanced lighting plan that provides ambient, task and indirect lighting.

Outdoor ceiling fans with lights are a great choice to provide both task and ambient lighting for seating or dining areas. They also help cool the area, making them a good option for warm-weather regions.

Hang string lights in different colors to add a festive mood to your patio. Paper lanterns work well for many cottage patio ideas, as do citronella candles, which help fend off bugs that can plague the party vibe of an alfresco evening.

Landscape lighting is a good choice for highlighting a path leading to the patio, providing visibility and less of a tripping hazard for guests. Lighting can be recessed into steps to illuminate them, and wall sconces are an attractive way to add illumination to feature walls.

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