8 Backyard Patio Ideas for Creating Your Own Personal Oasis
What’s the point of having a great outdoor patio space if it’s not lush, comfy, inviting, and intoxicating? Fortunately, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to create a beautiful oasis out of your backyard patio. Instead, just give a try to this eight backyard patio ideas for creating your own personal oasis.
1. Add Some Shade
The sun might be a welcome source of warmth in the cooler months, but once spring and summer come along, your outdoor patio will need a bit of shade. Consider installing a simple open frame draped by a canopy of outdoor-friendly material. You can also use umbrellas, awnings, and outdoor curtains to wholly or partially block the sun’s rays, giving you more helpful enjoyment of your space. Be sure to observe how the sun travels across your backyard before settling on a solution to make sure whatever option you choose will be properly positioned.
2. Bring the Green
What’s an oasis without some lush greenery? Adding potted plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs at varying heights give your backyard oasis color and life. Also, consider adding hanging baskets of colorful, bushy clematis with bountiful green leaves or hardy English ivy. These plants can add to the perception of privacy and delineation that help create the sense of a defined space.
3. Light Up the Night
If you haven’t browsed Amazon’s selection of outdoor-friendly string lights recently, you might be amazed at the variety of styles. Adding strings of these small, warm lights helps create a mysterious, welcoming vibe similar to the one you might find at a chic sidewalk cafe in a bustling city. Best of all, they’re easy to put up and remove and not very expensive. You can probably afford to get several sets that can be changed seasonally to create different vibes.
4. Create Comfy Seating Areas
To fully enjoy your backyard patio oasis, you’ll need plenty of comfortable seating options for you and your guests. Skip the matchy-matchy patio sets and instead go for individual pieces that follow a similar color and style scheme without being exactly alike. Create different levels of seating with an upholstered outdoor loveseat, a few unique chairs, a chaise with a lower profile, and maybe even some thick, plush throw pillows on the patio floor. Center the seating around a large, square table to create a space equally adept at dining and facilitating a conversation.
5. Bring in a Water Feature
If you’re not fortunate enough to have a backyard pool or hot tub, consider adding a small fountain to the soothing, pleasing sounds of trickling, streaming water. These mini-fountains don’t have to cost a lot of money, and while they’re usually small in size, they can add significantly to the oasis vibe.
6. Add Color
An outdoor patio is the perfect part of your home to go wild with colorful abandon. If you stick with calm, creamy neutrals for the upholstery and framing of your basic seating choices, you can add a dizzying array of colors in various prints, patterns, and solids with pillows of all sizes. Make sure you keep the fabric outdoors-friendly or plan to bring the pillows in during bad weather to keep the colors fresh and lively.
7. Paint a Pattern
Whatever material you’re working with as the floor of your patio, you might be able to add a real oasis vibe by painting it with a batik pattern. In addition, stone and concrete surfaces can be stenciled with repeating patterns to create a more exciting look for your outdoor oasis.
8. Add Some Art
Finally, consider adding some statuary, painted plaques or paving stones, and other artistic elements to your patio area. Giving the eye somewhere to wander and rest on joyfully creative exhibits adds a sense of fun and excitement to your backyard patio.
Get Creative With Your Patio
To make a space that you can enjoy year-round, you need a little planning, forethought, and creative exploration. The payoff can be great, though. You might even increase the perceived value of your home through an appraisal by making the most out of every square foot of space on your property. And when you’re ready to sell your home, prospective buyers will appreciate the cozy, creative oasis you’ve made!
