Beautiful outdoor space

Is there something wrong with your patio? We have 6 essential patio design ideas that include accessories and plants!

Patio design ideas for beautiful outdoor space

How to turn an empty corner full of energy into an inviting retreat? Repeat patterns and add layers of color with plants, containers, cushions and wall art. With a few easy-to-find materials and a few days of work, you can turn a blah space into an inviting space above.

Sometimes a patio is a good escape from the house! At 14½ feet long and 9½ feet wide, it has plenty of room for furniture and a few friends to move around without tripping over each other. On the other hand, you won't feel lonely even if you are the only one enjoying a morning coffee and listening to the birds. If you want to know how to build this paver patio, check out these detailed instructions. If you already have a patio space and want it to look amazing, you'll need the patio design ideas shared below!

Use plants to break up strong lines

With plants like the tall cannas (canna hybrid) in the photo above, you can make a tall privacy fence less intimidating. On the side of the chair in the photo on the left, they make this seating area very welcoming. The curves and sweeps of the leaves beautifully break up all vertical and horizontal lines. A bonus of this cultivar is that Tropicanna™ Canna has bronze foliage that coordinates well with the garden's color scheme and warms the cool gray stain on the fence. If this doesn't suit your needs, there are many cannas with different colored foliage and flowers.

Canna tips

Save money on cannas by buying tubers and starting them in nursery pots.

Cannas are easy to grow, cold hardy in zones 7 to 12 and do best in full sun.

Dig and store tubers in the fall where they are not cold.

Create a color scheme with patio containers

These patio containers vary in shape to echo the squares and circles used in patios. Repeating reds and oranges from the garden helps pull everything together. That's not to say an accent color like fanflower purple isn't a good idea. However, containers are a great way to bring an area of the garden closer to enjoy, even if they are grouped together.

Simple containers make an even bigger impact

We added a low bowl of coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides hybrids) below to keep the back corner from looking bare. A simple planting of a single cultivar has a greater impact than a combination. This is 'Fishnet Stockings', a chartreuse with dark purple veins.

container node

If you don't like moving heavy pottery around your patio, consider composite, resin, or fiberglass pots. While they don't look great, they're lightweight and easy to move around and come in any color or pattern to match your patio style.

Don't be afraid to add outdoor artwork!

Wall art isn't just for the home. You can get prime and weatherproof canvases with beautiful images to hang outside, rain or shine. Privacy fences, use them on the wall of your house or hang them as decoration in the garden. If you don't care what you choose when shopping, check out our 5 tips for great outdoor wall art below to see how you can create your own.

5 Tips for Great DIY Outdoor Wall Art

This beautiful wall hanging is simple and can be outdoors from spring to fall. We ordered the stencils from ModelloDesigns.com. Follow the instructions that come with the kit and you'll have beautiful wall art.

Here are some tips that really helped:

1. If you can't find a large canvas, use several smaller ones and split a stencil between the two (photo above). We used 20×24, 22×28 and 24×30-in. Canvases for this group.

2. Even if your canvas is already primed, add an exterior primer. The brand we used was Zinsser®.

3. You can buy small bottles of acrylic paint for exterior use at a craft store or sample pots of household paint at a hardware store. We are We also used the Folkart® brand of acrylic paint for background house paint and stencils.

4. Add depth to the design by using more than one color. Darker colors like brown tend to come forward and lighter ones like brown recede.

5. Once the paint is dry, remove the stencil and pull it away from the surface at a 180 degree angle to avoid tearing the stencil. After you remove the stencil, spray or brush on two coats of clear exterior sealer. Be sure to get both the front and back of the canvas. Allow to dry thoroughly between each coat.