Make the Most of Your Garden and Patio Spaces with Unique Outdoor Areas Ideas
Southeast Queensland has a lot going for it – but one of the best things is our weather. Besides the intense heat of high summer (when most of us prefer to limit our outdoors time to early morning lattes on the deck or a late arvo beer poolside), we have excellent weather for hanging outside. And making the most of your garden and patio spaces can help you to do even more of that.
So, we’ve pulled together some unique outdoor areas ideas to help you get outside all year long whether you’ve got a large deck, an undercover patio or a lush grassy garden (or all the above!).
Read more: How to Create a Modern Outdoor Space
Unique Outdoor Areas Ideas
Set up your spaces with seating
Seating is incredibly important in your outdoor spaces. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your decorative paving is, how lush your plantings or how many glasses of champers you hand around, if people don’t have a place to sit and relax, they aren’t going to be able to enjoy your space fully. If you’re worried about space, there are heaps of unique outdoor areas seating ideas. Creatively spacing benches and stools on balconies or narrow porches works very well. Where you have more space, such as on decks or patios, think about comfortable lounge arrangements or reclining Adirondack chairs. In the garden, hammocks or hanging chairs are a fun way to give both a focal point and a comfortable place to relax. Or focus on creating a beautiful lawn, and then toss large outdoor cushions around for some more casual seating.
Bring the fire
One of our favourite outdoors areas ideas is to incorporate a fire pit. Most of us agree – there’s just something about building a fire. Whether you want to roast marshmallows with the kids or set up with wine, cheese and good friends during the winter, cosying up to a fire pit is the way to go. One way to really make this a feature (and ensure everything is safe to use!) is to pave a selected area. This will make the fire pit (and seating around it) more usable.
Back it up with a green wall
We love the look of a green wall, and it’s an excellent way to segregate parts of the garden to create more intimate spaces. It’s also a fantastic method to breathe life (literally) into a small outdoor space. And using a vertical wall means you can save your precious floor space for seating, dining or just lounging around. Creating a living wall sounds tricky, but it’s a pretty easy DIY activity, especially with the use of vertical planters. Add some high-quality potting mix and some beautiful plants such as herbs, sunny ornamentals (daisies or euphorbia for example) or, if you’ve chosen a more shady spot, ferns and bromeliads.
Transform your space with lighting
When it comes to outdoors areas ideas, you can’t go past lighting. Battery operated lanterns, twinkle lights, tiki torches – they all add warmth and depth to your space, plus they look pretty awesome. Placing these lights strategically in your outdoor areas will help you bring focus on the areas you want. We love the idea of lighting along fencing as well as draped from the ceilings. Of course, from a practical perspective, good lighting also helps you enjoy the outdoors after dark.