The art of designing your patio can be simply explained as envisioning yourself designing your living room area. Or think of it as your garden and the park next to your suburb, it’s all come down to what space you have at hand to play around with.
When you start the plan for your outdoor design, the first thing you need to keep in mind is the space you have at hand. Approaching this space with clear design view will help you create an incredible space that.
Get creative with the space you have: Your Patio
The first mistake most people make when decorating a patio, backyard or garden is to take their planters, fountains, statues, etc. and spread them out evenly to try to cover as much space as possible. This is especially tempting for those on a tight budget, since they may not be able to afford as many accessories and accents as they would like.
Spreading things out evenly, though, creates a boring space which doesn’t give the eye anything in particular to focus on. It is much more pleasing to group your plants and decor items into clusters, so that several items can be seen at once, in a friendly grouping, with empty space between providing variety.
This way, your visitors’ eyes can move easily and comfortably from one cluster to another – each cluster is distinct in character and the empty space between emphasizes their unique natures.
Try to think of each plant, statue, plaque or other accent as having its own personality, and place them together in groups that allow them to relate to each other in pleasing and complementary ways; place two low flowering plants on either side of a larger fern, or place a small statue between a palm and a vine – the possibilities are endless and are only limited by your creativity and imagination!
Take your visitors on a journey around your patio
When you are about to design your patio, one of the many things you need to have at the back of your mind is that you won’t be seeing your patio alone. Most times visitors are happier taking a walk around your patio for the fresh air maybe after a bottle of wine.
Therefore, you have to include the fact that visitors will see what your design look like as they enter and move through your patio. Having this at the back of your mind during your design stage will help you make a good selection as to what might catch your visitor’s eyes and what will attract their attention.
Once they’ve enjoyed looking at that, what will they look at next? Where will their attention be drawn, and where will that carry their feet?
Professional designers set up their spaces much like a story; the intent is to guide their visitors’ attentions and their bodies through the space so that everything is seen and everything is enjoyed in an interesting and pleasing order.
You can achieve an amazing outdoor setting by understanding the foot path of your visitors. You may want to to create special accent zones to show off your most treasured items by placing them right in the visitor’s path, or by placing them at eye level, giving them a direct look without a miss, or by surrounding them with unique accessories that set the entire cluster apart from the others.
If you take a little time to consider what people will see and where they will go as they make their way through your garden space, you’ll find that creating a relaxing and pleasant garden or backyard doesn’t require a university degree and can be achieved by common sense!
Don’t neglect the vertical space of your patio
It’s easy to think about your outdoor areas in terms of their ground or floor space – the area where you can place a plant stand, set a statue or fountain, or leave a path for friends to walk – but you must also remember the space above the ground! In some ways, vertical space is even more important than ground space!
Walls or fences can be beautified with the simple addition of a garden plaque, a wall fountain or a planter on a shelf. If you want a more functional wall item, try a garden thermometer.
Training a vine or some ivy up a trellis is a great way to use some vertical space and create a sense of intimacy and privacy as well.
Then, of course, there are the hanging items. hanging plants are a great way of lifting the eye up to a new vantage point and adding a vertical element to your green space. Wind-chimes are a special prize, because they are not only a delight to the eye, but a treasure for the ears as well. Sun-catchers also add a unique beauty with their ability to catch the sunlight and turn it into yet another decorative accent.
When placing hanging decor, think ‘outside of the box’… hanging items can be part of the clusters you create with your plants and statuary or they can hang by themselves, defining turning points along the garden path or providing embellishment to the open space between clusters.
There are so many ways to use vertical decor I can only mention a few of them here: Hang them from eaves and overhangs to adorn borders, suspend them from awnings and overhead beams for a more enclosed and intimate effect, and if you have a tree or two in your garden how about hanging a plant from a branch or placing a planter in the crook of a bough? Now you’re using clustering and vertical space at the same time by using a plant to hold a plant!
Design your patio with you nature
Birds are beautiful to look at and lovely to listen to, but most important to your garden or patio design, they move around on their own! Attract birds to your outdoor space and you’ll have a constant variety of design as they flit from branch to branch or light and preen on a fountain or statue.
Birds are nature’s own decor and attracting them to your garden or backyard is easy, just give them something to eat, a place to bathe and somewhere to build a nest! Birdbaths and bird feeders are excellent as statue items and ensure a steady supply of feathered friends as well.
Bird houses are especially nice because they can be used for vertical space decoration as well as providing a comfortable place for sparrows and starlings to nest or just to hang out for a while! What’s a garden or patio without the beauty and song of birds?
Dare to dream
These three tips are just the beginning of the process. They’re intended to get you started thinking like a professional designer and considering the unlimited possibilities that your unused outdoor spaces present.
Don’t let your space lie dormant. Speak to Rite Price Roofing about your outdoor living. Your patio is one of the ways you can show your visitors how great an outdoor living can be. Invest in your patio via a reputable roofing company like us.
Patios are a great part of Australian outdoor living. And because Australians are great with the outdoors, we take it very important. And because we take our outdoor life very important, we make sure we get the best roofing company to build it for us.
Rite Price Roofing is that best roofing company you want to trust your patio with. With decades of experience in the industry they are able to deliver the best service possible.
