Being active outdoors is great fun, and although there’s often plenty to keep me entertained sometimes I just want to sit down, relax and enjoy the view. Especially if said view is my own garden, as I spend a lot of time working in it and it’s nice to see all the effort come together in one lovely outdoor world. While I could spend hours enjoying simply being outside, my family soon get bored and want to go in to play a game or sit in more comfortable chairs. I decided it was time to transform our bland patio into an outdoor sanctuary.

The Basics

Luckily building the actual patio was a project we concluded a few years back, so the charming teak deck was already in place. While researching I did find some great stone patios which I got a bit jealous about, but then I thought of the work involved in keeping them that nice, and decided my deck suited me more. As the problem with our patio was lack of comfortable seating, the first point on my to-do list was to replace the PVC chairs and table with something more comfortable but still durable. To match the deck, I decided that wood furniture made out of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved pine was the best option, since I fell in love with a three piece outdoor furniture set consisting of a three seat sofa, two seat sofa, armchair and matching cushions. I also added a low coffee table out of pine, so that we could use it to play cards or boardsgames without having to rush inside. Although this set me back a bit moneywise, the patio was already looking much better, but I wasn’t finished.

The Extras

I enjoy scavenging through design blogs, and through this I’ve learnt that a good looking patio can be turned into a sanctuary by adding some small yet important details. Some pot plants came first to get us closer to nature and to add some color to the now very wooden patio. Some extra cushions in bright colors like orange and blue were appreciated for the comfort and the eye-drawing color. I also added a wooden frame around our patio area and hung some curtains from it. Our garden can be seen by neighbours and people passing by on the street, and althoug it is a quiet street, I thought it would be nice to add some extra privacy. The curtains give us the option of being visible or invisible, while still having the view of the garden, and as I chose some thin sky blue ones, which complemented the rest of the design. Other extras included small things like tealights in revamped jam jars, and a small outdoor fire pit for when it’s getting dark in the summer and we simply don’t want to go inside yet.

I hope my patio sanctuary story has given you some inspiration for your own.

This article was written by Sarah Oxley, Sarah is passionate about the outdoors as well as design, so was thrilled to combine the two.