The weather is warming up again, which means it’s that time of year where everyone wants to get outside more. You may feel ready to head outside and have fun with your friends, but what if you want to have fun at home? You can invite friends over for meals and fun activities, especially when you have a deck or a patio to use.
Decks and patios can sometimes end up being the feature of your house you use the least. With some time spent redecorating or touching up your outdoor space, you’ll be able to have fun outside with the people you love in no time. This year, make that change by using these eight simple tips to make your deck or patio more inviting.
1. Rinse Off the Pollen
The biggest deterrent people face when they want to go outside in the spring is the annoyance of seasonal allergies. Pollen gets everywhere, even your outdoor space you want to be able to use to relax. While it may seem like the pollen that settles on your patio will be there forever, you can banish it for an afternoon so your allergies settle down.
Hook up a garden hose and use it to rinse off your deck. It’ll catch all the pollen without releasing it back into the air, and then all the pollen will be swept away into your yard or drainage system. It’s a quick and effective way to clean off your patio in time for any party.
2. Grow Colorful Plants
Many times, patios and decks lack a variety of colors. They’re just plain wood boards or white plastic walls. Adding a splash of color to any living space makes it automatically more welcoming, and there are plenty of colorful plants you can grow to make that color have a bit more of a summer vibe.
Before you head to your local plant nursery, look for shade-loving plants. They’ll live longer on your patio than some other plants, assuming it’s a covered patio or one that has shade during most of the day. Begonias, plantain lilies and fuchsia flowers are a great place to start to naturally add color to your deck or patio.
3. Install a Sunroom
Transforming your deck into a sunroom may be just what you need to spend real time outside this year. It’s not a huge construction project, so it won’t take up too much of the time you want to spend relaxing. After you learn about different types of sunrooms, see which style would work best for your space and what you want to do with it.
4. Match Your Furniture
You may have jumped at the chance to get a matching set of furniture for your living room or bedroom, but your patio may just have some plastic lawn chairs you found on sale at the supermarket. Give your deck some love this spring by buying matching furniture. A weatherproof couch and coffee table will invite everyone to spend time outside, whether they want to enjoy a hot drink in the morning or eat dinner in the evening.
5. Paint Your Flower Pots
As your family grows, you’ll collect plenty of artwork from your kids or younger family members. Kids love to grab markers and color on any surface they can get, so why not sit them down with your new flower pots? They can paint all over them before you start planting. The artwork will personalize your patio and make it feel more like home.
6. Invest in Outdoor Pillows
Nothing invites people to come and sit like the appeal of comfy pillows. There’s something about them that creates a relaxing aura wherever they are. Invest in some quality outdoor pillows you can put on your patio furniture. They’ll keep your outdoor space looking lovely even when no one is out there to enjoy it.
7. Install Cozy Lighting
A little lighting can do wonders in transforming your deck. Light the area around it with in-ground sidewalk lighting. If you have a covered porch or sunroom, you can hang fairy lights or even set out floor lamps. When you have friends over and everyone’s having a great time on the porch, you’ll be glad you can switch on some mood-enhancing lighting to keep the party going after the summer sun sets.
8. Prevent Bug Swarms
Even if your yard isn’t typically a buggy area, the bugs will come from all directions once they sense new light sources and potential food. No one wants to hang out where they’ll be swatting at bugs, which is why you should prevent bug swarms before the spring and summer seasons kick into gear.
Buy some citronella candles to lay out around your patio. They come in all different scents that keep bugs away without making your patio smell bad. You can also turn on a fan or two to blow the bugs away. You don’t need to buy chemical sprays to keep bugs away from your inviting patio this summer.
Patios and decks are meant to be places for socializing and relaxing, but they can often come across as uninviting without homeowners intentionally doing anything to make them that way. Empty spaces and bugs are just a few of the reasons why you may have been avoiding your patio, but this year that’s all going to change. A relaxing evening on your patio may only be a small project or two away!
Author bio
Kacey Bradley is the lifestyle and travel blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us.
Images: courtesy of Pixabay
