The Worst 16 Patio Decorating Mistakes

The core of every backyard is your patio, but your patio doesn’t have to be big and large. It can be small yet welcoming and cosy. We know that you spend a lot of money on the backyards and patios every year to keep them attractive and appealing. Note that small patio decorating mistakes can certainly cost you a big sum if you are not careful enough.

That is where this blog saves you time and money by sharing the most common mistakes of patio decorating. Additionally, you are going to get valuable advice on having a beautiful and functional patio from here.

Let’s Now Go through the Common Patio Decorating Mistakes

1. Choose Furniture & Plants Accordingly

Before you purchase any greenery or furniture, you need to make decisions on how you can maximise the sapce on your patio.

For instance, do you plan to have outdoor parties all summer? If yes, do you see a guest list of 3 or 30? Or do you imagine a peaceful retreat where you can have great times with an amazing book and a cup of tea?

Choose the plants and furniture for your patio based on the space you require. Remember that the tiniest patio could have a rich personality, with the right combination of outdoor furniture and plants.

2. Making Outdoors Similar To Indoors

This is one of the common patio decorating mistakes that people often make. When you are looking to decorate your patio, remember patio is an outdoor space.

It doesn’t have to look like your living room or any other room in your house. Instead, it’s better to think of the patio as a unique space in your home.

It’s admirable to bear a seamless shift from your indoor living space to your outdoor patio. However, you should bypass using indoor furniture for outdoor decoration.

Indoor furniture is not created for outdoor elements. And the design of indoor furniture does not serve an outdoor patio.

3. Don’t Try Too Much on Your Own

We have seen that many people who are not good with design and architecture are taking hours and hours, maybe days to try and figure everything out. This is unnecessary.

Moreover, it can really make designing the patio, not a pleasant thing. We recommend getting professional help to cut a lot of hazards you may feel you have in your head.

4. Over Furnishing or Under Furnishing

When shopping for patio furniture, you may get distracted by many things and make patio decorating mistakes. But remember having too much furniture may make you feel frustrated.

First, you must ensure that something in the whole space ties them together, like a colour theme in most cases.

If you don’t have enough furniture, it might make the space anything but functional. But, even if you are a minimalist, it’s good to have enough seating for the usual crowd you have over at home.

We recommend not spending a fortune on patio furnishings but making an investment by buying from trusted outdoor furnishing retailers.

5. Not Enough Decor

Even with the most likeable outdoor patio furnishings, your patio will feel unfinished without any patio decoration.

Consider adding a selected few weather-resistant outdoor additions that will connect the space together without making it feel too decorated, such as:

• Lighting
• Cushions
• Candles
• Receptacles
• Windchimes
• Garden Statues
• Hanging Ornaments
• Outdoor Fence Art

6. Forgetting Outdoor Storage

It’s essential to give time to think about outdoor storage as well. You absolutely don’t like clutter everywhere on your patio that will ruin the space.

So, plan to have a storage cabinet or any idea to put things away.

7. Placing Your BBQ Next to Flammable Materials

This is one of the simple patio decorating mistakes, but it can get wrong and cause a disaster.

While placing your BBQ equipment or oven, you need to think and be sensible about where you place it and what you will put it next.

Be careful and avoid buying flammable textiles on a patio. Also, consider all weather that may affect the patio heater, like wind and rain.

Even if it’s not an open-flame design, water and electricity may be dangerous to people sitting next to it.

8. Not Enough Shade on Your Patio

We know staying in the sun may be lovely, but being in the sun for too long is not healthy. Because you will be exposed to too much UV radiation.

Also, your passion will be bare if you don’t have any shade.

Therefore, you need an umbrella or any kind of furniture to provide and cover a large area with shadow.

9. Fake Plants in Real Gardens

Putting artificial greenery in outdoor spaces with backdrops of trees and grass does not look sophisticated at all and it should be considered a patio decorating mistakes.

Instead, contact your Pro at a local nursery and ask for surefire species in your area. Choose one that is beautiful and handy to care for, and make it your statement on the patio.

10. Single Season Furniture

Cheap furniture will fade and pale immediately. So, it might be necessary to replace the furniture within a few months.

So, we recommend buying a few high-quality pieces of furniture with powder-coated aluminium. Also, look for a good warranty.

You can also consider concrete or stone tables as great outdoor options since they need low care and durable at the same time.

11. Focus on Your Assets

Generally, an outdoor space possesses some areas of strength, so hold yours tightly. First, search for those areas and work around them.

In case, you have a ceiling patio with a desirable view, celebrate it by placing the furnishings, so they direct the eye to the view.

You can furnish your outdoor area with the use of plants, footpaths and eye-catching furniture to make it more elegant.

This is where patio decorating mistakes often most of the time. So, spend time finding your focal point.

If you have a roost in the yard at a higher peak you can place a bar to enjoy your time.

12. Underestimating Boundaries

The significant patio decorating mistakes people often make is underrating the importance of the border materials in their ratio.

If you can resume your interior wall colours outdoors to create a seamless shift that will make your interior sense larger, remember that custom furniture can be incorporated into the boundary to save space and materials.

13. Too Many Plants in the Patio

Adding too many plants can make things messy. It is necessary to have a balance of farming to soften the patio area. In this case, consider evergreen shrubs and trees.

This adds screening from neighbouring borders and covers the patio space in greenery. You can ease it with lower-level planting. Additionally, you may think about adding contrasting textures, pops of colour and plant shapes.

14. Bypassing the Focal Point

While you shape your interiors with statement colours, furniture, and craftwork pieces, you may not give much thought to your patio spaces.

A lot of designers suggest creating a focal point on the patio.

By adding seasonal appeal with planting and focal points such as a fire hole or water element, outdoor furniture brings the space to life.

Add outdoor cookery facilities and quality lighting. Unexpectedly entertaining at home feels entertaining, inviting, and charming.

15. Not Thinking about the Direction of the Sun

It is one of the most important patio decorating mistakes you may make.

The sun’s direction on your backyard and patio will impact your comfort and outdoor entertainment in summer. So hold this in mind when designing furniture placement.

You don’t want to sit with the sun shimmering you all day. So, try to place your furniture out of the sun’s direction.

Also add an umbrella, pergola, shade sail, gazebo, or patio umbrella to ensure enough shade.

16. Not Scaling the Space

While numerous ignore considering big furnishings for their patio, we suggest going big. Regardless, we also remind you to use the components strategically and after scaling the space.

Yes, go big, but consider your taste and limitations. Make sure that you hide unattractive drains on the patio.

Final Words

Basically, we have worked to list the most common patio decorating mistakes here. Make sure that you have clear knowledge about the space of your patio to consider the decorating ideas.

Don’t populate the space with too much furniture or equipment. Rather, try to keep things simple and elegant for having a great time.