7 Ideas to Take your Patio to Next Level

Patios are the perfect way creating undercover spaces in your backyard. Their multi-purpose functionality makes them ideal for entertaining, cooking, family dinners, working from home or just chilling out while surrounded by the serenity of your garden and fresh air.

In our latest blog we would love to share with you a collection of patio decor ideas that will take your outdoor living space to the next level! 

Our only warning is this: your patio will look so good, that you might forget you have an adjoining house!

1. Start from the ground up

Choosing the right paving is an essential decision when creating an outdoor patio that compliments your home decor and stands on its own merits. If you want your patio to be an extension of your home, consider using matching paving materials so that the design flows seamlessly from the inside out. This small detail will ensure that your patio genuinely feels like a part of your home, rather than a hasty add-on.

Porcelain pavers, available at Armstone, are actually a perfect paver for this because we have them available as matching indoor and outdoor tiles.

2. Creating continuous flow with your outdoor patio decor

On the other hand, if you want your patio to blend seamlessly with your garden, or if you want it to be roofless so you can stargaze on those warm summer nights, it’s best to use paving materials designed specifically for outdoor settings.

For this purpose, cobblestones are an ideal material because they can be used as paving for your patio and throughout your garden, creating a beautiful, harmonious and unified effect throughout. Cobblestones are both attractive and practical in outdoor settings. They add an elegant and cosmopolitan charm wherever they are laid, whether this is patio floors, driveways, garden paths or outdoor steps. As such, they are a clever way of adding a new level of stylishness to your patio. From a practicality standpoint, their slip-resistant surface makes them remarkably robust.

At Armstone we stock an impressive range of cobblestones designed to suit different tastes and backyard styles, including the Bonza Quartz Cobblestones, pictured below.

The Bonza Quartz Cobblestones make a stylish addition to any patio. Browse the full range at Armstone

3. Pool-friendly patios

If you have a pool in your backyard, or other wet spaces like spas, there’s a good chance that people will enter the patio with wet feet or dripping towels. So that the pool water doesn’t damage your patio floors, it’s best to use paving that can handle chemically treated water.

Once again, porcelain pavers are a smart selection for such situations. While porcelain pavers are a big trend for building outdoor patios because they look like natural stone, their advantage is that unlike natural stone pavers which can easily stain and deteriorate when exposed to salt or chlorine, porcelain pavers are stain-resistant and exposure to salt or chlorine doesn’t disintegrate them.

For these reasons, porcelain pavers are a very popular choice for pool paving. They’re also super stylish and are available in a wide range of colours and finishes, meaning you can find the perfect look for both your backyard patio and wet areas.

Stunning Jura Grey Porcelain Pavers. Browse them online at Armstone

4. Vertical gardens and bespoke plant beds

If you don’t want your patio to stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of your natural and green backyard as the only man-made structure, incorporating greenery into it will help blend it with the rest of the landscape. And there are many ways to do this! For example, vertical gardens are a popular way of adding plant life to outdoor spaces, especially when you don’t have a lot of room to play with.

Another way to incorporate greenery into your patio is by using stone retaining walls and stone capping to accommodate shrubs and flowering plants. These look absolutely stunning in patio settings, especially when planted with repeat patterns of succulents, as seen below. Another advantage of using stone capping is that it protects the wall while simultaneously giving it a pleasant visual aesthetic.

Nostra sandstone stone capping is an excellent choice for a patio. Check out the range at Armstone

5. Play with contrast

Playing with contrast is a fun and wonderful way to experiment with style, especially in an outdoor setting.

If this sounds like an exciting idea for you, one foolproof option is to invest in patio furniture that contrasts with the colours of walls and floors. Getting seating, cushions and tables that have bold tones like bright red, green, blue or yellow, means they will pop nicely against the softer hues of the floor tiles and walls. In a way, playing with contrast actually draws one’s attention to all the design choices and helps each individual item stand out in its own right!

 

6. Get the natural look

As a patio is an ‘indoor-like’ setting installed outdoors, getting the best patio décor means thinking beyond the parameters of traditional home decor. You see, the most stylish patios have the perfect combination of indoor and outdoor elements.

The elements that work best in outdoor living spaces include anything natural. For example, garden pebbles are making a splash in the outdoor decor scene at the moment. They’re modern, eco-friendly, affordable and come in a wide variety of colours, sizes and textures which makes them a perfect natural addition to your patio. You can use them to create a feature wall or place them around your patio fireplace. However you choose to use them, they’ll add something extra to your patio space.

Pink Natural Garden Pebbles. View our entire range at Armstone

7. Lead the way to your patio

Once you’ve designed and built the perfect patio, the final touch is to create the ideal garden path that leads everyone to your outdoor paradise, or one that connects your patio with other outdoor areas.

If you have used cobblestones for your patio, then using cobblestones for your path is an attractive and effective solution.

Stepping stones are another excellent alternative. These have the advantage of being cost-effective, non-slip, easy to install and easy to change if they need to be repaired due to wear and tear. Stepping stones are an easy way to connect your home, pool and the rest of your backyard to your patio.

Payton Limestone Stepping Stones are a perfect way of connecting your home, pool and garden to your patio. Browse our entire stepping stone range at Armstone

Contact us

We hope these 7 ideas have inspired your patio project! 

If you’d like more inspiration for your patio decor, contact Armstone today and one of our experts will help answer any question. We have many more exciting decorating ideas for creating the patio of your dreams.

If you enjoyed this blog, please share it with your home and garden enthusiasts!

As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing our ideas with you.