10 Ways to Give your Patio a Makeover

Boy! Have I had a time and a half getting this post ready for you! I will explain shortly. Today, I popping into your inboxes to show you 10 ways to give your patio a makeover, just in time for the official start of summer.

This post is sponsored by O’Toole’s Garden Centers but all of the designs, commentary, and opinions are my own. You can read my disclosures HERE.

My back patio has been ready to shoot for a couple of weeks, but our weather has been crazy and the Cottonwood has been falling in earnest for the last several weeks…non-stop! It looks like snow in our yard and it sticks to all of our upholstered outdoor cushions and is maddening! See it in the background?!

I had everything ready to shoot it yesterday and then it rained. Colorado weather can be so unpredictable! So, let’s get on with some ideas from my back patio reveal!

10 Ways to give your Patio a Makeover!

Every year, I change things up a bit, especially with our planter pots. I typically, start from scratch and get great help from my local O’Toole’s Garden Center. Their staff is extremely helpful and they know their stuff!! I would say that I have absolutely learned more about gardening from their staff than all of the research I have done online. Not kidding!

After considering how the sun hits your patio space/spaces, here is a list of 10 ways to give your patio a makeover without too much effort or money.

1. Stick with a color theme that coordinates with your home and surroundings.
2. Coordinate the colors of your planters or container pots.
3. When planting your planter pots, coordinate similar plants in similar pots for continuity.
4. Follow my “formula” for planting pots and how to place them throughout your patio.
5. Mix textures in your plantings for added flair.
6. Add shade/cover if you don’t have it.
7. Mix in faux plants if needed.
8. Add solar lighting to planted pots for added ambiance.
9. Accessorize with home decor items to cozy up your space/spaces.
10. Add fire!

Now, let’s break this down…

1. Stick with a color theme that coordinates with your home and surroundings. After a lengthy and thorough exterior remodel of our home (new roof, windows, doors, stucco, and stone, our home is now black and white. I tend to use neutral and/or warm tones to offset the black and white…and, LOTS OF GREEN!

We have a pretty vast patio space, so I like bringing elements of the backyard onto the porch. We basically have four separate spaces that flow together…a firepit area, a grilling island/bar, a dining area, and a lounging area. I go to great effort to make sure that I tie all of the spaces together for a coherent, fresh look.

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Choose whether or not you are interested in warmer colors (golds, oranges, reds, etc.) or cooler colors (blues, purples, etc.)

2. Coordinate the colors of your planters or container pots. For the most part, I have used black and gray planters and pots because it makes sense with my black accents on our exterior. I tend to stay away from bright-colored pots because I don’t want the container to compete with the beautiful plantings I am featuring. Obviously, this is a personal choice!

3. When planting your planter pots, coordinate similar plants in similar pots for continuity. As you can see, I planted my pots with similar plantings/flowers to keep things cohesive and consistent.

If I buy pre-potted planters, I usually buy 2 or three of the same type so I can tie the different areas together.

A lot of times, I buy pre-made hanging baskets and remove the hangers and then plant the whole ball into a pot. That is what I did here.

With the second matching one I bought, I simply displayed it on my island. O’Toole’s Garden Centers has a vast variety of hanging baskets and pre-potted planters. They are my go-to!

4. Follow my “formula” for planting pots and how to place them throughout your patio. My formula for creating simple summer pots is to feature HEIGHT, FILLERS, and “SPILLERS”. I recently shared a post on Simple Summer Planter Pot Ideas for Shade where I showed you how I put together my planter pots on our front porch. You can see the full reveal HERE! Here are a few shots of it…come check out the rest.

5. Mix textures in your plantings for added flair. I especially like adding herbs mixed in with our flowers for great texture (and convenience!). I absolutely love the texture of potato vine (it is a super-fast grower and is a great “spiller”!

Grasses also add wonderful texture. Use them in multiple pots for added drama.

6. Add shade/cover if you don’t have it. This would include canopies, umbrellas, and even drapery. Our black and white umbrella really ties everything together. NOTE: I know it does not match our table and chairs but they are the next thing to go bye-bye! We bought it for our last property and haven’t replaced it yet. I also want to seat more people around the table, so…

7. Mix in faux plants if needed. I have some spots that don’t really get much sun and I like to use faux plants here. Plus, they are no maintenance…yay!! As they say on TikTok…”nobody’s gonna know!”. 😉

8. Add solar lighting to planted pots for added ambiance. I love this little trick that I came up with by myself. Those little solar yard lights are not just for the yard. I add them to most of my planters and they just give such a nice glow and actually draws attention to the pots even in the dark. I think I bought these little ball lights for only $2 each.

9. Accessorize with home decor items to cozy up your space/spaces. This would include rugs, pillows (an easy to refresh a space!), hurricanes, throws, trays, etc. Galvanized steel is a great material for outdoors. I have a ton of it!

10. Add fire! We have a large gas firepit on our porch and we use it ALL THE TIME. If you don’t have a fire pit, there are other simple ways to add fire. Tiki torches work well to surround an area. We also have several stone table-top gel “fire pits” that we a lot when we have company. They really produce a nice, large flame.

Here is a look at the patio at dusk with all of the fire!

So, there you go…my 10 ways to give your patio a makeover or a facelift!

I will tell you that we spend a tremendous amount time out here. So many amazing memories. If you take on some of these ideas, you can really extend the space in your home by turning your outdoor spaces into an extension of your indoors.

Shop the look here…

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In addition to our large gas firepit, we (my husband, actually!) built a new, large wood-burning firepit out in another section of our back yard for our daughter’s graduation party last year. We have a little over an acre of land, so we have lots of “spaces” to work with! That area is our next big outdoor project that I will be showing you in the coming month or so. O’Toole’s Garden Center will be my go-to for all of my planting needs! They have three locations here in the Denver area, so plan on stopping by one of them.

I also bought all of the herbs I used to create these Simple Herb Garden Centerpieces from O’Toole’s. I used these centerpieces on our Sophisticated Father’s Day Table with Herb Centerpieces. You can check out all of the details HERE.

I never “decorated” the new fire pit area. I just put some chairs out there for the kids because they love making smores over a real fire. There is nothing better, right?! Now, it is time for a makeover for that area. I can assure you that I will use all of my 10 ways to give your patio a makeover ideas so stay tuned!