With the temperatures rising, your thirst for patio season is in full swing – and not just at your favourite Ottawa bar or pub patio. Between friends and family BBQs, it’s about time you get your own backyard patio up and running. However, between the furniture, rugs, plants and anything else you want to purchase to give your patio a makeover – it can add up.
Patio décor isn’t cheap, and before you know it, you’ve spent a month’s worth of savings on an outdoor space you only use for six months of the year, at most. Well, with a bit of imagination and creativity, there’s way to spruce it up and save more of your hard earned cash. Here are a few tips for helping you revamp your patio on a budget:
Make a Big Impact with Small Improvements
For some homeowners, your backyard may have good features but these features have not received the required maintenance over the years. This can be especially true if you have just bought a used home and perhaps the last owners did not maintain the property as well as they could have. Simple updates to your great backyard features could really help boost the overall look and function of your outdoor space. For example, if you have a great hot tub, but the cover is worn and falling apart, simply replacing your hot tub cover could really enhance your backyard entertaining area.
Used Décor and Furniture
You can find a wide variety of great pieces for less than half the price of what you’d pay in a store using online tools. Jump online to Kijiji, Craigslist or another “buy and sell” website and keep an eye out for any pieces that would suit your space. Remember, a simple set of chairs or a table with worn finishes can be completely transformed with a lick of paint and a few good accessories to look good as new!
Garden Walls
If you have a few dull walls taking up too much space and adding a bit too much drab to your patio, you can easily turn these into cute garden walls. Look for anything that you can repurpose as planters – mason jars, vintage mailboxes, wooden skids; use your imagination. Just make sure they can contain soil while also allowing moisture to drain out. Attach them to your fence, and in your favourite herbs and flower – and voila! It’s simple and affordable.
Lighting
The ambiance of lighting can be pretty much all you need to spruce up your basic patio or balcony. Think of lanterns or pixy lights dotted throughout your plants, or even some bulb-string lights reaching across as a makeshift canopy. Add in a few candle lanterns throughout and you’ll be surprise just how much your patio will be transformed.
Splash of Colour
Whether it’s your old, roughed up chairs, or scraped up deck, adding a splash of colours can revamp you furniture, flooring and entire patio, instantly. Look for a cute rug to place on your patio, or add a variety of patterned, colourful cushions along your furniture to spruce them up.
Don’t spend your life savings on your patio! Use these cost-savvy tricks to spruce it up so you can save more of your hard-earned money for the things you really want – like drinks and delicious food for your backyard patio parties this summer!
