Patio Decor Ideas: Using Color to Refresh a Small Backyard Patio Deck
In this post: Looking for patio decor ideas to update your backyard patio? These tips will show you how to use color to refresh your patio deck for this season.⇒
I love color!
Ok, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, that may surprise you, given that I’m always talking about taking the color out of my home and updating it by going all white and neutral.
But the truth is, going all white and neutral is only for the key pieces. The large purchases that are among the most expensive in the home. The ones you don’t want to change every few years.
When those foundational pieces are all white and neutral, it makes adding color easy.
It also makes it easy to change to a brand new palette every year.
This is exactly the case with our back patio.
Having a large outdoor sectional in white and rattan, and tables and benches that are equally neutral, I can approach each fresh season as if decorating anew.
And while you may not feel the need to change your living room that often, when it comes to the patio and outdoor entertaining, having flexibility with color is a true luxury.
After all, of all the spaces in the home, this is the one that can handle the most vibrant hues!
I started several years ago with a blue and white palette.
By adding patterned pillows in my selected color feeling, and plants that leaned in the blue direction, it took only the underpinning of a pretty rug to give the space a polished feel.
I did chinoiserie planters and other tonal accents and felt very satisfied with the cohesive look.
But here’s the thing when it comes to color.
As much as I love blue and white, and I really do, it doesn’t take long for me to get a little bored. I think this is common when using bold color and that notion supports my preference for using white and neutral base pieces.
Because if the sectional was blue, it wouldn’t be so easy to change.
So the following summer I added pink and yellow into the mix, using mostly flowers and plantings, but some decorative accents, as well.
The cacophony of color was well and good for a year, but by the subsequent summer I was ready for a somewhat significant change.
I wanted to tamp it down.
By a lot.
I switched out the rug for a more neutral style, and toned down the pillows using chambray and naturals.
For plantings I also went much more low key, with soft pink and pale lavender for a tranquil feel. The difference was striking and quite undeniable, yet in reality the main furniture was still exactly the same.
At that point I realized the options were limitless and all I needed to do was to select a palette each year and buy some inexpensive decorative accents to support my new color story.
This past summer I went somewhere in between, keeping the neutral rug and chippy planters I had added the prior year, but adding back some brighter plantings and pillows in mostly purples and green.
I liked the look of this corner which inspired my direction for this coming year, but I never quite got it together for the rest of the patio.
Which is why this year I decided to have a very clear plan.
I once again wanted to go bright and cheerful, hoping to spend time really enjoying this season outdoors. I decided it was time to bring back the blue rug and complement it with some chinoiserie pieces.
But this year my color mix would be blue, lime and fuchsia and I took pains to find the accent pieces and lay them out visually before I committed to buy.
This is genuinely how I design my spaces and these are the actual items I wound up ordering.
(See the shopping resource list below.)
I will be sure to post again later in the season when the pieces all arrive and I have my plantings settled, too.
There are still many different color mixes I can use to update my patio in the ensuing years, and that freedom makes me all the more positive how right it was to go neutral with the main furniture.
Perhaps if you’re less fickle, you don’t need to change so often, but my color-loving heart wants to play with all the colors in the box!
Patio Decor Ideas Shopping Guide
To get the look, click on the items below for direct links to the products. Where actual items were no longer available, I’ve provided similar options. If an item is out of stock but may be restocked, I left it on the list.
(This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.)
IF YOU LIKED THIS POST, YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
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- Updating Your Outdoor Decor with New Patio Accessories
- How One Piece Can Pull Your Patio Decor Together
- Updating The Patio With Summer Color
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I love your pics for this year and I’m glad to see the blue rug reappear! I always liked it. One other color that serves as a neutral especially for outdoors is green. I once helped someone furnish a new apartment and she was drawn to blue floral for a sofa. My advice was that green would go with everything, she could have her blue floral in her pillows. My theory is that nearly every flower has green leaves. I showed her how she could change the look using numerous pillows when in the furniture store. Buying furniture on line 20 years ago was nearly unheard of so the shopping experience was a great tool. Twenty years later she still has her green sofa. She’s had all kinds of curtains, pillows and throws.
While I love the off white sofa for myself, it wasn’t practical for Edie and her deep green sofa was the perfect backdrop for her living room and blended well in her open floor plan when she moved to a senior living facility.
I completely agree about green being a neutral! Sounds like you did a great job helping your friend! 🙂
I really like your method of sticking to neutrals for key pieces and then adding your color theme yearly. I’m going to try it out!