Welcome to the Design Edit — a quarterly post featuring home design and decor topics to inspire, teach, and share. This edition is all about Outdoor Living Spaces + Decor.
Once the weather starts warming up, we love to sit on our front patio in the evenings and wave at neighbors out for their post-dinner walks. Or, enjoy grilling and dinner on our deck under the canopy of trees.
Our deck is in need of an entire rebuild, but that’s for next year. However, it’s never too early to brainstorm ideas, create a wishlist and begin planning!
If you have an outdoor space that could use a pick-me-up, here’s a roundup of DIY decor ideas, DIY furniture and whole (outdoor) room refreshes to inspire your own plans There are some great tips and ideas that I’ll be incorporating into our outdoor projects next year!
DIY Outdoor Decor for Every Skill Level
Easy + Fun Projects
The sister team at Sustain My Craft Habit rounded up 12 simple DIY ideas to elevate your outdoor living space. They include everything from clever candles, serving pieces, art to games. A few of these projects would be great to make with kids over the summer break!
Tabletop Fire Bowl
Some spaces are just too small for a fire pit or chiminea, but you can still get the ambiance that fire provides with your own DIY fire bowl. Today’s Creative Life shows you how to create your own fire bowl in four easy steps. The great part…you can totally customize it to compliment your existing outdoor decor.
Outdoor Light Poles
Have you always wanted to string outdoor lights across your deck or patio, but just don’t have any place to hang them from? Today’s Creative Life has the perfect solution with DIY light poles. And, they double as planters so you can spread a little greenery or flowers around your space, too!
Painted Rug
I’ve been toying with the idea of an outdoor rug for our deck, but considering how gross it gets out there between the pollen, pine needles, sap, and mildew, I just don’t see the point. The Heathered Nest feels the same way and solved the problem by painting a rug right onto their deck. It’s a great way to define different spaces on a large deck or just ground a small space.
DIY (Pre-Fab) Outdoor Fireplace
If you’re lucky enough to have the space for an outdoor fireplace, here’s a serious DIY for you! What I love about this Today’s Creative Life project is that it begins with a prefab fireplace kit. I didn’t even know this existed! Granted, the skill level for this project is on the higher side, but it’s definitely work checking out if you’re over your tiny fire pit.
DIY Outdoor Furniture
A Modern Bench
Why spend hundreds (even thousands) of dollars on outdoor furniture if you can make it yourself? That’s just what DIY Candy did after finding inspiration from a Williams-Sonoma piece. They provide a complete supply list, cut list and step-by-step guide to build this gorgeous bench!
A Cedar Coffee Table
DIY Candy does it again with the clean, modern lines of this coffee table. Inspired by a teak table from Restoration Hardware, they replicated it in outdoor-friendly cedar for a fraction of the price. Again, a complete supply list and step-by-step guide will help you crank this out.
Hideaway Serving Station
This is a great solution when you are tight on space! You can use this serving station to store items you use frequently, then open it up to double as a surface for serving drinks and snacks. You could customize it with paint or stain to match your outdoor decor or even embellish the surface with some outdoor-friendly artwork. Get the how-to from DIY Candy.
Whole Outdoor Room Refreshes
Budget-Friendly + Space-Saving
Today’s Creative Life walks us through how to create a simple outdoor living space by selecting and placing furniture, accents and plants — and all with smaller budgets in mind.
The Heathered Nest completed an impressive makeover of their giant backyard deck through DIY solutions, thrift store finds, and dual-purpose/space-saving ideas.
Small Spaces
Practical Perfection packs all the things you want into a small footprint. They show you two different seating options to suit your preference, and how to take your space from warmer to cooler weather.
Today’s Creative Life demonstrates how to create screening for your small space that doesn’t feel closed in. They’ve created a cozy conversation area with pops of color that compliment adjacent outdoor areas.
Covered Porch
A covered porch is on my wish list! What a great way to extend the life of your outdoor time. Pink Fortitude created a stunning outdoor oasis out of their once cluttered covered porch. The before + after’s are amazing!
Front Porch
One day I’ll have a covered front porch like this one! The Heathered Nest created a simple + cozy outdoor room with minimal touches. I can totally see myself enjoying this space any time of the day!
I hope you enjoyed these creative solutions! Check out other Design Edit posts and catch up on our home renovation journey so far.
In the meantime, share a comment about what outdoor room projects you’re working on, or ask for advice if you’re in a design pickle!
Pin these Outdoor Living Space Ideas for when you’re ready to tackle your refresh!
All photos used with permission from content creators.
Great list!
Beautiful and creative! I only hung some solar lights on one of the fences, and the garden looks way better!