Outdoor living time

Evenings spent on the patio are amazingly relaxing, but your space might need a little styling to make it perfectly cozy.

Maybe you haven’t even started and are looking for design strategy to create your space, or maybe you have all the right elements but just need a little direction to bring them together. Either way, I’m sharing some essential elements for a front porch that’s gorgeously styled for patio season.

This patio is somewhat narrow – around 5ft wide and 20ft long – but you don’t need a ton of space to create an outdoor oasis whether it’s in the front or the back.

p.s. you can check out my back patio reveal here if you need design inspo for creating a cozy chic outdoor living space

Add an Outdoor Rug

My first key to patio coziness is snagging a rug for your space. Outdoor rugs can go a long way to making your space feel comfortable.

Choose a durable option that’s made for the outdoors, but one that is still soft enough to be comfortable on bare toes.

Rugs also give you textural & colorful elements and make a great inspiration piece for your space. If you find a rug you truly love, you can use it as a springboard to pick out other elements like furniture colors, paint colors, etc.

I couldn’t find one rug that fit this narrow space well, so I ended up using two rugs with the same pattern but different dimensions to fit into the space. The pattern includes almost every color from my palette – navy, royal blue, and a cheery green.

Think Throws

Throw pillows and blankets are a super simple way to add comfort and a cozy feel. Opt for outdoor throw pillows that invite relaxation and add fun pops of color from your palette.

With a lime loveseat as my backdrop, I went with blue and white pillows to tie into my rug. The two square pillows were just $5 from Home Depot and you can snag the diamond print lumbar pillow here from Target.

When choosing pillows go for slight variety in color, texture, sizes and shapes for a polished look.

  lively Lights

Patio lights create an elegant ambiance that helps take your space from day to night.

From simple string lights to more sophisticated lights with a lamp-like feel, there are so many options for conveying a relaxing mood in your space.

I opted for a black, lamp-like string to contrast the grey ceiling and siding and help draw the eye upwards and accentuate the high 9ft ceilings.

These lights were super simple to hang with a manual staple gun, but there are other amazing alternatives like 3m strips if you’re renting or a wire track if you need a little more durability or have a porch or patio that isn’t covered.