Small Patio Decor Ideas on a Budget That Do Not Look Cheap

A small patio is decided by scale and light, not by how much is on it. Most of what makes one feel cramped is the number of objects rather than the square footage.

Start with the two cheapest things

1. Clean the floor. A stiff brush and patio cleaner, or a borrowed pressure washer. Tired grey paving comes back several shades, and it costs the price of a bottle. Do this before deciding anything else — people often find they do not need the rug.

2. Light it. Warm white string lights, zigzagged overhead or run along a single tensioned catenary wire between the house and a post. This is the highest-impact spend on the whole page.

• Warm white only. Cool white reads as a loading bay
• Overhead beats wall-mounted. A single bright wall light flattens everything and glares
• Mains-powered for the main run, solar for low-level accents. Solar is not bright enough to be the primary source
• A catenary wire takes the weight so the lights do not sag, and costs very little

Scale, which is the whole game

Plants, at three heights

Varied height is what stops a small patio reading as flat.

• One tall thing that breaks the eye line — a small tree in a pot, a tall grass, a bamboo in a large container, or a trellis with a climber
• Mid-height in two or three large pots — hydrangea, hebe, a compact evergreen, herbs
• Low and trailing at the edges and on a shelf or wall planter
• Repeat one species across the pots rather than one of everything
• Big pots dry out slower, which matters more on a hot paved space than anywhere else

Cheap things worth doing

• Outdoor rug in polypropylene — hoses clean, costs little, defines the space
• A bench against a wall instead of two chairs. Seats more, takes less floor, can be built from decking board in an afternoon
• Trellis panel on a wall, with a climber or wall planters. Vertical space is free space
• Cushions and a throw. The cheapest way to make a hard space feel furnished
• A mirror on a wall, outdoor-rated or in a sheltered spot
• Pallet or decking-board side table, made in an hour
• Solar lanterns at low level, set on the floor and on the wall, for depth

The five mistakes

1. Buying a full dining set for a space that holds two chairs. The most expensive error and the most common
2. Many small pots. Reads as clutter and all of them dry out
3. Cool white light. Instantly cheapens a space
4. Filling every edge, so there is nowhere to stand
5. A rug too small, which cuts the floor into fragments

If there is a little more to spend

In order of what returns the most on a small patio:

1. A larger planter or two, to replace a crowd of small ones
2. A bench with storage — seating and somewhere for cushions in one object
3. A wall-mounted or clamp-on shade instead of a freestanding parasol
4. A compact chiminea or table-top fire bowl, which extends the season more than anything else on the list
5. Better paving last, since clean paving plus good lighting gets most of the way there