One of the things that always annoys me when browsing Houzz, Pinterest, Instagram and whatever other home design sites/apps people use is all of the beautiful backyard photos that feature outdoor furniture which looks ridiculous because no one has ever sat on it. Because your backyard is most likely just like mine – furniture you look at once a year and are proud of how clean it looks but don’t ACTUALLY USE. I should know.
I used to have the same problema on my condo balcony. When I first moved into my condo years ago I became obsessed with making it look awesome. I spent hundreds of dollars at West Elm on shiny metal patio chairs and table (also still obsessed), some greenery and weird geometric planters.
Put them all together and it actually looked decent. Too bad I sat on those chairs twice.
Not only were they extremely uncomfortable but the table wasn’t even set up at a dining height and we were getting direct sun right in our faces from about 2pm until sunset with NO SHADE.
The turning point came when my neighbour Mike-who constantly told me my condo “had no soul” decided to make small talk as he was smoking a cigarette out on my balcony while I lounged on my couch. He asked what I did up there and I honestly couldn’t think of anything fun to say. It was SO ugly to use.
That’s when I realised my balcony served no purpose. It looked nice from my couch but was completely lacking in function. Time for a change of pace.
If I was going to make this thing work I was actually going to have to use it. To do that I needed to take inventory of how I wanted to USE my balcony throughout the day. Coffee in the mornings while I checked email?
Yup. Protein shakes after workout? Sure.
Sun downer beers while I scrolled Instagram? Absolutely. Podcast and whiskey?
Sign me up. Balconies only have so much space so if I wanted to turn mine into a proper “outdoor room” I needed to learn which areas worked best for which activities. Me being me and a nerd/software engineer, I took to the internet to do some research.
I sat outside at different times of day and took notes on where the sun fell throughout the day. See that yellow circle thing I made in PowerPoint? That’s where my fancy metal patio furniture used to be.
It gets direct sun from about 2 until sundown. No thanks. But take a look at that partially shaded corner right next to the sliding door.
Not only was it shaded all day but there was also a nice cross breeze. I moved my table to that shaded corner, traded in my asymmetrical metal torture chairs for a single comfy lounge chair I found on Facebook marketplace, tossed up a cheap umbrella from Home Depot I could use when I wanted to sit in the sun and BOOM changed my entire space for less than $150. I now use my balcony ALL the time because I set it up for ACTUAL function, not an aesthetically pleasing Instagram photo.
Same goes for my friend’s backyards/decks. They had pools of unused space because they were either too sunny, not sheltered from the wind or had no purpose. Section them off into zones based on what you ACTUALLY DO outside. “I thought you just DIY’d everything?” You asked.
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Yes, yes I did but allow me to elaborate. My parents came to visit not too long ago and as we’re standing on my balcony chatting my mum stops in her tracks looking puzzled. “What did you DO with your outdoor furniture?” She asked. Sold it and got stuff that wouldn’t kill me to sit on when I’m actually USING my balcony, Mum.
My “new and improved” balcony looked pretty mediocre compared to the Instagram-worthy catalogue setup I sold off. Half the furniture was gone, some “janky” DIY curtains I whipped up covered the sliding glass door, matte black chair versus shiny metallic…Yeah my parents couldn’t have been less subtle about judging my new lame-ass balcony but GIRL…it served its purpose! Sectionsed off into two zones with furniture meant to be USED in those areas during certain times of the day.
See how the table is positioned away from the window? Nobody likes to sit with glare on their laptops/screens so angle your furniture so that you’re either facing away from the window or positioned so the sun isn’t blasting you directly. Unless you’re chilling at sunset.
That’s fire. Having defined areas/zones on your patio/balcony is key if you want people to ACTUALLY USE it. If your entire patio is just one big open area where everyone just kind of.. hangs out with no real purpose it’s going to seem like a waste of space.
Section it off into zones based on activities you WANT to do out there. Here are some pics of my friend Chris’s deck before and after we “defined zones”. BEFORE: Chris’s enormous deck was completely underutilized because it was one big empty pit of nothing.
Nowhere to sit unless he wanted to eat at his dining table which was probably too close to the grill he only used once a year. He wasn’t worried about privacy so that wasn’t an issue but there was still something missing. Notice how his dining table isn’t centred under the pergola?
THAT my friends is called intention. Chris wanted his table in that spot so he put it there regardless of “rules”. Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and do what works for YOUR home.
AFTER: Within like 2 hours we had transformed his empty disaster of a patio into something he actually used several times a week. Chris loves to grill so we moved his grill to create a “grilling zone” behind some privacy screening we added to one side. We purposely moved his table away from the kitchen so when he was cooking he didn’t feel like he was barricading everyone from the food.
Lastly we spaced his chairs so that people could actually TALK to each other instead of sitting in a line yelling across the yard. We used some super cheap fencing from Lowe’s for the privacy aspect but that also created natural separation of his zones.
BEFORE: This is Sarah’s backyard.
Did you know bushes were orange?! Anyway, Sarah loved being outside but had zero clue where to even START. Everything was a blur of plants and earth tones.
AFTER: We decided to walk around her property at different times of the day so she could get a feel for where the sun fell. We picked out this triangle section because it received morning sun but was shaded during the later afternoon. She spent about $200 on plants and mulch to fill in this area and BOOM already has coffee outside nearly every morning instead of lounging inside.
Remember how I mentioned how lighting is super important for using your outdoor room? Well Sarah added some string lights around her bedroom window upstairs looking into this new space. It’s game changing.
Now she can enjoy this space well into the night. If you’re in need of some backyard inspo I’ve rounded up some of my favourite patio and backyard transformations to spark your outdoor remodeling.
