A covered patio provides you with shade and also creates a grand entryway into your yard. It does feel a lot more like an outdoor room. It provides you with columns and posts which is a place that you can play with many paint and stain colors. Here are a few steps to take in decorating a covered patio.
First, determine the style of architecture that you have. If you have a lot of simplistic beams then this can go in almost any direction. However, you might need to add in more opulent curtains. Pair it with a darker wood stain for a Tuscan look. If you have archways, then this will probably take out some kind of European influence. If you have stone archways, then this will be quite Tuscan or French inspired, depending on the type of stone that is used. Tuscan style stone, even if it’s just an engineered cement tends to use bolder tones while French stones tend to be more gray.
If you have a stucco archway then this can easily be painted to match many themes. Terra-cotta archways are evocative of the Southwest look or even the Tuscan style depending on the furniture that you choose. Brighter tones can be more Spanish or Moroccan inspired. You’ll want to bring in a lot of tile or paint your porch floor to mimic this. Even if it’s a wooden version it will require extensive stenciling, but it definitely gives you a global inspired theme just through the use of paint.
I also like a covered patio because it gives you more sophisticated furniture options. You can hang wood swings and usually this is the seating area that everyone else is fighting over. You can add in cushions and even throw pillows so that it mimics more of an outdoor sofa. It will definitely be the best seat in the house or at least the front yard.
A covered patio tends to really feel like an outdoor room, which means that cement finishes that are just plain usually won’t do. You can cover this up with a larger outdoor area rug. However, you can also get cement that is finished to look like stone. The popular themes right now use a variety of different colors and sizes to mimic more of a stone tile.
Trellises also lend more the feeling of an outdoor room. The trend now is to use sturdier trellises and paint them in a bright or unusual color. They might not even have climbing plants on them. You can also mimic this with your actual architecture or it can look like a shoji screen. This can be pretty delicate so you want to make sure that your kids don’t try to hang on it or your weigh planters that you place on this. This almost acts as windowpanes. If you don’t want to use a lot of outdoor curtains you can still add an intricate pattern through the use of trellises.
A covered patio also opens up a lot more design options. You won’t have to worry about shade which instantly makes the space more usable. From a design standpoint you have a much wider range of what is available to you. While most outdoor fabrics look pretty sturdy you’ll get a surprise when you look at the label. Most of these have to be kept away from sun and rain. You may even need to vacuum it. This means that you’re going to want to keep it as clean as possible. Since these prices have really gone up you want to make sure that it stays looking great as long as possible. This means protecting it from the sun. Many natural fibers even have to be under covered enclosures just because they need to be away from water.
If you can’t decide on a theme then consider the architecture of your sliding doors. It also can use the same theme that you have indoors. This looks great both from the outside and inside. If you have smaller spaces continuing with one color palette onto both spaces helps to make it appear like one large space. Then it isn’t quite as broken up.
The other way that a covered patio opens up your options is with an exterior wall. It really sections it up from the rest of the exterior which means that you can paint an entirely different color from the rest of your house. You can even create a focal wall with this. You probably don’t want to go too bright. I would just use the same paint chip that you have on your exterior but maybe pick up one or two shades darker to create a focal wall and more as an intimate feeling. If you want to mimic built-ins then you can paint shelves and potting benches in the same color but it’s still going to be removable. Decorating a covered patio opens up all kinds of fun dining and entertaining options.
