How to Extend the Outdoor Patio Season

How to Extend the Outdoor Patio Season

Enjoy Your Patio & Garden Space All Year Round

With most of us spending even more time at home over the past year, outdoor living spaces have become essential havens and respites from our daily routines. Our yards, gardens, patios, and porches give us a change of scenery from the interior rooms, offer fresh air and sunshine, and let us reconnect with nature without leaving home. To make the most of your outdoor spaces, here are some tips to increase the use of your patios to extend past the summer months and make them enjoyable living spaces year-round.

Extend patio season with an infrared heater.

Add some heat

When temperatures cool during evening hours or when seasons change, incorporating an outdoor fireplace, a patio heater, or fire pit into your outdoor space brings added warmth and ambience. Large freestanding patio heaters deliver a wide range of heat from taking the edge off a cooler temperature to providing a blast of heat from a central location, perfect for heating bigger spaces when entertaining or enjoying a relaxing evening on your porch. Some patio heaters even have built-in Bluetooth speakers, so you can enjoy music as you relax outside. For smaller areas, tabletop models are available that you can use on a side table in a chat area or in the center of a larger dining table. Fire pits are ideal for creating a chat area in your yard or garden and offer a warm spot to enjoy conversation, a hot beverage, or toasting marshmallows over the flames.

Create a wind block.

Block the wind

While a cool breeze can be refreshing in the heat of summer, a brisk wind can make the temperature of your outdoor spaces seem much colder. To make your patio more comfortable, consider creating a wind block to divert wind gusts from causing a chill in cooler seasons. You can use any number of items to make a wind block such as paneled room dividers, curtains, or even rows of planters which will also add a touch of decoration and color to your space.

Solar fence lights.

Light up the space

Install some outdoor lighting to illuminate your patio when the sun sets earlier in the evening in the fall and winter months. Added lighting lets you enjoy a cup of coffee or tea on the deck after dinner or allows your gathering to continue well into the night and gives your outdoor living area a cozier ambience. Besides ceiling lights overhead on a porch or covered patio, you can add outdoor table lamps, step lights for safety, path lights to illuminate your walkways. For softer lighting, add some candlelight with lanterns or candle holders. You can also hang string lights along railings or overhead for a festive look.

Keep cozy with a throw blanket.

Make it cozy

Help keep cold at bay by warming up your outdoor space with cozy textiles. Have comfy and soft throw blankets on hand to have to wrap around you while sitting outside when temperatures drop. Add extra layers of warmth with outdoor rugs and throw pillows on sofas and chairs. These elements invite you to spend more time outdoors while remaining comfortable.

Weatherized TVs

Bring on the entertainment

You no longer have to sit indoors to watch your favorite Netflix shows. Weatherproofing technology makes it possible to enjoy watching TV in your outdoor spaces. Weatherized TVs are retrofitted to withstand the outdoor environment and are protected from water and corrosion from the elements. So, make some popcorn, sit back, chill, and tune into the next episode with family and friends while basking in fresh air and sunshine.

4 Season Outdoor Planters

Plant some fall and winter greenery

The end of spring and summer does not mean the end of a beautiful garden. You can still create a scenic and green patio area by planting late blooming varieties of plants such as crocus, mums, winter jasmine, camellia, poinsettia, ornamental cabbages, hellebores, or pansies. You can also add evergreens to your planters to ensure there's greenery to enjoy throughout the year. If you don't have a green thumb, faux florals in pots and vases will also give you some welcome color on your patio.

By considering all or some of the above tips, you can continue to use and enjoy your patio all year long, extending the outdoor living space of your home into the cooler fall and winter seasons.