Although most of us collegiettes don’t have the luxury of a spacious patio, complete with all the supplies necessary for quaint garden parties or long, luxurious mornings spent drinking some delicious coffee and skimming the latest magazine, most college apartments do come complete with at least a little outdoor space. Sadly, most of us leave this space unutilized, barren, and just simply unfit for a session of sweet tea and light gossip. But that does not have to be the case!
Creating a beautiful, fabulous outdoor space fit for hanging out or just straight chilling is not as hard as it seems, and it can totally be achieved on a cheap college budget. It can be colorful, wonderful, and create great memories for you and the people who live around you.
Making a pretty patio is just as easy as 1-2-3!
1. Most college apartment complexes do not spring for cute outdoor materials (tile, printed concrete, or so on), and unfortunately that means too many patios characterized by concrete with weird stains and a crazy amount of discoloration. This can be immediately fixed by putting down a cute outdoor rug. It can bring a little color to an otherwise crappy concrete courtyard, and it adds a whole lot of pop to a patio.
2. Get yourself some fabulous furniture! No patio is complete without a place to sit and relax, and one of the below cute and colorful adirondack chairs would be perfect for a bright and perky patio. The best part about chairs like these is that you can buy them as cheap or as high-end as you want- go plastic or wooden, colored or natural- the options are endless! And you can buy one about anywhere. Another thing that is necessary for a great patio is a side table or a coffee table of some sorts for you to put your drink or book or any other things you need for your patio pleasure. Make sure to balance out a colorful chair with a darker table, or vice versa- you don’t want it to look like an unbearable clash of colors!
3. Finally, toss in any other minor decorative pieces that you love and that you think would add to your patio’s splendor. Add outdoor pillows that you think would bring the colors together, plant some luscious green plants or flowers to bring a little bit of life to your outdoor environment, bring in some cute coasters to protect your new furniture, buy some citronella candles to keep away the creepy crawlies, and just add any other little touches you love. Go with your decorating gut! Check out the photo below, and see how these decorators used some potted succulents, flowers, and a cute drink tray to bring together their whole decor.
And that’s that! You’ve got a patio that’s perfect for any outdoor use you can think of (except maybe garden parties, normally apartment complexes don’t have patios large enough for that). As an example, below is a photo of my patio, featuring the dog. We plan on including a green, orange and blue pillow to incorporate all the colors from our rug, flowers, chair, and apartment walls together, but for now we are loving the adorable outdoor addition to our apartment, complete with a garden gnome!
Have any ideas for outdoor decorations? Love or hate our ideas? Tell us in the comments!
Image 4 courtesy of Alyssa Armstrong (my fabulous roommate)