Nothing makes a house feel more like a home than a small stretch of open outdoor space. It can be a balcony, a terrace, a landscaped garden, or a patio. An extension like this gives you a much-needed sense of openness and an opportunity to be one with nature without having to travel far. Styling an open space like a patio can allow you to get as creative as you like providing both style and function. With a huge variety of style options, you can pave a patio using outdoor tiles, concrete, or mix stone or ceramic with wood flooring to give it a visually dynamic look.

Here are some popular patio design ideas to help you create your dream outdoor getaway:

Pave your patio

Pavers are an instant look enhancer when it comes to patio designing. You get an overwhelming range of outdoor tiles these days. Choose the tiles that reflect your personality in colour, pattern, and texture and lay them over your current patio ground as a first step to creating an inviting outdoor socialising area.

There are four most popular outdoor floor tile types: ceramic tiles, stoneware, porcelain stoneware, and terracotta tiles. Each tile has its own pros and cons but one thing is common, they are all durable, easy to maintain, and weather resistant up to various degrees. So, you can confidently use them for your outdoor patio transformation.

Keep the design fluid and seamless

A seamless transition between the interior and exterior of a home never goes out of style simply because it creates the illusion of more space. An easy way to create this impression is to use either the same flooring for both indoors as well as outdoors or match the colour of the flooring of the two segments of the house. For example, if you have used wooden flooring inside your house, for paving your patio, you can opt for outdoor terracotta tiles. Terracotta has an old-world charm and tends to bring a rustic feel to an urban patio decor. Moreover, they are traditionally handmade; so, come with some obvious irregularities. It is these imperfections that make the terracotta outdoor tiles all the more special.

For a partition, you can consider glass walls, sliding or fixed, to emphasise how well-synchronized your house is from inside to out.

Leave it open with island-style sitting areas

If you have a sprawling yard, temper paving with textured outdoor tiles to retain natural grass cover as much as you can. If there are big, shady trees growing in the patio consider flooring around them, maybe even a step higher to create sitting areas on those raised, paved platforms. Not restricting your patio to a small, enclosed area will allow you to lounge and walk around and enjoy natural shade whenever you want. To further utilise the space you can create a cosy nook for spending those precious me-times, a barbecue corner for occasional dining, or a poolside relaxing zone complete with pouffe seats and cinder benches, a hammock and an ice bin table.

Enhance the cosiness quotient with semi-enclosed patios

Semi-enclosed patios work for those who do not like things too spread out. If this is you, start with erecting stone or log walls on two or three sides at a pre-defined spot. You might consider a glass ceiling to allow the inflow of natural light. For accents, however, go for fitted lightings. To match the colour palette, add more green and ochre in the form of potted plants and cane furniture.

Choose your furniture, lighting and accents with love

The key to designing an inviting and at the same time, intelligent patio, is to choose furniture, lighting, and other fixtures that can retain their structural integrity and beauty over many seasons. Barring outdoor tiles, everything else should preferably be lightweight or portable so that in harsh weather conditions you can easily shift them indoors. Lighting should be such that at sundown, an intimate atmosphere is created. Solar-powered spotlights and low-energy pavement lights seem to be both a practical and pleasing choice for this purpose.

Finally, landscaping can transform an outdoor space radically. Incorporate as many natural elements as possible. Use potted plants, bamboo, stone statues, and garden bridges to your taste and you will never complain about not being able to take enough breaks or travel for recreation and relaxation. Your own patio retreat will always be right there, just a few steps away.