If you’ve got an outdoor space that could do with a refresh but you’re limited with time and budget, this article is for you. I’m sharing quick and cheap styling tips to uplift your outdoor area! Whether you have a small balcony or a drab front porch, or even a neglected courtyard, I hope you find some ideas from this list.
These are my top outdoor styling tips when you’re working with next to nothing!
Related article: Outdoor Kmart hacks: Easy hacks to spruce up your outdoors
Related article: Cool off with our hot round up of outdoor shower inspiration
Embrace plants
Plants are a relatively inexpensive way to transform outdoor spaces. Not only do they bring life, you can select a variety of plants to introduce different textures, heights and colours for interest too. Depending on your space, you could plant these or play around with different pots.
If you really want to get stuck into it, you might want to consider creating a green wall by running wires vertically that plants can grow up. Or a simpler way to create some green screening is to use a cluster of pot plants.
Scatter cushions are your friend
Got ugly as furniture? Yep, I hear you! The solution: put a throw cushion on it!
He he, sounds like I’m joking but I’m not. There is a range of great outdoor cushions on the market and our favourites (hence why we invited them to partner on this month’s challenge) is Basil Bangs. Not only are they bright, fun and great quality, they’re also at a great price point. So you can afford to buy a few and inject some colour and style to your outdoor space.
The minimalist in me goes straight to their black and white designs but ocean blues are one of the hottest colours this season. It’s also a colour that looks great in outdoor spaces.
Don’t be shy to mix prints or colours, just look for some common thread. All the cushions I’ve used have a geometric element and a blue or black colour.
And the best thing about scatter cushions? You don’t need a green thumb to keep them alive 🙂
DIY it
It’s not until you start looking for outdoor decor that you realise just how expensive it is! Perhaps it’s the higher quality of materials that’s needed to withstand the outdoor elements but even basic furniture is super pricey. Don’t even get me started on designer vertical gardens that run into the thousands…
So my solution when I can’t afford something? DIY it of course!
Furniture wise, I’ve designed an L shaped in-built bench seat to flow from the kitchen sliding door into the alfresco space and I have an idea for a cool outdoor coffee table that I can’t wait to bring you.
For now, I’m sporting my oh-so-unattractive round table that I purchased from the tip for our Spring styling shoot that I’ve hastily painted with white paint. If it stays out here, I’ll fix up the paint job but I only ever intended to use it under a table cloth in styling shoots.
The crazy expensive vertical garden that I want will never be within financial reach. So I recently did a little Kmart hack for an inexpensive wall planter feature that’s actually been getting lots of compliments from guests.
Create ambience with lighting
Still on my ‘to do’ list is stringing up festoon lights, fairy lights or lanterns. I want to get the furniture layout right out here before I begin adding these decorative items though as they may require me to drill into the ceiling or walls.
If you check out some of the outdoor spaces in our ‘5 ideas to maximise your outdoors‘ article, you’ll see just how effective ambient lighting is. For now, a candle in a hurricane vase will need to do 😉
So there you have some simple and achievable ideas for lifting your outdoor space, if only a little bit. Hopefully my outdoor styling tips have given you a little inspo or motivation to refresh your outdoor space.
