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Hi, it's Lindsay Diane from DianeDecor.com. Today, let's talk about how to decorate a small
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back patio. You don't have to spend a lot of money and you don't have to have a lot of decor
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in order to create a beautiful backyard space. Just follow these five simple steps and you'll
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transform your back patio into a place that you'll never want to leave. There are really just five
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simple things that you need. If you have a small patio, the very first thing is to get an area rug
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This will not only define the space, but also add some comfort and make it cozy and make it soft
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underfoot. Most covered back patio areas are around 10 by 10 or so. An 8 by 10 rug is just
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fine for that area. Making sure that you have a shaded area is important for actual usage of your
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patio. If it's too hot, it doesn't matter how beautiful it is, you're not going to want to use
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it if the sun is beating down on you in the middle of the summer. So make sure that you either have
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the umbrellas or you're going to set up your patio under a small covered area. The next thing you want
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to do is create a small conversational seating area. So you want to arrange your pieces of
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furniture so that they are facing one another. Ideally, you don't necessarily want them lined
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around the wall or all against one wall. If you have a small four piece conversation set like I do
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which is two chairs, a love seat and a coffee table, that's perfect. Just put the two chairs
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opposite the love seat and put your dining, your coffee table rather in between. Or if you don't
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have the coffee table, this is a great place to put some foot stools or an ottoman that can act
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as both a coffee table and a place to rest your feet if you wanted to
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You want to make sure that the aisle that leads from your back door out to your backyard
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is clear. So try not to overlap that zone with furniture Now I did have a little extra space And what I did was I got a planter from Sunny Days Decor
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It's a planter bench. And it fit perfectly along that side. Not only did it create some extra seating area, but it gave me this instant decor piece
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that allowed me to put two artificial plants on either side. And it really helped brighten up the space
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It added some greenery to it. it matched really well with the furniture. I think it's fantastic. So if you're looking for
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some additional seating or just a small little piece to add on to your conversation set, I highly
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recommend this planter bench or any planter bench. You're going to be hard pressed to find anything
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else that's going to fit a small space that's no more than like two feet wide. So a bench for sure
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is the way to go if you want to just add on to that space a little bit more. Try to avoid any
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types of furniture that are going to need to have extra space to recline like those zero gravity
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chairs or a hammock or the egg swings. Those aren't great for a small space unless you're
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thinking you're only going to entertain two people. But if you want to have four or even
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six people out there at any given time, you're going to want to stick to some of the more standard
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furniture and things that are kind of streamlined and won't take up a lot of space. Lighting is the
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next big thing that you'll want to address. Add some type of supplemental lighting to your patio
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plan. It will make all the difference in the evening. Now, if you are going the umbrella route
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you can get a lighted umbrella that's solar powered or you can get the clip-on lights that
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go onto the umbrella poles that will help light up that space as well. Otherwise, look into string
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lights that you can hang either from the edge of the roof or you can hang them from like planter
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box to planter box if you want to set up something like that with those big whiskey barrels You put some plants in there put a pole and string them and create a perimeter around your conversation area Or if you have the enclosed area like I do go for the curtain lights
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These are fantastic. They run all the way down the wall. They lighten up the space. I can put
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them on a timer. I can make them twinkle. I can make them fade. I can adjust the brightness for
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them, they're excellent. You don't have to hang a chandelier, although I've seen people do that as
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well. It's beautiful. But at the very least, add some type of supplemental lighting, whether it's
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regular string lights, curtain lights, or solar lanterns, that's another good option
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The last thing you want to do is just add a little bit of decor. Like I said before, I got the planter
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bench which allowed me to add some faux greenery there of course you can use real plants i am not
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good with plants at all especially ones that are going to do well in a shaded area with the kids
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picking at them and all that sort of stuff i didn't want to i didn't want to bother with it
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so i opted for faux plants but some sort of floral arrangement whether it's hanging plants
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or something in a planter box, something that's just potted to put on your coffee table
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is a great option. Then you want to go ahead and try to reinforce your color scheme
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So the colors that you have inside of that area rug, bring them up and put them onto your furniture
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via decorative pillows. So blue is a color scheme that runs not only throughout my patio but throughout my home and I have this blue rug I added some
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blue pillow covers I bought the pillow covers scotch guarded them and then just added some
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inserts that I bought from Amazon in addition to the plants and the pillows I just have a small
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decorative tray on my coffee table it has a little potted plant it also hides my bluetooth speaker And then I also have this cordless rechargeable essential oil diffuser and while this may not look like a lot it does an
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incredible job on this patio for keeping the mosquitoes away I fill it with the
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citronella essential oil and it just it fills the entire area and it keeps the
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mosquitoes and the bugs at bay. It's better than having to mess with the candles and having to
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always restock those or having to deal with the little tiki torches or bug zappers or anything
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like that. It just creates this really nice ambience. I love that it's rechargeable and
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cordless and it also acts as a lantern. So it has a light on it and the entire base will light up at
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night if you want it to. Those are the only things that I have decorating the patio. The lights
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the area rug the plants and just the little vignette that's on the coffee table is perfect
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it's i couldn't want anything more on there it would just crowd the space it makes it functional
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it makes it beautiful and it makes it a place that i look forward to going to every single night
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here's a look at the final patio setup i'm really pleased with how it turned out i will have all of
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blog posts that are related to this patio install listed in the description below. So if you're
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looking for a step-by-step tutorial on how I hung the curtain lights or my DIY no-sew patio cushion
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upgrade or more details on the planter branch, I'll have all of that listed below along with all of
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the items that I use to decorate the patio. That's it for this video. I hope you found it helpful
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You don't have to spend a lot of money decorating your small back patio and you definitely do not
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need a lot of unnecessary decor to make it a magical space. I thank you so much for watching
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Don't forget to visit me at dianedecor.com. I post all about decorating your home on a budget
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I'll see you in the next one. Bye. Bye
