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Decorating your Apartment Porch
Don’t hide away inside your apartment during summer’s warm days and breezy nights. Why not step outside your balcony door and relax on your apartment porch or patio? It may be small, but with these patio decorating ideas, your slice of outdoor life can be a sweet one.
What’s allowed?
Before you begin your project of porch beautification, be sure to check with your apartment community rules on what you can and can’t do with your outdoor area. Many communities have restrictions about what you can keep or hang on your patio, so that you don’t block your neighbors’ view, intrude on their patio space or test the weight limits of your balcony. One of the biggest concerns for most landlords and managers, however, is grilling outside your apartment. Check to see if grilling is allowed where you live or if you may have a chiminea on your porch for cozy evening fires.
What kind of retreat do you want?
When you come home after a long day, what is your idea of relaxation? Your porch decoration should make it easy for you to unwind. Would you like to invite friends over and join your neighbors, sharing conversation and the view? You might want to hang some festive lanterns, bring out folding chairs and add some brightly colored decorations to your patio. Or perhaps you’d rather have a quiet sanctuary with a bamboo privacy screen and a cozy chair for one. Decide how many people you want to share your patio or porch and decorate it depending on your favorite way to recharge.
What materials are best?
When investing in outdoor furniture, consider pieces that can withstand the elements. Plastic is inexpensive and lightweight and comes in many styles and colors. Properly treated metal or wood can withstand the outdoors as well, but needs a bit more care and weighs more. If you opt for padded seat cushions, think vinyl or else be willing to store cloth cushions out of the weather when not in use.
Decorate to lift your mood
Consider your patio or porch a safe haven where you can sit back, enjoy the weather and surround yourself with colors and décor items that make you happy. Do you enjoy bird watching? How about a bird feeder, bird-watching book and binoculars stored in a weatherproof chest? If you love the beach, then sea shells, lighthouse prints and a colorful windsock could remind of your fabulous vacations. If the tropics call your name, go tiki with textured materials, carvings and a few small palms. You can create a romantic space with flowering plants, small white lights and floral seat cushions. Discover what makes you happiest and build your own theme!
Tie it all together
Your porch or patio is an extension of your apartment, so decorate it with some echoes of your interior style. You don’t have to have all of your decor match, but the difference shouldn’t be jarring either. Consider bringing out a vase, chair or other decorative accessory that echoes a color or style inside your apartment to connect the spaces together.
Ready. Set. Relax! Know what limits your community has for porch and patio decorating, and then push the boundaries of your imagination. With your little sanctuary in place, you’ll be even sorrier to see the end of summer’s easygoing days.
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