3 Spring 2021 Outdoor Living Trends to Make Your Patio Feel Cozy

Welcome back, Spring! The trees are budding, the flowers are blooming, and the warm temperatures have arrived!  Finally, right? This was a hard winter across the country, but now we get to sweep off the porch, set-up our outdoor living spaces, and soak up a little sunshine! We’ve been keeping an eye out for the latest spring décor trends this year and we’re excited to share a few of our favorites with you to help you start updating your patio space. Get ready to host small gatherings, spend weekends playing in the back yard with your kids, getting the garden ready and relaxing under the stars!

1.Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Spaces

Our first spring trend for this year is creating seamless indoor and outdoor spaces by thinking of your outdoor living space as an extension of your home. Last spring, we suddenly found ourselves spending more time at home than ever before and looking for ways to expand our living space to have a place to step away and unwind after a long day of juggling remote work and remote school. Since we couldn't go to our favorite cozy rooftop restaurant or lounge poolside on vacation, we turned to our own outdoor spaces and put time into finding ways to bring the comfort of our living room to our patio.

If you know that you're going to be hanging out on your patio a lot this season and you're ready for some big, cozy changes, try adding some outdoor versions of the loungy, comfortable sofas and chairs you would typically see inside of a home. Does your patio furniture only consist of a table and chairs? Then think about adding a cushy loveseat, lounge chair, and a low coffee table to create a comfortable lounge area. A little reminder, when you are out shopping, don’t forget to check that all the fabrics and materials are made for outdoor use.

Once you’ve got the essentials covered, add in some smaller decorative pieces to add more style to your outdoor space, just like you would inside your home. Outdoor candles with the stylistic touches that would look at home indoors, like the hammered look of our 50-ounce Blue Glazed 5-wick Candle, the simple decorative lid on our Mid-Century Modern Citronella & Lemongrass Candle, and the twine detail on our Sea Salt Glass Citronella Candle add the perfect decorative touches to your space. Finally, add the calming sounds of trickling water from our Distressed Metal Aquaflame Fountain to melt the stress of the day away as you sit down on the porch to enjoy the sunset.

For more tips on how to quickly and easily add some coziness to your outdoor space, check out this blog post!

2. Handcrafted/ Global Inspired Textures

Our second trend focuses on handcrafted and global-inspired elements to create an outdoor space that embraces creativity and artistic expression. This trend is all about creating a deep visual interest with unique patterns and textures through materials like ceramics, terracotta, rattan, textiles, and wood. A simple way to start creating this look is by adding a textural patterned pillow to a wooden or  rattan chair with a uniquely stitched outdoor floor pouf close by. On a nearby end table, layer a few carved textural decorative accents such as our Aztec-Inspired Carved Citronella Candle and our Abstract Stone Tabletop Torch to add some dimension and finishing touches to your outdoor living space.

Keep building on this look by adding throw pillows with unique patterns (think a mixture of stripes, diamonds, triangles, and other tribal-like patterns) to your seating area and add a blanket for those chilly spring evenings. With this trend, it’s important to remember that décor items and textiles should have different colors, tones, and textures that complement one another instead of matching perfectly. Weave in some potted plants to give your patio space varied heights and additional color, and don’t forget to add a highly patterned, textural rug or two, layered over one another to bring the whole space together! Finish the look by adding a few of our Aztec-Inspired Citronella Candles to your side tables to give your porch a warm and cozy glow. Our Aztec-Inspired 3-in-1 Torch is also a great addition to this trend— it's faux rattan and triangle detailing add more texture, color and intrigue to your patio. As a bonus, it can be used as a tabletop torch, clamped to your deck railing or as a standard 5-foot torch so it’s super versatile!!

3. Natural Materials

Remember the natural materials trend from the fall? Well, it’s still going strong this spring!

We’ve been seeing this trend on the rise for a few years now with people incorporating natural materials like light-toned wood, bamboo, rattan, cane-webbing, jute and terracotta into their living spaces to create a warm and comforting natural feel. If you’re looking for a big project this season, building a wood pergola over your patio area is a great way to add some warmth with wood, give your patio definition, and has the added bonus of sun protection! Extend your outdoor living space by creating a pretty pathway from your new pergola-covered patio into your garden with our 5 ft. Black and Tan Bamboo Torch with Black Pole. Adding a touch of black to any space adds depth and dimension, giving your eye something to linger on for a bit.

If you already have a wood-framed sofa or some rattan chairs in your backyard, a simple way to update them with this trend is to find some woven throw pillows to toss on them and add some wood and terracotta planters around your patio filled with plants and flowers to add some color and height. If you have a metal or glass dining table with matching chairs, try switching out the chairs for rattan or cane-webbed chairs to give your outdoor dining area a softer feel. Finish off your tabletop by mixing and matching a few of our citronella candles that have some natural elements incorporated into the design, like our Rectangular Ceramic Citronella Candle with Rope Accent, our Terracotta Citronella Candle with Rattan Accent, or our Rustic Ceramic Citronella Candle with Wooden Lid.

We love these trends because each one brings us back to nature with colors, patterns, and textures. The great thing about each of the three spring outdoor living trends that we’ve highlighted is that you can look at each one as its own trend or find ways to incorporate bits of each into your outdoor space for a really unique style that matches your personality and home decorating style. Are you feeling inspired to give your outdoor living space a little refresh? Let us know in the comments what updates you’re planning on making in your patio space this season!