5 Essential Deck & Verandah Ideas to Get Right
Verandahs are beautiful traditional features of Australian homes, but sadly they sometimes get a little bit neglected. If yours is in need of some love, then pay attention! These five outdoor deck / verandah ideas are great if you want to get more from your outdoor space than just a classic architectural feature. Want to know how to decorate a verandah or outdoor deck? These pointers are a good start:
1. Give it a function
When decorating verandahs and your outdoor deck, it’s really important that they get a specific function. If there’s no reason to be there, you won’t use them! Think about whether you want to make your verandah / deck a spot for dining, relaxing, social gatherings – or all of the above! Try and think of this space as an outdoor version of your indoor living room, dining area, kitchen and/or lounge. Then fill it up with the appropriate furniture. If you don’t have a huge budget, just keep things casual: a trestle table with some benches and chairs will already do for some spontaneous alfresco dining.
2. Keep it cool
Especially on warm days, your deck or verandah is a great place to enjoy being outside without being bothered by the hot sun. Apart from the shade, we suggest you buy an outdoor fan to help keep things cool. Not only do they regulate the temperature, they also keep the flies away from your food and the mosquitoes at bay at night! Needless to say, this will greatly improve your verandah and deck use.
3. Make it comfortable
Maybe the most obvious of all deck and verandah ideas, but nevertheless incredibly important: make sure your verandah or deck is a comfortable place to be. This can be as simple as adding cushions to your casual dining chairs or having a side table to put your cup of coffee on when you read the newspaper. Because if your verandah or deck is not comfortable, you won’t stick around there for long and your beautiful space will go to waste. So think about what makes you at ease and be sure to include those things in your deck or verandah design.
4. Anchor it with lighting
The fact that verandahs and some decks are covered means they create a spacious feeling. Decorating verandahs well requires to work with this aspect. Hanging pendant lights above your dining table or seating arrangement will really anchor the space, complementing your spacious verandah rather than detracting from it. If you prefer to keep things traditional, a vintage light will look really classy. If you’re going for something a little bit more edgy, an industrial pendant light will do just the trick. (Both styles are represented in our collection.)
5. Focus on the sun
The most obvious place to focus on when decorating verandahs or decks is the front or the back of the house, close to doors. While these are certainly not bad places to start, try to expand your vision a little bit to the corners as well. These spots are often a great way of making the most of natural light: it can catch both the morning and afternoon sun. Or on the other hand, it could offer the most shade during the warmest time of the day. In this sense, it could be the best spot for a seating arrangement.
We hope these five deck and verandah ideas will help you with how to decorate a verandah or deck. What did you think of them? Have you got any other helpful thoughts on decorating verandas or decks? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Images 1, 2 & 3 via houzz, image 4 & 5 via Pinterest
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David Norriss
October 31, 2019
I like the idea of making your verandah your outside kitchen, lounge, living room, or literally whatever you want it to be. I have been wanting to add to the outside of my house and I didn’t know what to put there. After reading this article I think a verandah would be very interesting to have outside my house and I could use it for all sorts of different things, not just a patio. Thank you for informing me about verandahs and how cool they are.
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