These 70 Beautiful Patio Ideas Have Us Dreaming of Backyard Gatherings (2024)

In this Kips Bay Palm Beach Show House, designer Billy Ceglia’s crisp monochromatic scheme extends from lacquered bamboo-patterned armchairs and chaises (Brown Jordan) to hammered wrought-iron chandeliers by Currey & Company. Beneath the blue-painted ceilings for never-ending sunny days, chinoiserie seating and a treillage screen nod to traditional Floridian decorating motifs.

Vietnamese silk lanterns dangle from the dining pergola, shrouded in banana and areca palms, bleeding heart, and elephant’s ears in designer Mimi McMakin’s home, a cedar-shingled former church fronting the Palm Beach lake trail.

In an ancestral millhouse in the North of England, designer Mary Graham, pictured here with her design partner Nicole Salvesen, stands on the dining terrace, where sage green trim and old cobblestone create an enchanting backdrop. A lantern by Hector Finch illuminates the space by night, and the garden design is by Willa Bourne-Arton.

In her Cotswolds home, Oka cofounder Sue Jones selected charming spiral topiaries to edge the sunny front terrace. Woven chairs by Oka sit in front of them to provide ample seating.

In a home in the Hamptons, a burst of Limelight hydrangeas beckons guests to a garden table dressed in a gingham tablecloth from homeowner and linen designer Julia Amory’s collection and antique majolica.

A faux-bois table (Diane Husson) plays off the natural beauty surrounding the dining terrace at architect Paul Bates's Birmingham cottage. Chinese Chippendale chairs (Hall Bradley for Brown Jordan) echo the patterns of trellis which are often seen in gardens.

Washington, D.C.-based designer Byron Risdon envisioned the lush patio at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Dallas as an entertaining haven. In the primary seating area, Risdon replaced the existing fireplace with Strike’s Laguna stone mantel and created a conversational pit with crescent sofas upholstered in a woven salmon-and-cream acrylic fabric by Perennials.

Designer Summer Thornton pulled inspiration from the courtyards of New Orleans for the playful patio at her Chicago townhouse. The black and white floor features stone (Exquisite Surfaces) sourced from quarries in cold parts of northern China and Europe.

Esther Cayzer-Colvin drew inspiration from her own family when it came time to decorate the indoor and outdoor rooms of her English estate. For example, the dining set on her garden patio was passed down by Cayzer-Colvin's grandmother Nancy Lancaster, the influential post-war Anglo-American designer and co-owner at Colefax and Fowler.

At this Napa Valley family retreat, designer Dan Fink and architect Carl Baker of Ike Kligerman Barkley extended the living space by adding a pergola-covered gravel dining patio just off the great room. Striped cushions (fabric by Perennials) outfit the seating around a custom iron-and-teak dining table.

When designers Jeffry Weisman and and Andrew Fisher first discovered their San Miguel de Allende home, they were struck by the patio garden's cool, dappled light and and gentle, splashing outdoor fountains. Here, custom urns flank the entrance to a magical middle garden.

At this Ross, California, home, landscape designer Erica Timbrell carved out extra poolside seating with the addition of a patio under a canopy of California redwoods. A teak sectional commands the stone-wrapped alcove.