8 Patio Design Ideas for a Small Florida Backyard
Your backyard is so small, the family of squirrels moved out for a bigger place. “This is nuts,” they said.
Even if your house is big, these days your yard might be tiny.
Builders want houses to be as big as possible, which sometimes means less space outside.
Hello, five bedrooms and a home gym. Bye, outdoor space for stargazing and acorn storing.
What can you do if you only have room for a small backyard patio? Lots of things. Rethink big furniture. Use creative materials. Make plants portable. Choose skinny palms. Add overhead lighting for big impact in the tiniest space.
Let’s learn more about small backyard landscaping, including:
Florida Patio Ideas: Learn to Love Linear
Small Florida Backyard? Be Creative With Patio Materials
Rethink Big Furniture
Plant Ideas for Small Backyard Patio Design
Go Portable with Plants
Blend the Outdoors and Indoors
Don’t Forget Small-Space Shade
Florida Patio Ideas: Look Up for Lighting
1. Florida Patio Ideas: Learn to Love Linear
Curves are great in a patio design, but they take up more room than straight lines. It’s easier to tuck a square or rectangular patio into a tight space.
2. Small Florida Backyard? Be Creative With Patio Materials
Your patio might need to be small, but it doesn’t need to be boring.
Use variations in material for interest and to make the space appear bigger.
Tropical Gardens patio crews recently installed a small backyard patio off a client’s bedroom that mixes squares of concrete and squares of artificial turf. It’s a patio but, hey, it’s also green space! They tucked an L-shaped couch against one wall to offer comfortable seating in a creatively cozy space.
You can also use varying patio borders to add lively interest to a small backyard patio.
Maybe your patio is gray and white, but you have a brown roof. Incorporate a border in brown pavers and another in dark charcoal. The design boost makes the space pop — and look bigger.
New, innovative pavers are on the market, too, that help even a small backyard patio make a big design statement, including Belgard’s new Empire line.
Order a pallet of these long, skinny pavers and you’ll get seven different textures just in one pallet.
Used together, they produce a sort of cool crazy quilt design that will make your small patio the envy of your big-patio neighbors.
A contemporary twist on the classic herringbone and basket weave designs, the pavers have an artsy, hand-tooled look.
3. Small Backyard Patio? Rethink Big Furniture
A small backyard patio probably won’t accommodate a big outdoor couch.
No biggie. Assess your needs, think about how you want to use your space, and you might realize that instead of a bulky sofa, three sleek chairs might meet your needs just fine. Or a cozy bistro table and chairs. (Tip: Round tables are easier to walk around than rectangular options.)
Stools and bench seating make a small patio feel more open — no backs to obscure the vibe.
Grab some cushy floor pillows covered in outdoor fabric to toss around when you need extra seating. (Maybe make the kids use these. Blame your aging back.)
Need a bit more serving space? Mount a folding shelf to the exterior of your house, and fold it down when you need space for party snacks or drinks. When you don’t need it, it folds up out of the way. Super smart.
4. Plant Ideas for Small Backyard Patio Design
No room for landscaping around your petite patio? Sure, there is.
Opt for a podocarpus hedge, which is perfectly happy kept trimmed to a space-saving foot or so wide.
Think palms are too big? Nope. Choose palms that grow up, not out, like a solitaire palm, that sports a space-saving 3-inch trunk. You can even fit an impressive trio in staggered heights of 20 foot, 14 foot and 10 foot.
Or a curved trunk palm can be planted outside the patio but curved in to shade you overhead.
Or cut into your small backyard patio a bit to carve out a palm planting plan.
See? Lots of options.
5. Go Portable with Plants
Plant bright flowers and intriguing tropical plants in pots that you can scoot out of the way as needed. Heck, why not put them on wheels?
Or, grow up. Use wall planters, trellises and hanging baskets to keep pretty plants up and out of the way in your small Florida backyard.
6. Blend the Outdoors and Indoors
Small outdoor space? Connect it to your indoor space with big glass doors and enjoy both spaces together. Add a bubbling water feature so you can hear it from inside when the sliding doors are open.
7. Don’t Forget Small-Space Shade
Maybe you don’t want to cover your whole small backyard patio with a pergola, or break up the space with patio umbrellas, (or maybe you do!) but you still need shade out there.
Go for shade sails, which offer cool cover but stay up out of the way.
Shade sails are canvas or mesh shades attached to structures with stainless steel hardware so they cover and shade an area.
8. Florida Patio Ideas: Look Up for Lighting
Make your small backyard landscaping feel even cozier by stringing festive lights overhead. They take up no space, but will quickly become your favorite patio feature.
Need Innovative Ideas for Your Small Florida Backyard? Talk to Us
Trust your small Florida patio — and the rest of your Sarasota landscape design — to us, with landscape design services in Sarasota FL that solve landscape challenges with solutions you’ll love.
Scoot over. We’ll help you figure it all out.
Give us a call or fill out our form today! Small backyard patio challenge? We accept! Our team of Sarasota designers can’t wait to create a wow-worthy outdoor space with big impact.
