Creative Patio Ideas For Your Mountain Retreat
The forest is your canvas when you’re considering a patio extension or remodel on your trip to the mountains. Unlike suburban patios, your mountain patio must be built around the senses. You’re nestled among a grove of tall swaying trees and can hear the wind pushing through thick branches for miles. You admire a scenic vista that displays a rug of untamed grass curling like an ocean tide along rolling hill and steep mountainside. In the evening you can see the sun dip into the earth and the sky flush with purple and red and orange.
Your patio can’t beat the beauty of nature, but it can compliment it. Consider some of these ideas for your next outdoor adventure.
The Rustic Cabin
Think rich wood textures all along the walls and the border railing, and a disproportionate rock fireplace. Even the lamp, that sits atop a fading redwood table, has a smooth wood finish. The patio door that goes into the cabin is a retractable french doorway with a similarly retracting screen. The visiting area consists of chairs that are built with a more raw branch look, and large cream colored cushions.
Be careful with what add-ons you include in a rustic looking patio area. If you can help it, try not to mount a massive flat screen TV to the wall, or the heads of taxidermied animals. This will make for a sloppy combination. Instead, try setting up a small, two-person swing, or other vintage furnishings that encourage face-to-face socializing.
The RV Patio
Tune up your RV and hit the road, because the best part about mountain traveling in an RV is setting up and relaxing in the front patio area. You want the full nature experience with this design. The sight, the smell, and the cool air. Instead of a railway border, you’ll likely be using the circumference of the awning. This creates a very open feel that works well in warmer areas. Bring along a portable grill, generator, and a long set of string lights to create a more lively evening.
People will look at this design as a shady refuge when they’re outside and enjoying the warm weather. This patio design works best when it is level with the ground. No stairs or one-way entrances. People will walk freely in and out of the patio area fluidly. And due to the openness of the supporting pillars, there shouldn’t be any wall space for your taxidermy, sorry.
The Entertainer
This patio style should connect your interior to the exterior with ease, and provide, in a sense, additional living space. It would look similar to your cabin living room, or an extension of it. Essentially, bringing the warm feeling from the inside to the outside.
This style of patio pulls back on the old wood look, and calls for a more well kept, lighter color of paint (an off-shade of white) with plant based decorations like shrubs, weeping figs, and dracaenas. This patio would look great with a small corner bar, and if you have the room, a pool table. The point of this patio is to bring the comforts of a house party to the forest. Also not a good place for mounting taxidermy.
The Protected Porch
The focus here, are the screens. If you’re the kind of person that cannot stand bugs flying around your space, this is your design. Screens can be claustrophobic and an eye sore, though, in this design, you’ll want to make the screens the star of the show.
You still want your patio to feel open. The best way to accomplish this is by making the three walls going away from the entrance to the house all screen walls, with a screen door that goes outside. This design might feel a bit claustrophobic to some people, so try to keep the interior of the patio very minimal: a few chairs, a small coffee table, and a ceiling fan. Still not a good place for your taxidermy.
The Trendy Look
If you have the money, you can turn your cabin patio into a five-star resort lounge. This could have a two-level patio, each with it’s own distinct purpose and personality.
The bottom can be the main party area that includes a ground level fire pit and a hot tub. A curved rock bench is on one side of the fire pit, the other side has stylish retractable poolside chairs. The upper level could solely be a lounge area with thin white sheets as drapes and a glass roof. The upper lounge is also a great excuse to hang your favorite wall art (taxidermy isn’t wall art). Make sure this area isn’t cluttered, you want it to have an ambiance of comfort and recovery. The lighting should consist of low voltage string lights.
If you have any patio ideas you’d like to tell us about or a patio you already own, share your story with us in the comments!