How to Make Your Patio Look Bigger

Your small patio was probably sufficient a few years back. Once you added a few kids and more family members that visit, you probably feel like you are crowded into an elevator or a very tiny room. There are several ways you can make your patio area look bigger without hiring a contractor to demolish and rebuild it.

Making a Wood Patio Appear Bigger

Sometimes you can simply stage the area a little better to make it appear bigger. If you have a large patio set and barbecue grill on your patio you are taking up a lot of room. Buying a smaller patio set or grill will open up some space for you and the patio will appear bigger.

Is the patio enclosed with bushes, shrubs or flowers? Consider removing any tall bushes and plants. If you enjoy the flowers and shrubs replace the overgrown ones with smaller plants that will grow close to the grown. This will open up your viewing space and your wood patio area will appear larger.

Purchase inexpensive concrete blocks and add an area beside your wooden deck. I just recently purchased some 8" X 16" X 2" patio blocks on sale for 75 cents each. Use enough of these cheap blocks to build an area for the grill that usually sets on the patio.

Arrange the patio set to a corner of the wooden deck. A round patio set will fit well there and give the appearance of a larger deck. If there are only two of you that use the deck regularly, remove all but two chairs. Store the others nearby where you can easily get them when company comes.

Enlarging a Concrete Patio

You can use all of the above tricks on your concrete patio. You can also easily physically enlarge the patio with the same inexpensive patio blocks. Just dig the sod up in the area you want to enlarge. You can decide to expand the patio a couple feet on all three sides, or you can expend a large area on one side.

Expanding a larger area on one side allows you to move your grill or patio set to a block area that matches. For this design, decide how large of a space you need to set the grill on. Measure it in square feet and figure out how many blocks you need.

Use a flat shovel nearly horizontal to the ground and gently remove the sod from this area. Use the sod to fill other areas in your yard. Once the grass is removed from your patio square, check the area with a level. Scrape the dirt to make the square as level as possible. Tamp the area down either with your feet or with a small section of 2X4 wood.

You can either add a layer of sand or use a piece of tarp to lie down before you place the bricks. This helps keep the grass from growing up between the cracks of the patio blocks. Arrange the blocks in whatever design you like, making sure they are placed tightly together. Once they are in place, spray them down lightly with a hose so that they will settle into the wet ground.

When the area is dry, set your grill or patio set in the center of the newly enlarged area. This will open up your actual patio area and give everything the appearance of being bigger. Set your patio table and chairs on the opposite side from the grill. Keeping the center open also makes the patio appear bigger.