The searing heat and long nights of summer are winding down, the landscape is changing color, and the nights are getting cooler—fall is just around the corner.
As the weather changes, your patio needs to change as well. There are a few different ways that you can prepare your outdoor living space for the season ahead, even if you’ll be spending that season trapped in the house or on vacation.
To make sure your patio and backyard are not neglected and look great throughout the months ahead, follow these simple recommendations.
Check and Prepare Your Furniture and Upholstery
Before you start adding accessories to your outdoor space, you need to check, clean, and maintain what you have.
Depending on the type of furniture that you have, summer can be just as detrimental as winter, and so you need to make sure that everything is still in tip-top shape.
Direct sunlight can fade fabrics on cushions and pillows. Summer showers can create a breeding ground for bacteria. And depending on where you live, you may also have dirt and dust to deal with.
If your upholstery covers are removable, then strip them bare and throw them in the washing machine. If not, check the care instructions and give them a gentle clean. If you have wooden furniture, look for splits and cracks and inquire about treating the wood, which you should do at least every couple of years.
For metal furniture, particularly iron, you’ll need to look for signs of rust and discoloration.
Care instructions will tell you all that you need to know, but most furniture can be cleaned with just warm soapy water and a little elbow grease. There are a couple of exceptions, though.
For instance, you will need a wire brush to remove rust and ingrained dirt from iron and steel furniture and you’ll also need to pay special attention to umbrellas and awnings. Don’t simply douse them with soapy water and then wait for the cold fall air to dry them out. Check the care instructions and be careful when removing and replacing them.
Add a Few More Lights
The nights are getting longer and if you want to keep hosting outdoor dinner parties and inviting guests for late-night drinks, you’re going to need some light!
Sparkling Christmas lights are perfect for this. They’re bright, but not headache-inducing; colorful, but not tacky. Use them properly and they’ll make your space cozy and warm. Christmas lights are also ubiquitous in American households, so there’s a good chance that you have a few hundred of them gathering dust in the garage or attic.
Be creative and remember that the goal is to add warmth and light and not to celebrate the festive season early—the reindeers and snowmen can stay put and you don’t need to use every single light that you own.
Lanterns are even more effective. If you have some extra room in your budget, we recommend buying a few of them and hanging them around your patio and garden.
There are few things cozier and more magical than looking out of your window on a cold fall evening and seeing glowing lanterns seemingly suspended in mid-air.
When people think of outdoor lighting, they picture security lights—strong white spotlights that terrify the local wildlife and annoy your neighbors. But while spotlights can provide some added security in rural areas, they’re not cozy, they’re not subtle, and they’ll ruin the autumnal vibe.
Grab Some Throws, Cushions, and Blankets
Place a storage box on the patio and fill it with throws, cushions, and blankets, giving you easy access when the weather turns. You can also find cushions designed for use outdoors. These cushions are made from durable and wipe-clean materials and can be left outside whatever the weather.
Covers and cushions are pretty much surplus to requirements during the summer, but they’re essential in the fall.
Fire Up the Pit
A fire pit is perfect for any time of year, whether you’re soaking up the heat in the height of winter or using it for light during those long summer parties. But fall is where these accessories really come into their own.
Your guests can circle around the pit to stay warm while you toast marshmallows and s’mores. Alternatively, place it near a table as you enjoy drinks and snacks long into the night.
You can’t beat the comfort of a roaring bonfire—the warmth, the glow, the crackling flames. It’s a centerpiece but it’s also practical, as it provides the light and heat you need to snack, drink, and chat long into the small hours.
Fire pits come in many shapes and sizes, from metal bowls that are available for less than $50 to handmade stone pits. For something truly spectacular, take a look at the SummerSide Fire Table. It combines a dinner/bar/counter table with a fire pit.
The table is made from high-quality poly lumber and is available in a variety of different finishes. A fire pit burns in the center, ensuring it’s always just a couple of feet away from your guests—close enough to provide warmth but not close enough to singe hair and hands.
It’s a complete all-in-one design, making it perfect for small patios and other compact spaces.
Bring Out the Heaters
If you’re going to be spending a lot of time in your outdoor space, a fire pit is a must. But it’s not always sufficient for keeping you and your guests warm, and if you have a lot of pets and kids (or drunk friends) running around, you’ll probably want to limit the use of open flames.
You’ll find patio heaters outside coastal restaurants up and down the United States, and they are also commonplace in countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain, where it’s more customary to stay out until the early hours of the morning.
Restaurant heaters are usually several feet tall and power-hungry, as they are designed to produce an intense heat that can keep a table of half a dozen diners warm during the harshest of evenings. They’re expensive but they’re worth every penny. If you have room in your budget for one of these heaters and you’re expecting to host a lot of dinner parties, birthday parties, and evening drinks, they’re worth it.
If you don’t have room in your budget for an industrial-sized patio heater, don’t worry as there are much cheaper and more portable options available.
For less than $100 you can get a very capable patio heater that will keep a couple of people warm and cozy. Add a fire pit and some blankets, and it should be more than enough to brace against those chilly fall nights.
Inject Some Seasonal Flair
Wreaths and garlands will give your backyard some seasonal style. The warming colors will make your space more inviting and transition perfectly into Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. You can keep them there until the spring, at which point it’s time to swap the warming tones for something a little brighter.
Hang wreaths from your doors to create a welcoming atmosphere for your guests and add some other seasonal decorations nearby.
Store Away Your Summer Supplies
The pool toys, summer pillows, and other summer accessories must be stored away, but don’t just toss them into a cupboard and forget about them. You can have every intention of using them next year, but when that time finally rolls around, you’ll forget that you have them and will either do without or buy replacements.
Before you know it, seasonal upholstery and accessories will be bulging out of every spare cupboard and drawer. Instead, store those items in outdoor storage boxes. These units can double as side tables and chairs and you can also use them to swap around seasonal cushions.
That way, instead of traipsing everything through the house and trying to remember where you put those throws and cushions, you’ll simply be digging around in the storage box and swapping the summer supplies for the fall ones.
It means that you will need to buy an additional storage box or two, which will remove some space from your patio and add it to your wallet, but you will be thankful for it in the long run.
Summary: Preparing Your Patio For Fall
At Seven Summers, we sell a variety of chairs, tables, and other outdoor furniture, and because everything is made from durable, easy-to-clean poly lumber, you don’t need to worry about shading it in the summer, covering it in the fall, or storing it away for the winter.
Poly lumber is made from recycled detergent bottles and milk cartons. It’s eco-friendly but it’s also durable. It doesn’t split and crack like wood; it doesn’t rust like iron, and you don’t need to treat it every couple of years or wash it every few days.
You should still clean the furniture using soapy water every few months, but that’s all there is to it! If you want minimum hassle, maximum comfort, unbeatable style, and complete customization across the board, check out the Seven Summers product range.