How to Create a Beautiful Outdoor Space

Creating a beautiful outdoor space doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult! We are putting the finishing touches on our new patio this week, and I cannot wait to start cooking out, hanging out on the patio with our neighbors, and just enjoying being outside!  Plus, that means bringing some summer color to our new patio, too!  

A new patio or porch is a fresh slate. When the weather turns and it is time to be outside more often, we like to create a beautiful outdoor space with what we already have. Then, we add in some new pieces!

When I saw these cute pineapple placemats at the store, I knew with a little vinyl and some punch of color, they would be perfect for outdoor entertaining. Today, I am going to show you how to spruce up some outdoor placemats and a drink pitcher, and bring some pops of color to your space!

Supplies:  

Oracle 651 Vinyl

Silhouette Cameo Machine

Rubbing Alcohol

Cotton Balls

Placemats

Colorful Drink Pitcher

How to Create Cute Outdoor Placemats 

First, open up your Design Software to a new screen.  Choose “Text” from the design options.

Next, type the word “eat” in your design screen.  From here, go to the font options on the right side of your screen and choose your font.  I went with a handwriting font, DayDreamer.

Size your font to fit your placemat.  I sized mine at 12 inches across, as that fit perfectly in the center of my placemat.

Next, lay your vinyl on your cutting mat with the shiny, colored side facing up.   Set your blade to a “2”, and load it into your machine.

Send it to cut, and then unload it.  From here, cut off any excess and weed out the excess you won’t need.  You’ll be left with just your “eat”.

Clean the area of the placemat where you are going to put the letters with rubbing alcohol and let it dry.  Apply transfer tape to the top of your “eat”, and peel off the backing.  Place the vinyl on your placemat, with the transfer tape facing up.  Burnish it with a credit card or a plastic scraper.  Carefully peel the transfer tape off, at an angle.

Well, not to make the pitcher feel left out, I followed the same steps above and added the word “drink” to it, in a coordinating aqua color to match the placemats.  I love that these pieces are perfect for outdoor entertaining.  And, the limited edition summer colors are two of my favorites!

Tips for Creating a Beautiful Outdoor Space

Keep it simple. Look around and see what you already have on hand.  Perhaps a little vinyl, on what was once a plain pitcher or napkin will do the trick. Do you have a few planters in the same color?  If so, work off of that color scheme and bring in coordinating pillows or table ware to compliment it.

Decorate your space with live plants. This is one of the best ways to bring in color and keep it in a budget. Usually you can get a couple of nice flowers or plants for $10-$15.  Buy flats of flowers to have a lot to work with, and fill your space for cheap. My go to for live plants is the “drop and plant” containers.  I love these.  They are reasonably priced, already arranged to compliment each other, and you literally drop them in the planter and you are done.

Bring in soft textiles. A nice outdoor area rug, some pillows, and fabric cushions can really spruce things up nicely. These often come in neutral colors, so you can easily pair them with any color scheme!

Add a little lighting. We choose to use Mason jars with candles to keep the bugs away.  Also, we have replaced our outdoor lights with a softer porch light. This keeps things just lit enough, but not super bright. Plus, don’t underestimate the light from a nice fire pit!

With just a few simple touches, you can make a beautiful outdoor space your very own! How do you like to spruce up your outdoor space?