How to Stop Your Backyard from Looking Like a Store Display

Now, it makes total and complete sense here that you want a cozy backyard, after all, you totally deserve that, everyone does truthfully. But there is something you should keep in mind here though, basically, there’s a very specific backyard look that happens when everything gets bought in one rushed Saturday afternoon. No offense to those people, but there’s that very “manufactured” look to it. 

Usually, it’s something like a matching patio set, matching cushions, matching lanterns, matching planters, one outdoor rug, and a fire pit sitting in the middle because apparently every backyard got the same memo and nobody questioned it. Again, no offense here whatsoever.So getting it out of the way matching sets can be useful. 

Sure, store-bought decor can be cute. But when every single thing looks like it came from the same aisle, in the same finish, with the same “outdoor living made easy” energy, the backyard starts feeling less like a real space, and one of those store vignettes. .

Not Everything Needs to Match

And a lot of people think that everything needs to match, but matchy matchy and cohesiveness isn’t the same thing here. And while sure, matching furniture feels safe, and sure, that makes sense. But just because you can doesn’t inherently mean that you should though. Just generally speaking here, a backyard needs a little contrast. Something slightly unexpected. Something that doesn’t look like it was assembled by a marketing team with a beige mood board (cough, cough Studio McGee and Target).

Sincerely, it honestly doesn’t need to be complicated, challenging, hard, like, none of that. For example, that could mean swapping one chair for something vintage, adding a different side table, changing the cushions, or bringing in wood, metal, stone, or color that doesn’t match perfectly but still feels intentional.

Give the Plants Some Actual Presence

Tiny little plants scattered around a patio can look painfully underwhelming when everything else is bigger and heavier. Like, the poor basil pot is trying its best, but it can’t carry the weight of an entire outdoor space. But really, just look at gardening magazines, Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, well, there are plenty of others out there you can use for examples. 

But use them to your advantage, like use some big pots and layer them with some smaller pots, get some big plants, get some small ones. Well, show various sizes in plants, colors, vertical plants, horizontal, you name it. But use those examples rather than two terra cotta pots and calling it a day.

Add Something that Looks Like it Has Lived a Little

A backyard gets so much better when a few pieces don’t look brand-new. No, really, theres this weird stiffness to them. But think about it, though, something like a weathered bench, an old iron chair, a thrifted plant stand, handmade ceramics, a worn wooden table, even a stone planter with a little age to it, all of that adds character. Besides, you should also keep in mind here that Outdoor spaces shouldn’t feel too perfect anyway; they’re outside, Mother Nature wears them down a bit, and it’s totally fine.