10 Decor Ideas to Transform Your Outdoor Balcony 

Apart­ment bal­conies give you more liv­ing space and an area for out­door enter­tain­ment and relax­ation. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, they are often under­uti­lized space. With just a bit of TLC and adding a few ele­ments, you can trans­form your bal­cony into your favorite hang­out spot. 

1. Keep It Simple

When it comes to small spaces, min­i­mal­ism goes a long way. Focus on adding a sin­gle key ele­ment, such as a loveseat or bistro set to add util­i­ty to your bal­cony. Feel free to add a few oth­er coor­di­nat­ing items and plants to liv­en it up even more. But, if you want to avoid your bal­cony from look­ing clut­tered, keep your oth­er decor simple. 

2. Easy Privacy 

We can’t be the only ones who think the worst part of hav­ing a bal­cony is the lack of pri­va­cy. Luck­i­ly there are plen­ty of solu­tions. You could take the time to build a pri­va­cy wall, but this is a semi-per­ma­nent solu­tion. A more flex­i­ble option is to invest in a sim­ple pri­va­cy screen that can move with you. If you have a green thumb, you can opt for a wall of stacked or tall plants for a more nat­ur­al look. If you need some­thing even less per­ma­nent, a beau­ti­ful room divider will do the trick; just make sure to keep it indoors when not used to pro­tect it from the elements. 

3. Fabulous Flooring

Let’s face it, the floors of most apart­ment bal­conies are dull slabs of con­crete. Change your bal­cony floor from drab to fab with the sim­ple addi­tion of an area rug in a bold design, or uplev­el it with inter­lock­ing deck tiles that trans­form it into a wood­en deck. Deck tiles eas­i­ly lock togeth­er to cov­er your entire floor and can eas­i­ly be dis­man­tled. Mean­while, an area rug in a nat­ur­al fiber can add a touch of char­ac­ter with­out clut­ter­ing the space. 

4. Create an Ambiance

Who wouldn’t want to sip a cock­tail and relax after a long day’s work when you’ve got a soft, roman­tic vibe on your bal­cony? Skip the harsh over­head light on your bal­cony and instead opt for strings of lights to cre­ate a mood. Opt for the more indus­tri­al look with fil­a­ment bulbs or a soft­er look with tra­di­tion­al strings of lights. Either way, they’ll add char­ac­ter to your bal­cony at all times of the day. If you want a more artis­tic vibe, add a neon sign as wall art or install a col­or-chang­ing LED light strip so you can adjust the col­or depend­ing on your mood. 

5. Go Vertical

When you look at square footage, bal­conies are noto­ri­ous­ly small. Don’t despair though! You can max­i­mize your space by going ver­ti­cal. Tak­ing advan­tage of your wall space instant­ly boosts your balcony’s func­tion­al­i­ty. Start an herb gar­den on a tiered plant stand or as a ver­ti­cle gar­den. Even the sim­ple addi­tion of shelves or wall slats can help you move items off the floor, auto­mat­i­cal­ly giv­ing you more space. 

6. Let Plants Rule

Adding plants to your bal­cony offers more than just a pop of col­or to your space. Sur­round­ing your­self with plants can help you relax, reduce anx­i­ety lev­els, and even improve your mem­o­ry, giv­en that you have a green thumb and remem­ber to water them. Your bal­cony is the per­fect spot to start or expand your gar­den­ing. Whether you choose green plants with air-puri­fy­ing prop­er­ties or some­thing more prac­ti­cal like herbs or veg­eta­bles, your bal­cony pro­vides your plants with the fresh air and sun­light that they need to thrive so you can too. 

7. Pops of Color

We love a good splash of col­or, and the bal­cony is a per­fect spot to express your­self. While adding plants can pro­vide a pop of col­or to your space, there are plen­ty of oth­er ways to liv­en up your out­door liv­ing space. Keep it rel­a­tive­ly neu­tral by stick­ing to greens or add some cheer with bright pat­terns, a bright­ly col­ored piece of fur­ni­ture, or bold and funky planters. 

8. Hang a Swing

When it comes to enjoy­ing your bal­cony, you’re not locked in to the typ­i­cal bistro set, chairs with a side table, or loveseat. Have fun with your space by hang­ing a swing or ham­mock on your bal­cony for max­i­mum com­fort. If your apart­ment build­ing has restric­tions about hang­ing things from the ceil­ing, look at get­ting a free-stand­ing swing that gives you the swing­ing feel­ing with­out the drilling. 

9. Use a Daybed 

When trans­form­ing your bal­cony into the per­fect space to relax, ver­sa­tile seat­ing options can help you make the most of your space. Rather than lock­ing your­self into seat­ing for one or two peo­ple, con­sid­er choos­ing a daybed or chaise lounge instead. This gives you addi­tion­al seat­ing and space to lie down and unwind, tak­ing full advan­tage of the warm sum­mer days. 

10. Fold It Up

If your bal­cony is crunched for space, con­sid­er pur­chas­ing fur­ni­ture designed to save space, such as fold­ing chairs and nest­ing tables. With all the dif­fer­ent designs avail­able, you can make your space styl­ish and func­tion­al with­out look­ing like a camp­site. Just be mind­ful of the look you are going for and the func­tion­al­i­ty of each piece when shopping. 

There’s still plen­ty of sum­mer left to enjoy your out­door space. Check out our selec­tion of out­door fur­ni­ture avail­able on Apt­De­co to start trans­form­ing your bal­cony into an out­door oasis that will be the envy of all your friends and neigh­bors. And don’t for­get, shop­ping sec­ond­hand fur­ni­ture is always a great way to go!