You have or are planning to install a beautiful backyard pergola. A pergola is an open, four-cornered structure made of archways. It provides shade for lounging humans and a trellis for vining plants to climb up beautifully. Pergola design can make a home and deck much more elegant, but they are generally considered warm-weather structures.
As the seasons change, now is a wonderful time to talk about ways for your pergola design throughout the seasons that both family and guests will enjoy.
Let’s start with Spring and work around the calendar in the many fun ways to decorate and enjoy your pergola each season.
Spring Pergola Ideas
Spring is a wonderful time to have a pergola. The air is fresh, the garden is beautiful, and your pergola design accentuates arboreal surroundings.
1. Breezy Hammock and Reading Nook
Hang a hammock or a wicker bohemian chair from the sturdy beams of your pergola and kick back with your eyes closed. Soak in the wonderful sounds of life and nature and catch an afternoon nap in a sunbeam.
Everything goes beautifully with a good hammock, but a small sidebar and hat stand would certainly make a cozy touch. Add other seating to make your pergola design welcome for gatherings and solo naps.
2. Twining Ivy Pergola
One of the most beautiful things about a pergola is the vining plants climbing up the wooden beam. Let them climb if you have ivy, trumpet flowers, or even thorny berry bushes. Then let them drip elegantly back down through the pergola slats.
This dripping-with-ivy look is not just a classic; it’s breathtakingly beautiful. An ivy pergola design is a great place to start if you want to be surrounded by nature.
3. Outdoor Living Curtains
Outdoor living offers many ways to lounge and luxuriate on the back patio or porch. One of our favorite details is heavy indoor-outdoor curtains that might pull back on pergola rails with a beautiful glide. You can set them in place for a shady map or throw the curtains wide to let the sunshine into your sun-dappled space.
Summer Pergola Design
Summer pergolas are warm and balmy. Often the site of lounging with or without a pool, our summer pergola ideas are sure to have you reaching for your grill and sunscreen.
4. Fairly Lights and Paper Lanterns
One of the most beautiful pergola designs is the twining fairy lights. The slatted top of a pergola is perfect for setting twinkling lights above your summer social gatherings. We also love the look and effect of paper lanterns distributed alone and in strings around your pergola for a soft, decorative light source.
5. Cabana Lounge & Bar
If you love the beachside and poolside style, set up your pergola design as a cabana lounge. Give yourself some grassy shade and sip fruity mixed drinks from a portable bar under your pergola. Lay out the deck chairs and apply your tanning cream because summer waits for no landscaper.
6. Barbecue Pit Pergola
What is summer without a big barbecue? Suppose you or someone in your house loves to grill. In that case, you don’t have to build a full outdoor kitchen for your pergola design to realize its potential as a great place for cooking outside; throw some slabs of meat and kebabs of vegetables onto the grill and gather up the outdoor seating below the shade of your pergola.
Autumn Pergola Ideas
Autumn is an invigorating time to be outdoors and enjoy the cool breezes under your wooden arch structure. Pergolas look lovely in autumn, making them a wonderful place for early family gatherings.
7. Cozy Firepit and Seating Area
Circle up your seating around a brazier fire pit. You don’t need to dig into your deck; choose a sturdy metal fire pit with safe, free-standing feet. Let everyone get cozy with outdoor blankets and pass around the marshmallow-toasting forks for more.
8. Spooky Spider Pergola
If you’re like many people, all your autumn decoration is about Halloween. Go big, spooky, and deck out your pergola in fake spider webs. Unleash your inner artist by crafting a large fake (paper mache?) spider poised to crawl over the top of the pergola for any guest who looks up.
9. Planter Paradise Perimeter
Autumn is a good time to bring your planters a little closer to home if you love to garden. This can make for a lovely time under your pergola as you create tiers of beautiful planters that will be better cared for in the coming cold. Complete the look by alternating planters and benches so everyone can sit surrounded by greenery as the foliage turns.
Winter Pergola Decor
What can you do with your pergola in the winter? You might be surprised just how cozy your pergola can be.
10. Enclose the Pergola in a Roof and Walls
A pergola roof or pergola encasing walls can make it possible to keep out the cold weather while still enjoying your deck. Clear plastic walls and elegant plexiglass walls can turn your pergola into an indoor-outdoor solarium to soak up the sun and stop the cold chill. Combine with warm seating and a little space heater; everyone will be downright toasty.
11. Lay a Heated Rug Under the Pergola
Want friends and family to gather outdoors? Heat their feet. Lay a heated outdoor rug over the pavers of a patio before inviting guests to gather in the chilly outdoors. A rug can pull your entire pergola look together and will be a delightful surprise for family and guests.
12. Outdoor Fireplace Pergola
You can also keep warm with an outdoor fireplace. Pairing your pergola with an outdoor fireplace is a beautiful choice all year long and a very rewarding place to cozy up when the nights get cold, but no one wants to go indoors.
Bottomline
Pergolas are a beautiful part of your landscaping or deck design all year if you know how to enjoy them. For more great pergola ideas or to consult on your next outdoor living project, contact us today!