45 Outdoor Living Room Ideas for Al Fresco Entertaining

In recent years, it’s become popular to bring indoor comforts outside. Outdoor living rooms are a great way to add extra space for parties or just hanging out with the family.

It is now easier than ever to make the living room on your deck, patio, balcony, terrace, screened-in porch, or corner of the backyard look as stylish and comfortable as the room inside thanks to new materials and products made by designers and makers.

Get ideas from these stylish outdoor living rooms.

Build a Custom Banquette

A custom-made banquette that fits your space is an easy way to make your outdoor living room have lots of chairs. Manscapers, a company based in New York City, made this rooftop sitting area in Manhattan. It has a wood banquette with padded seats, two organic coffee tables, and a Moroccan-style rug that makes it feel like you’re inside.

Add a Mirror

A custom-made banquette that fits your space is an easy way to make your outdoor living room have lots of chairs. Manscapers, a company based in New York City, made this rooftop sitting area in Manhattan. It has a wood banquette with padded seats, two organic coffee tables, and a Moroccan-style rug that makes it feel like you’re inside.

Add Privacy

An outdoor mirror is a unique addition that can make a living room outside feel finished and decorated.
Marie Flanigan Interiors put a framed mirror on top of the outdoor fireplace wall made of chunky wood. The mirror reflects light and makes the rough wood and stone finishes look better.

Hang Some Art

It doesn’t take a lot of space outside to make a cozy living room where you can read in the afternoon or drink cocktails under the stars. Wonderful Frank made a deck off of his apartment in Mallorca private by building high walls and cheap bamboo fencing that was softened with climbing plants and LED string lights.

Add Partial Cover

Add a surprise touch of art to an outdoor living area like a covered patio to make it feel like you’re inside. Breeze Giannasio Interiors put up a painting of the sea over the outdoor fireplace to make it the center of attention in this outdoor lounge area.

Use Black and White

If you have the room, make an outdoor living room with both open and shady places. Mark Langos Interior Design created a modern living room for the pool house that is covered with a roof so that it can be shaded and protected from the weather when needed.

Use Hedges for Privacy

A black-and-white color scheme will make your patio living room feel more modern. Eggshell Home added patterned furniture and a modern fire pit to the sitting area of this backyard deck so it was ready for guests.

Incorporate Scandi Style

To make an outdoor living room more private, use tall trees. Extra-tall hedges were used by BASE Landscape Architecture to frame a modern outdoor sitting room in Portland, OR. The room is finished with stone, wood, and woven furniture and accents.

Hang Some Curtains

People who live in apartments in cities and are lucky enough to have a balcony can really use their outdoor living room as an extra room. This modern Copenhagen apartment from Fantastic Frank has a neutral color scheme inside and out, including on the deck, which blurs the line between inside and outside.

Accent With Color

If you have a covered porch, hang curtains around the edges to soften the area and block direct sunlight. Kara Mann, an interior designer, used sheer white tie-back curtains to cover this indoor-outdoor room in Napa Valley, California. The modern slipcovered chairs and sculptural tables give the room a cool, sophisticated look.

Try a Shade Sail

Add life to a gray outdoor living room by adding bright colors as accents. Anita Yokota added bright orange and green fabrics to this raised backyard deck living room to make it feel lively.

Accessorize With Textiles

A shade sail can be used to cover part of an outdoor sitting room. New Eco Landscapes designed this rooftop living room in New York City. It has a black shade sail that covers the sitting area and lets you see the Chrysler Building.

Infuse It With Boho Style

If your outdoor sitting room is right next to your main living area, make it look like it’s an addition to your home.This outdoor sitting room from Breeze Giannasio Interiors is very comfortable. It has a sectional sofa that is too full of pillows, lots of throw pillows, Moroccan leather poufs, and a lush green canopy for privacy and shade.

Use Moody Colors

To make your outdoor living room feel calm, use colors that aren’t bright. The outside paint color of this Emily Henderson Design outdoor sitting room in the woods is the same dark color as the outside of the house. Dark gray and soft pink details make the room feel warm and friendly.

Add Multiple Seating Areas

Maite Granda, an interior designer, designed this outdoor space. It has a covered sitting area with open sides, a cozy seating arrangement in gray and white, a ceiling fan, and curtains that make it feel like a VIP room.

Accent With Orange

In an outdoor sitting room with cement floors, orange accents will look great. There are stylish chairs, bright orange accents, and a view of palm trees and electricity wires that makes this outdoor living room by Breeze Giannasio Interiors feel like you’re in Los Angeles.

Paint the Fence Black

If you want to make your yard feel cozy and make natural plants stand out, paint your fence black. Manscapers added low-slung, deep wood pallet seating to this Brooklyn garden so that people can relax and take naps in the afternoon.

Lay Graphic Floor Tiles

Graphite floor tiles (or a stencil you make yourself) will give your outdoor living room design and interest. Cathie Hong Interiors designed this simple patio sitting room in Palo Alto, California. It has a sofa that looks like it came from the mid-20th century, sculptural planters, and throw pillows.