Creative Backyard Designs With Outdoor Furniture

You don’t have to be a landscape designer to reinvent your outdoor living experience. With a few backyard design ideas under your belt, you can transform your outdoor patio, garden or balcony into the model space you've always dreamed of. The right outdoor furniture setup can make a small backyard feel more spacious or a large backyard feel more intimate. From outdoor dining layouts and a range of comfortable seating options for friends and family, we’re going to look at the most popular backyard landscaping ideas with simple outdoor furniture additions that make a big impact.

Easy Ways to Improve the Look of Your Backyard

Both homeowners and renters can easily elevate their backyard design by adding quality furniture pieces, rugs, lighting or water features to their patio, deck or poolside area. It doesn’t take a complete landscaping transformation to add beauty and comfort to your backyard. It just takes modern furniture and a creative backyard design.

Add an outdoor rug

Improving the look of your backyard can be as simple as adding a flatweave rug beneath your outdoor dining set to add warmth to your space. The right outdoor rug can tie your space together by adding a hint of color to your outdoor living room, adding texture and depth to your design, and making your space more inviting for solo relaxation as well as hosting guests.

Outdoor rugs can soften the atmosphere on your patio, making it feel more like an additional living room. Like Neighbor’s Field Rug, Mesa Rug, and Dune Rug, quality outdoor rugs can feature subtle, artful patterns, all-weather durability and range of color options to complement any style. These rugs can enhance the look and feel of hard surfaces, like stone, tile and cement, and add personality without requiring a total backyard redesign.

Purchase an outdoor sofa and chair

An outdoor sofa and chair can bring your backyard to life, the moment they’re assembled. Adding extra seating to your outdoor space can boost your curb appeal, make your backyard appear more lived-in and cozy, and add an air of indoor sophistication outdoors. Choosing a modular sofa and chair set will improve the look of your yard or patio with a functional design and endless customization capabilities. The ability to enhance your backyard appearance time and time again through easy redesign is one of the top reasons to own an outdoor sofa and chair. A versatile sofa and chair allows you to get creative with your outdoor space. Think calming yoga sessions with fresh air, lively parties with mood lighting and echoing laughter, motivated mornings working from home and everything in between.

Hang outdoor lighting

Installing or hanging outdoor lights will not only brighten your backyard, but provide functional benefits that make your outdoor living space more inviting for guests. For example, outdoor lighting can help guide guests to your doors and illuminate pathways for late night safety. Lighting in walkways and doorways can make your outdoor living room feel more comfortable, look more romantic and intimate, and help create the perfect atmosphere for an outdoor party.

There are a variety of different options in outdoor lighting and each type cultivates a unique mood. LED lights can add more visibility to your outdoor space overall, while landscape lights can highlight certain features or areas of your patio, and string market lights can enhance a rustic or modern design depending how you style them.

Install a water feature

Adding a water feature to your backyard space can bring relaxation and a sense of nature in areas that may not have many natural land features. You can go big by installing a waterfall, pool, stream or pond in your backyard, or keep it simple by adding a modern birdbath, bubbling fountain or natural stacked stone fountain. Water features create a multi-sensory experience with relaxing sounds and visuals for you to enjoy in solitude or with guests. A fountain can be the focal point between your sofa and chair, outdoor sectional, or across the way from your poolside seating area.

Popular backyard designs

Between different seating and dining setups and various focal point or decor feature options, there is a wide range of design possibilities to improve the look of your outdoor space. Whether you’re looking to add a new piece of furniture or an easily-installed water feature to bring attention to your patio, or interested in a bigger project like building a small garden or redesigning the surrounding landscape, these outdoor seating and dining design options will help transform your space.

Outdoor seating options

Adding outdoor seating is a great way to make your outdoor space more desirable for friends, family and yourself to enjoy all year round. Outdoor sofas, sectionals, chairs and loungers create a multifunctional area for entertaining large parties with sufficient seating, or relaxing with a few friends for quieter nights at home.

Sectional outdoor seating

Sectional outdoor seating adds versatility and comfort to any outdoor space. With sufficient seating for the whole family, as well as flexibility and versatility in layout possibilities with modular sectional designs, an outdoor sectional can be added to your patio furniture set or be featured as a standalone piece.

Neighbor’s modular outdoor sectional is ideal for both small and large spaces alike, can be rearranged to fit outdoor spaces of all shapes and sizes, and complement a wide range of design styles. Choose from a four piece, five piece, six piece, seven piece or eight piece U-shape sectional to suit your space. With a solid teak wood frame and roped back with a modern silhouette, our outdoor sectional with high-quality Sunbrella cushions comes in a variety of contemporary colors that immediately elevate the look of any backyard space.

The 1-seater chair

A one-seater chair can complete your current patio set by providing an additional space for relaxation, or stand alone as an offset book nook setup to make your backyard appear warm, cozy and tranquil. Neighbor's comfortable modern teak outdoor patio chair is perfect for lounging and pairs well with our teak outdoor coffee table to bring your outdoor living room to completion. Or if you host larger parties, this durable chair can sit alongside your outdoor sectional to offer extended seating. Choose between a solid teak armrest style or cushion arm style - both with life-proof Sunbrella outdoor cushions. If you’re interested in learning more about purchasing real teak wood, check out our teak outdoor furniture buying guide.

Poolside furniture

If you have a pool in your backyard, adding modern poolside furniture is perfect for bringing more attention to your pool throughout warm summer months. Whether you enjoy kicking back for a peaceful afternoon with your favorite book or relaxing in the sun with a cold drink and your favorite tunes, quality poolside furniture can bring comfort and beauty to your outdoor area.

The Sun Lounger, Neighbor’s teak outdoor chaise lounge chair, features an adjustable back with 5 recline positions, a built-in teak side table that slides out on either side, and wheels that make it easy to move and store your poolside lounger. With a removable outdoor cushion made of quick-drying reticulated foam and recycled fade and spill-proof Sunbrella fabric, The Sun Lounger is easy to clean, simple to maintain and undeniably comfortable. For any poolside patio space, a reclining lounger can complement a natural landscape design, modern patio furniture, or an existing seating area in need of improvement.

Outdoor dining layouts

An easy way to boost the appearance of your outdoor space is by bringing family meals and foodie get-togethers outdoors. Adding an outdoor dining set to your patio, deck or veranda extends your indoor kitchen and dining space to make the most out of your backyard. Cultivate fresh-air entertainment or host the next BBQ at your inviting outdoor dining space that seats the whole family or friend group. An outdoor dining set brings the warmth of your home outdoors for a sense of togetherness and connection with loved ones.

The Dining Set

The Dining Set, featured in Neighbor’s outdoor dining collection, can seat four or six people comfortably on your outdoor patio, deck or balcony. Elevate your current seating area with a durable dining set that features all-weather woven rope and real teak wood. Redesigning your outdoor space to focus the attention on a modern dining set is one of the easiest backyard redesign ideas. Plus, our dining set is made to weather the elements and resist stains from spills and water damage. Don’t worry about moving your dining set indoors when the rain comes; teak wood is naturally durable, water-resistant and rot-resistant. If you spill on your real teak wood table, simply wipe it off or clean with a mild soap and water solution and enjoy time and time again.

Improve your backyard design with outdoor furniture

Purchasing an outdoor dining set, poolside lounger, outdoor sectional or sofa from Neighbor is an easy and quick way to create a backyard design that brings you peace and enjoyment. If you’re looking for more backyard landscape ideas or garden design ideas, our experts can help you plan with our outdoor furniture collection made to last through the seasons. When you invest in quality outdoor furniture pieces, you save money and energy that would otherwise be spent maintaining and restoring pieces in the long run. You won’t have to replace your Neighbor furniture pieces next season, next year, or even 5 years down the road. Continue redesigning your modular furniture to reinvent your backyard layout and accommodate new styles and occasions for years to come.

Sustainable outdoor furniture designs

Choosing sustainable furniture pieces for your backyard design adds a unique warmth and elegance to your backyard setup. At Neighbor, we spent hours researching, designing, and testing various materials and designs to ensure sustainability, durability, and of course, comfort. While there was a world of potential materials to choose from, finding something that wouldn’t harm the environment was our priority. We committed to using teak harvested from FSC-certified forests only, meaning our teak outdoor furniture is sustainably sourced and responsibly harvested.

Whether you opt for one of our teak outdoor furniture designs or sustainable low chairs, like our relaxed classic Adirondack chair made from recycled plastic, you can expect durable furniture with thoughtful designs, casual elegance and serious comfort. Explore our collection or learn more about Neighbor.