Top 5 Balcony Decoration Ideas to Transform Any Space - Material, Lighting, Colour and more
Key Takeaways
- Teak & Aluminium are our top material choices for balconies.
- Using monochromatic colours is the simplest and most budget-friendly way to create a harmonious, sophisticated look.
- Overhead lighting maximizes space but lacks a cozy ambience, while string lights provide a warm, inviting glow but may leave some areas in shadow.
- When selecting outdoor chairs for your balcony, prioritize space-saving designs like stackable or foldable options, high under-seat clearance, and slim-edged styles to maximise floor space and enhance comfort.
- Outdoor coffee tables serve as a practical focal point, essential for balancing aesthetics with functionality, especially in larger spaces.
Introduction
Here at Remarkable Outdoor Living, we specialise in helping people find the perfect piece of furniture to help bring their balcony decoration ideas to life. Across our showrooms & online store, we offer a vast collection of furniture options exclusive to Australia, perfect for adding a touch of European style to your balcony or deck.
In this article, we’ll share the first 5 of 10 creative balcony decoration ideas to inspire you and help you design an outdoor space that’s both comfortable and uniquely yours. This is the first part of a two-part series, where we’ll explore tips for transforming your balcony or deck into a stunning outdoor retreat.
So, let’s dive into the first 5 tips to get started! Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll reveal even more ideas to complete your transformation.
1. Choose Durable Materials for Your Balcony
Choosing the right material for your outdoor furniture isn’t like choosing a material for your indoor furniture. Outside, your furniture will be exposed to the elements. Rain. Snow. Sun. Whatever the Australian weather wants to throw at it. This means that the materials you choose for your balcony furniture need to handle the elements with ease.
We suggest opting for either teak or aluminium. Both materials work fabulously well as balcony decoration:
| Material for Balcony & Deck | Teak | Aluminium |
|---|---|---|
| Durability Benefit | Teak’s high tensile strength, natural oils, dense structure, and inherent resistance to moisture and pests offer superior durability, allowing it to last for decades outdoors outdoors without significant wear. | Aluminum is exceptionally durable due to its natural resistance to rust and corrosion, even in challenging weather conditions. Although lightweight, it is built to endure long-term outdoor exposure. |
| Aesthetic Versatility | Teak's aesthetic versatility lies in its timeless appeal, offering a warm, rich hue that naturally weathers to an elegant silver-gray patina, making it adaptable to both traditional and modern outdoor settings. | Aluminium offers sleek, modern designs with a variety of finishes that can complement any outdoor aesthetic. |
| Environmental Benefit | Eco-friendly teak is sourced through FSC certification and repurposed from recycled materials, promoting responsible forest management and reducing environmental impact. | Aluminium's high recyclability and lower energy consumption during reprocessing, coupled with powder coatings that are free of toxic heavy metals and VOCs, making it a sustainable choice with a minimal ecological footprint. |
| Mobility Benefit | Teak, despite its weight, provides outstanding stability in outdoor settings, ensuring that furniture remains firmly in place and performs reliably over time. | Aluminium's lightweight nature makes it easy to rearrange outdoor spaces, and despite being lighter, it remains strong and durable. |
| Weather Resistance | Teak's high oil content and dense grain give it exceptional resistance to rot, mildew, and weathering, making it ideally suited for enduring harsh outdoor and saline environments with minimal warping and decay over time. | Aluminium naturally resists rust and corrosion, making it ideal for withstanding rain, humidity, and other harsh weather conditions. |
| Source | Why is Teak Used for Outdoor Furniture - The History, Types & Benefits | Why Choose Aluminium Outdoor Furniture? Benefits and Care Guide |
Aluminium is the go-to material for those who want balcony ideas that have a very modern, sleek look. Teak has the typical French Farmhouse aesthetic. This is thanks to the natural wood grain and the warmish tones. However, there’s no reason why teak cannot fit into a more modern design too.
We’ve written a comprehensive guide to choosing furniture material on our site.
2. Colour Craze: Craft a Colour Palette for Your Balcony
Your colour choice will be dependent on the mood you wish to set with your balcony design. We recommend checking out this colour palette builder page, where you'll find recommended harmonised color combinations to inspire your design.
2.1. Analogous Colours
Analogous colours are adjacent to one another on the colour wheel. This colour combo is perfect for those that want a more harmonious, relaxing look to their balcony. (Source: zuzanii.com)
2.2. Complementary Colours
Complementary colours are opposite colours, and they create a striking contrast on the balcony. When this works, it works well for eye-popping designs. (Source: zuzanii.com)
2.3. Monochromatic Colours
Monochromatic designs will feature one colour, albeit in a variety of shades. It creates a very clean, sleek look. (Source: zuzanii.com)
2.4. Split Complementary Colours
Split Complementary designs have a base colour, with two adjacent colours, creating a very balanced colour palette, albeit one with slight contrast to help bring the area to life. (Source: zuzanii.com)
2.5. Square Colours
Square: this colour palette exudes playful, child-like vibes. These colours form a ‘square’ on the colour palette. This style will often be used sparingly in balcony designs. (Source: zuzanii.com)
2.6. Triadic Colours
Triadic colour palettes create a triangle on the colour wheel. These colours end up being very dynamic and energetic. This colour selection is used heavily in Italian-inspired design. (Source: zuzanii.com)
Here at Remarkable Outdoor Living, we’ve taken great strides to ensure we have furniture available in a wide variety of colours, making it easier for our customers to choose the right palette for their balcony or outdoor area. The Nardi brand is up there with our most popular thanks to their eye-popping colours, plus the designs are fantastic for those that want an Italian, especially Mediterranean, style of design. This means bright, vibrant colours that will bring a smile to your face any day of the year.
3. Brighten up Your Balcony with Effective Lighting
Remarkable Outdoor Living has a wealth of outdoor lighting available. Since you likely want to enjoy your balcony year-round, you’ll need to load it up with lighting. Lighting will ensure that your balcony can be enjoyed during the darkest nights of the year, while also helping to bring together that design vibe you’re after.
When it comes to lighting, there are 2 things you’ll really need to consider:
3.1. Types of Lighting
The type of lighting will very much be a personal choice here. However, do bear in mind that the lighting can have an impact on how the balcony area feels. Those who want brightly lit balconies would do well to opt for ceiling lights, lanterns, and lamps. String lights offer less light but can be more aesthetically pleasing.
Solar lights may also be an option for more energy-conscious balcony owners. Solar lights come in all forms and require no wiring (or batteries), which can make it easier to get the ideal placement on the balcony.
3.2. Location of Lighting
The location of the lighting will have a huge impact on the ‘feel’ of the balcony space:
- Overhead lighting will provide a lot of light. You’ll lose some of the ‘cozy’ feel of the balcony, but you’ll end up with a usable space for all times of the year.
- String lighting, or lighting up the sides of the balcony, creates an ambience. It doesn’t provide as much in the way of direct lighting, but it is perfect for relaxing.
Lighting is often the easiest, and most affordable, way to change the way a balcony feels. This means that it may be worth looking into a few different types of outdoor lighting to see which gels with your balcony decoration ideas the best.
4. Seating: Finding the Right Outdoor Chairs for Your Balcony
Chances are that you don’t want to be standing on your balcony. You want to relax, and this means that you’ll need to invest in some good quality outdoor dining chairs, or some other form of balcony seating.
Prioritising Space of Your Balcony First
For most people, balcony space is limited. This often means opting for space-saving seating such as stackable chairs, and compact lounge chairs. The more space you have, the more you can play around with your balcony furnishing ideas.
Here are some practical, space-saving tips for choosing the perfect chairs or seats:
- Opt for Stackable Chairs: Choose chairs that can be easily stacked when not in use, helping to maximise floor space.
- Prioritise High Under-Seat Clearance: Look for chairs with ample under-seat clearance, allowing you to make the most of the space underneath for additional storage.
- Choose Slim-Edged Designs: Select chairs with slim armrests or edges, which not only save space but also prevent the area from feeling cluttered.
- Consider Foldable Options: Invest in foldable chairs that can be conveniently stored away when not needed, freeing up valuable space in your room.
When going through outdoor furnishing ideas for your balcony, think about:
- Cushioning: there are two things to consider when it comes to cushioning. Remember the colour wheel from earlier? Well, the cushions of your outdoor furnishings will help to add a dash of the right colour to your balcony. Make the right choice. You’ll also want cushions that are comfortable to sit on. Don’t forget – the cushions need to be designed for outdoor use.
- The material: we want to draw your attention back to when we spoke about outdoor furnishing materials earlier. Teak and aluminium are great choices here since they’ll withstand the perils of outdoor use.
As your chairs will likely be the largest piece of furniture on your balcony, they’ll have the biggest impact on what ‘style’ you’re going for. For example, if you were going for a ‘French Farmhouse’ style, then wooden chairs (teak or wicker) work incredibly well. This is because teak and wicker ooze rustic charm. They have a timeless elegance to them. Wicker is especially good for that vintage feel too. They look as if they’ve been handmade in the country.
You’ll want to spend a good amount of time considering the space on your balcony. This will impact the furniture you opt for. Larger spaces will do well with larger chairs, including sofas and armchairs. If you’re opting for a more dining-focused balcony (or have a smaller balcony), then cushioned dining chairs would go down a treat.
Pro-tip: We follow https://www.instagram.com/balconylivingcph to get inspiration for balcony design. We want to share with you and hope it will be helpful. No commercial intent, we simply admire their design aesthetic.
5. Add Function with a Stylish Outdoor Coffee Table
Your balcony will need a ‘focal’ point, and outdoor coffee tables will be the best way to achieve this. Outdoor coffee tables are practical. They are a great place to keep your food and drink while relaxing. They also provide a fantastic surface for adding a bit of extra décor.
As the coffee table will be the focal point of your balcony, and the area you want everybody to ‘gather around’, you’ll need to ensure that it offers the aesthetic appeal you’re after. For example, wooden tables have a very rustic vibe to them, while aluminium tables have a more sleek, modern vibe.
Make sure your outdoor coffee table fits in with the other pieces of furniture, particularly the chairs. If you already have outdoor chairs for your balcony, then keep them in mind when choosing a coffee table. You want them to match perfectly. If you don’t have the chairs, then opt for a coffee table/chair set. This will give your balcony a much more cohesive design.
Remember – think about how much space you have on your balcony. While the coffee table will be an important part of your décor, you don’t want to crowd the space. There should be plenty of space for people to move around. There should also be plenty of space to incorporate your other balcony furnishing ideas.
Having explored the top five balcony decoration ideas in this two-part series—from selecting the right materials to enhancing your space with ideal lighting and colour—it’s time to take the next step. In the upcoming section, we’ll focus on deck decor. Whether you want to add comfort with cushions or create a cosy outdoor dining area, these ideas will help you transform your deck into a stylish and inviting retreat.
Reference Sources
External References
Internal References
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Why is Teak Used for Outdoor Furniture - The History, Types & Benefits – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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Why Choose Aluminium Outdoor Furniture? Benefits and Care Guide – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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Outdoor Coffee Tables in Australia | Remarkable Furniture – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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Interior Designer's Top 5 Picks for Poolside Furniture Styling - Part – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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Outdoor Lightings Outdoor Accessories | Remarkable Furniture – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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Best Material For Outdoor Furniture? | Our Expert Guide – Remarkable Outdoor Living
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