Outdoor Entertaining: Prepping Your Outdoor Space

A comprehensive guide to preparing your outdoor entertaining space for summer gatherings by cleaning it up, decorating to make it to feel more inviting and comfortable, and tips on how to serve food and drink easily outside for a group.

This is my husband’s deck. He campaigned for it for several years, and once COVID hit, the world went into lock down, and we didn’t have any vacations to spend our money on, his wish was granted. I’m not sure if we have used it as much as we should have though. So, this year I am determined to spend more time outside on our deck! Part of making it more desirable to spend time on, for me, is making it clean, pretty and useful so I can be proud to use it for outdoor entertaining. I’m taking you along for the ride as I get our deck ready for summer fun!

Clean Your Outdoor Space

Does anyone else dust, sweep and mop their deck? I figured I should treat it like a room in my home. The first step to get my deck ready for outdoor entertaining was dusting and sweeping to remove cobb webs and dust. Then I mopped the floor to remove, mud, bird poop and bee poop. I was surprised at how much dirt was on the mop! I guess I shouldn’t be, we live on a dusty dirt road, with a dirt driveway and walk on the deck with our muddy shoes.

Decorate Your Outdoor Space

The second step in getting this deck ready for outdoor entertaining was to make it look like an inviting room that you would like to spend time in. A few months ago, Larisa, my partner on this blog and sister-in-law, taught us how to make our homes cozier. Using this approach when decorating a deck or patio brings the feeling of coziness outside and makes it feel comfortable, soft, warm, and happy.

Choose Cozy Seating

A few years ago, when I first planned how I wanted to decorate our deck with furniture, I didn’t think it could be both a dining and living deck because of the size and layout. I finally settled on a living deck because I thought we would use it more that way.

I searched and searched for furniture that would fit the modern bohemian style I was going for and would also be the right size to fit the smaller scale of the space.

The first piece of seating furniture I chose was my all-weather wicker loveseat. I chose it for its small size, durable faux wicker, neutral grey color and modern design. We’ve had it for a few years now and we still love it!

Then I found these white, bohemian design, modified rocking chairs. We love them too! They are also faux wicker and I like that they aren’t too matchy with my grey couch, but that they go with the modern bohemian aesthetic.

Tips for Choosing Seating for Outdoor Entertaining

• Use furniture that is specifically made for outdoor use so it will hold up to the elements. I love faux wicker or all-weather wicker.
• Removable cushion covers are nice so you can wash them if needed. Or you can apply Scotchguard Fabric Protector (test for colorfastness first) to help protect the fabric from stains and spills.
• Beige, greige and grey cushions work well because they don’t show dirt as easily.
• Keep your outdoor furniture covered when not in use to protect it from the sun and rain.

Add Softness to Your Outdoor Space

I like to add layers of softness to my outdoor space to make it feel cozier. This year I am using a combination of white, black and off-white pillows.

And the same neutral color palette in a large rug for the seating area and a smaller rug at the entry to my home.

And when entertaining outdoors during the evening, I will add a large basket filled with blankets to add coziness and for people to use if it gets chilly. It hardly ever stays warm at night here in Maine, even in the summer.

Layer Your Outdoor Light Sources

Is there anything cozier than the glow of outdoor lighting on a summer night?

The first layer of light that I use for my outdoor space is my string lights wound around the deck banister, weaving in and out of the rails.

Then, I add a layer of burning light. I think that sounds weird, but what I mean is light from a burning flame. So, think candles and fire. I like to use citronella candles to help keep the bugs away. When the sun goes down in Maine during the summer the state bird, the mosquito, will likely swoop in to carry you away if you don’t take precautions.

I was planning on building a table for the deck this year. One that was taller than a coffee table, but short enough for us to uses as a dining table. But when I ran into this table on sale at Home Depot and it had a small fire feature, I knew it was meant to be! I can’t wait to light this up one evening.

Lastly, I like to add a layer of dancing light with lanterns. What I mean by dancing light is candlelight that is partially obstructed. Like the kind of light from a candle that is placed inside a woven lantern.

Lanterns can be pricey, so I made these inexpensive ones last year with jars and string that I already had at my home. I usually prefer to not use glass outdoors because of my propensity to shatter it into a million pieces, so I try to keep these in a protected spot when I have them outside.

Add Accessories That You Love

The last piece to add coziness to a space is adding things that you love.

I love the natural green aesthetic of plants and different textures of plant pots and hangers. I made this macrame plant wall branch hanger and hung it up with hangers made for vinyl siding.

And I added other plants and accessories like my favorite gold tray to corral a plant and candle on my table.

But honestly everything I used in my deck outdoor decor I love and I have curated for years. It started years ago collecting the dishes and trays that you will see in the next entertaining section. Continued a few years ago with the loveseat and chairs. This year I found the firepit table and made the macrame plant hanger.

All of these layers of cozy decor make me so happy to be out on my deck by myself or entertaining friends or family.

Entertain in Your Outdoor Space

Finally, the last step of my plan to improve my outdoor space, so that I want to spend time in it, was to make it easier to entertain in.

Console Table/ Serving table

What is one of the first things you think of when you think about spending time with your friends and family? Food and drink. I needed to add a way to be able to easily serve food and/or drink in this space without having people running in and out of my kitchen.

So, I added this awesome patio console table. And I love it! it’s made for outdoor use. It has a simple modern design. It’s just the right size for my space. It has two shelves and I’m thinking about building another wooden one on the bottom framing. I just hosted a Mother’s Day brunch for a handful of my family and it worked out great!

Dishes and Serving Ware

Besides some sort of table to organize the food and drinks on, there are several other recommendations I have for making entertaining outdoors go much more smoothly.

• Use a tiered tray to make more space for serving food or holding dishes. I use one tray to add height and to make room to serve more food, and one tray to make more room to hold plates, napkins and utensils.
• Use melamine or recycled plastic plates, cups, and serving ware. They’re light weight, not easily breakable, affordable and pretty. Wood or metal would be a great alternative too.
• Use an attractive container to put ice and small cans or bottles of drinks in. I like my clear plastic container so people can see what is available to drink, but I’ve seen attractive wooden and metal containers too.
• Use a utensil holder to tame the serving utensils.
• Use kitchen towels and cutting boards to make the food and drink serving area look more attractive and added bonus you might need to use them too!
• Buy premade food and drink or make most of it ahead. If you buy premade food decant it into a pretty dish or container. If you’re making all of the food like I did for my Mother’s Day brunch, make food that can be made ahead. My husband helped me make most of the brunch food the night before: he cut up the fruit for the fruit salad and I made a quiche and the cinnamon buns and just warmed up the quiche and baked the cinnamon buns the morning of before guests arrived.

Music

Take out your portable Bluetooth speaker and play some background music when you are entertaining outdoors. It adds another layer of coziness to outdoor entertaining, fills in the gaps if conversation slows and makes people feel more relaxed.

Have FUN!

But the very most important part of entertaining outdoors is to have fun! People who have entertained or thrown a small or large gathering know that it can be stressful and a lot of work. Relax, converse, and spend time with your guests because, after all, that is the whole point in the first place!

Sources from my deck:

• Deck stain color: Behr Tugboat Semi-transparent Waterproofing Exterior Wood Stain
• Large Rug
• Loveseat
• Garden stools
• Wicker chair
• Pillows bought at T.J. Maxx
• Small Rug
• String Lights
• Fire Pit Table

Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog post! I hope you learned something, or it helped you in some way. Do you have any tips for entertaining outdoors?

Have a great summer! Cheers, Jill