How to Turn Your Balcony Into a Private Sanctuary

(Note: I linked to the products we used via Amazon.com and, if you buy them,
the affiliate fee will go to helping women in need become entrepreneurs.)

The 21st-century city girl works hard and plays hard. Because of this, she needs a spot to unwind, relax and gather her thoughts at the end of the daily grind. What better place to do that than the balcony of her urban apartment?? A little decor and a few necessities can turn any balcony into a sanctuary fit for a queen.

Here’s a step-by-step account (with photos and links) of how, in one weekend, I transformed the ugliest part of our New York City apartment into my favorite place to hang out:

Green It Up

There are many aesthetic and psychological reasons to use a lot of green in your relaxation area. Settings with a lot of green reduce ADHD symptoms and help people concentrate better. In fact, studies have shown that glimpses of green enhanced overall creativity. Green also promotes balance, as it is the color at the center of the color spectrum.

The more natural-looking green in your visual radius, the more your brain will place you in a state of relaxation and contentment.

Here are four great ways to green up your patio and turn it into a tropical paradise:

1. Carpet the floor of your patio with realistic-looking faux grass, which will trick your mind into thinking you’re in a park.
2. Cover your walls and railings with this weather-resistant faux ivy privacy screens to give you – yup – privacy (imagine that — in the city!!) and green up the walls.
3. Try adding more coverage, making it look more lush and real, by layering it with other faux vines and faux flowering vines.
4. Add a few tropical silk potted plants, particularly those that contain faux flowers and a couple of faux trees. We prefer the tropical style, like this 4.5-foot faux tree and this faux banana tree, but you could also opt for English garden style, like this rosemary spiral tree and this boxwood tree, but make sure to stick them in a nice pot.

Comfort Factor

The patio should be a spot for you to both lie down and sit up. Get a converting outdoor futon so you can sleep outside in the summer, or if you want to fill the space completely, like we did, this wicker-look sectional outdoor furniture will do the job. We donated the cushions to a nearby animal shelter, then separated the furniture pieces so they maximized the space, and connected them (to fill the gaps between the pieces) with flat metal. We then got custom cushions made to hide the fact that the furniture was separated a bit. The result? A giant outdoor seating/bed area.

Whatever outdoor furniture you get, make it extra glam by getting some custom-made cushions by CushionPros. This way you can customize the thickness, piping, softness and fabric (we used this cool, leafy Tommy Bahamas fabric).

Braxton Studio chairs are great for when you have a few girlfriends over after work. The cut-out tree design of the chairs compliment the natural theme and they come in green or white (or red – but yuk). And the best part? They’re stackable, so when your friends leave you can stack them in a corner to give yourself more space. We also love this swinging hammock chair, which lets you stretch out and lie down in it, but when not in use takes up almost no space.

Final Touches

At night, lighting makes the mood. So skip the super-bright lamps and string up these lights throughout (they have pearl white bulbs, attach easily with little green hooks, and the wire is green so it blends in). Next, put them on a remote control so you can easily turn them on and off, even from 50 feet away.

Add these styrofoam ceiling tiles (which are safe if they fall off) to the ceiling of your balcony to make it look extra glam. They look like Parisian-style metal ceiling tiles, but weigh next to nothing and stick on with this outdoor sealant. Grab a pair of bluetooth outdoor rock speakers which, yup – you guessed it – look like a rock. The canyon sandstone goes perfectly with a balcony already decked out with a lot of plants.

And if you need a doorstop, to keep your patio door open (or just want to glam up your space), we love this bunny sculpture and this squirrel one. We also use these pretty trays to put our cups on.

We also had this bird feeder for a while (but soon discovered that cats + birds don’t mix well). We used a green, leafy metal stand to attach it to the railing and let it hang over the balcony (so the seeds didn’t end up on our grass). We had another feeder with water, that hung on the inside hook. Took us a while to find the right food to attract the little songbirds, but when we did it was absolute heaven hearing the birds chirping, and watching them interact.

We also glued (with a tube of outdoor adhesive) plastic bird spikes along the top of the railing partly so that we could make sure the cats don’t go over (although, after a couple of very close calls, we decided not to let them outside unmonitored anymore), and partly to string faux vine through it. And finallllllyyyy, my last tip is this: Get this curtain-style screen door, because nobody wants flies and mosquitos in their apartment. It’s $35 and attaches with velcro. It’s magnetic in the middle, so you can just push through while double-fisting (with a tall glass of… water… in the other hand, of course!)

The only thing limiting the possibilities for a patio sanctuary is your imagination. The time and money you spend on the project will pay off in peace, quiet, and contentment.