Without a doubt, one of the best patio ideas is to incorporate a hot tub into it. It is soon to be winter and many people enjoy their hot tubs more during the cold months because it is fun to get into the hot water while the air is cold outside. Sitting in a hot tub with snow all around is even better!
If you have a patio, you can go for the standard hot tub that will sit above the ground. This is the cheapest and easiest way to have a hot tub and most people can find a corner or good spot for it. The problem is, no matter how time you spend choosing a hot tub or how much you spend on it (and some of them cost a lot!), it won't look as good as it could while sitting above ground.
The best hot tub for any patio is one that is sunken into the ground or made especially for the patio like the one below in the picture. Custom sunken hot tubs are by far the best looking and the most expensive which makes them too pricey for most people. Depending on the value of your home and the design of your patio though, installing a custom hot tub in your patio might be something you want to consider.
Homes that are over a million dollars and up would customarily be the best candidates for this type of setup because they would typically have the best patios. If you have a great flagstone patio or some other design, installing a sunken hot tub is one of the coolest patio ideas you can have to elevate it to the next level.
BEST HOT TUB FOR YOUR PATIO
CONCRETE PATIO FURNITURE IDEAS
Concrete is hard but it is sure durable and will last for years. It also withstands rain, wind, snow and any other thing nature throws at it. This is one reason that concrete is one of the simplest and easiest choices for patio furniture you can make.
Most people have patio furniture made of plastic, metal, or wood and in most cases they have to take everything indoors for the winter. The act of stacking up all the chairs and lugging in the patio table is not a fun one and then next year you have to take it all back out again.
Similarly, on rainy days, many people have to cover up their patio furniture just to protect it from the moisture. These are things you will NOT have to do if you own concrete patio furniture. You can have this kind of furniture attached to the patio so it doesn't move or you can have it sitting loosely but one thing is for sure, you won't have to ever worry about it getting wet, rusty, or warped like you would with regular furniture.
Concrete furniture is one of the patio ideas that not too many people think about but if you do it right and put some though into the process, it can look great. In fact, it can look just like the furniture is part of the patio. Most concrete furniture you will see is attached to the ground but you can work it so that it isn't if you want.
To counteract it being hard, you may want to desing cushions or pillows for the furniture that you can easily take in and out of the house. This is optional of course and the cushions should look like they fit and belong on the concrete patio benches or chairs.
PATIO STAMPING IDEAS - HOW TO STAMP YOUR PATIO
NOTE: if you are going to attempt something as big as stamping your patio, it is best to have a professional do it. Finding the right one to do the job is easy at Angie's list where they have an up to date record of every contractor in your area. Before you hire someone, get a report on them from Angies list.
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Patio stamping is a great way imitate the look of many different kinds of stone while using concrete instead of dealing with the real thing. In fact you can stamp concrete to even look like brick or wood and it is one of the patio ideas you should consider if concrete is your choice of materials.
Most new houses are built with some type of generic concrete square or rectangular patio. Cocrete is the easiest and cheapest choice and that is why so many patios are constructed with it. However, with some well thought out patio stamping ideas, you don't have to have that same dull concrete patio that everyone else has.
You can stamp concrete in a large variety of patterns that look just like other kinds of rock. These patterns can include cobblestone, flagstone, slate, brick and almost anything else you can think of.
Concrete stamping is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: you pour the concrete over the desired area and when it is still wet, you stamp patterns in to it. You may have to add the correct and right amount of color to match the thing you are stamping into it. For instance, concrete is a grey color but if you are stamping in a brick pattern, you would need to add the right amount of brick red to the top of the concrete.
Getting the right color is almost harder than stamping in the desired pattern. You will have to get the right "stamps" and then one at a time you pound down on them to create the pattern. Let it dry and wash it off and you have a nice concrete stamped patio that looks nothing like concrete at all!
Concret patio stamping ideas come at a price that is probably much cheaper and easier than laying down the real kind of rock that you have chosen. Your best option is to find a company that specializes in stamping as that will be easier than figuring out how to do it yourself.
