Summer Patio Refresh: 4 Affordable Ways to Cool Your Outdoor Space

Living in Arizona where summers are, let’s just be honest, extremely hot. Enjoying the outdoors during the day can be challenging.

My dream and vision for our backyard has always been to create a cozy, warm, inviting feel that we can walk out our back door to a little oasis, peace, and relaxation.

Family is everything and having a space to share and create memories with our friends and family is a must. Because, isn’t that what it’s all about?!

In this blog post, I’ll share our recent outdoor updates, revealing how we managed to cool down the space and create that cozy ambiance on a budget.

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Before

By implementing these tips, you can transform your patio into a comfortable oasis perfect for making cherished memories with your loved ones.

Installing Outdoor Ceiling Fan

We built our house four years ago and installing a ceiling fan has been on our bucket list for way too long.

I chose a 3-blade fan and I’m thankful that my husband is good with electrical. You can check out the fan I picked here.

I was a little surprised by how much this fan cooled the space down and how quiet it is which is important because our table is right underneath.

Installing Outdoor Curtain Rods

I’m not gonna lie this is the part I’m probably most excited about! 🫠

I think outdoor curtains give the most amazing cozy touch. We talked about a few different options for hanging curtain rods out here, some involved buying pipe from Homedepot or Lowes, after going and looking at all the parts we’d need and the cost I hopped on Amazon to see what I could find.

I don’t know about you, but Amazon always comes through for me! 😂 I found the perfect curtain rods and this was going to be so much easier than us DIYing something. You can see the curtain rods I chose here.

Installing Outdoor Mister System

My husband has wanted to install an outdoor mister system for a long time and this past weekend it happened!! I’m surprised at how inexpensive it was and how easy it was to install. At least the one we went with. There are a few different types available, you can check out the one we went with here.

We opted to go with the system that we manually install the connectors instead of the kind that already have the heads installed on the lines.

Once we finished installing the system and turned it on we realized there was too much mist coming out and we had too many mister heads.

Easy fix though we ordered head plugs on Amazon and were able to easily adjust how much mist was coming out. I’ll link the plugs here for you in case you need them.

We installed a water filter to help with the calcium build-up and a hose splitter to easily attach the mister system and still have another spout for our hose.

Outdoor Tab Patio Curtains

This space required lots of curtains and outdoor curtains can be expensive so when I found these tab-top outdoor curtains I was excited to try them.

They’re water resistant and the velcro tabs make it super convenient for putting up and taking down to wash. They come in 8 different colors, but I love the look of the white personally!

You can take a look at them here.

Outdoor Sunshade

Sunshades can make such a big difference when it comes to cooling down an outdoor space. We installed them in two different locations where the sun comes in strong. We went with manual retractable Sunshades for the low cost. There are lots of powered options as well if you want to spend a little more.

You can see the ones we chose here we went with the color option pebble.

Blocking the morning Sun!

Blocking the afternoon sun!

Cost Breakdown

Writing this blog post I added up all the items we purchased for this Summer Patio Refresh and I have to say I am REALLY surprised at what the total came out to.

Drum roll…….$376.00

Are you surprised? I sure am and now I only wish we would have done it sooner and not waited so long.