Transform Your Rooftop: Stylish Patio Design Ideas for the Ultimate Urban Oasis

Create zones with rugs and planters

How will you use your rooftop patio? Depending on the available square footage, maybe you have room for a dining table, a lounge grouping, and a meditative or exercise space. Whatever you choose, create defined zones for each purpose as a way to build an attractive and functional patio design.

“Start by zoning the areas between dining and lounging, using outdoor rugs to define each space,” Reid recommends. “Introduce a medley of plants to naturally create privacy from neighbors or help block any unsightly views like electrical cords.”

Adding a fire pit is another way to instantly define a zone. It becomes a focal point for warming up, gathering, and toasting marshmallows by romantic firelight. Indeed, firepits are a widely loved decor element; in our recent Top Agent Insights Report, 54% of agents ranked fire pits as the number one upgrade for home buyers.

Decorate with unique and seasonal accents

To anchor your patio look, Reese advises choosing a centerpiece that provides additional cohesion and visual appeal. “In addition to being visually stimulating, studies show that seeing beauty in our environment boosts our serotonin levels, making us feel more content,” she says.

Yours might be a cool sculpture, a vintage find, a memento from travel, or a family heirloom. “Opt for a centerpiece that has a special connection to you, and it will help center you, boost your mood, and relieve your stress,” she says.

Adapt the details of your space seasonally: When the weather turns cooler, bring in cozy textiles like sheepskin. “Recycled plastic, resin, and stainless steel are all materials that are safe year-round to sustain the various weather extremes,” Reid says.

Add abundant flowers for color and fragrance

Greenery — whether from natural plants or artificial turf, or a combination of both — gives a rooftop patio space a critical connection to nature, even if it’s right in the middle of an urban center.

Here are six tips for working with flowers in rooftop spaces from Costa Farms horticulturist Justin Hancock:

• Keep it simple. “One of the most — if not the most — important thing about creating a beautiful space with plants is that they look lush and healthy,” Hancock says. Make sure you don’t bring in more plants than you can realistically care for.
• Choose flowers that will thrive. Since rooftops are often more exposed than decks and patios, look for plant varieties with thick leaves and strong branches. Tropicals like yellow allamanda bloom profusely in the sun and don’t need constant watering.
• Look for statement pieces. “Tall, sculptural, structural, and boldly colorful plants are excellent statement pieces to draw the eye,” Hancock notes. For instance, red climbing mandevilla grows quickly, can climb a trellis or other structure to 10 feet or more, and produces a constant display of ruby-red flowers. Bonus: This tropical loves heat, is drought tolerant, and is super easy to care for.
• Save space by growing vertically. If space is limited, flaunt color through a vertical garden, which displays plants upward instead of horizontally. Achieve the look with hanging planters affixed to a wall or grid system.
• Use repetition. Repeating an element, such as a color, across your design is one of the easiest and most effective ways to give your space a cohesive look, he says. In this space, the team used snapdragons, lilies, and cosmos flowers in different containers for a pulled-together look. Not sure what to accent with? “White flowers go with everything, and practically shimmer at dusk and under moonlight, when darker and more intense colors tend to fade into the shadows,” he says.
• Engage the senses. Make your rooftop haven more experiential by considering plants for reasons beyond just their good looks: Varieties such as gardenia and jasmine are excellent for adding a sweet scent with their beautiful flowers. Fuzzy foliage, like lamb’s ears and artemisia, delights the touch with their velvety leaves. And trees like quaking aspen and ornamental grasses “bring a delightfully pleasant white noise to your rooftop with even the slightest breeze,” Hancock says.

Get the look: One-quart pink geraniums, $10.99 at GrowJoy

Fire up the grill and roll in a bar cart

Make your rooftop patio a hospitable, functional place to entertain guests — or just yourself — with an area dedicated to food or drink prep. Even with limited space, you can accommodate a grill or bar cart that is sized to your specs and is in keeping with your design style.

Depending on your budget and space, your grill could range from a classic Weber charcoal model to a built-in propane setup fit for a grillmaster.

For your bar cart, choose an outdoor-friendly material, such as rattan or treated wood. Style it with decorative objects or plants for a unique look that fits with your chosen motif.

Get the look: Rattan bar cart, $543 from Amazon.

Create a vibe with water and fire features

Water and fire features are an excellent way to soften and elevate your  rooftop patio into a relaxing urban oasis.

Water features — such as fountains, waterfalls, and birdbaths — are customizable with a wide range of natural stones, glass, and trim colors for a custom look around the perimeter or as a centerpiece. The sound from the water helps block out unwanted traffic or neighbor noise and imparts peaceful vibes that make even small rooftop spaces feel like oases.

Similarly, fire features add warmth, ambient lighting, and sensory pleasure. Design-forward heat lamps, lanterns, and tiki torches can be easy and affordable additions to a rooftop patio. Ethanol fireplaces are another excellent addition since they’re portable and easy to install. They use clean-burning bioethanol fuel that produces no soot.

For a dramatic look, style your water or fire features next to a large-scale sculpture on the rooftop patio.

Get the look: Grandeur River Floor Fountain, $5,929 from Soothing Company

Header Image Source: (Olesia Bilkei / Shutterstock)