5 Best Flooring Ideas to Make Your Outdoor Living Space Come Alive

Outdoor flooring can go a long way towards making your backyard an ideal place to spend time in. Different outdoor flooring materials can give a completely different feel to the outdoor areas of your property. Attractive designs, nice materials, and regular maintenance can transform your outdoor living spaces into centers of fun and relaxation for friends and family alike. 

All it takes is a bit of planning and some consideration into which materials you will use. The important question is, what are the best outdoor flooring materials for your backyard? In the end, only you can answer that question since it will be based on your tastes and needs. However, your choice should certainly be informed by as much research and advice as possible. Outdoor flooring is a semi-permanent thing, so it will be a little difficult to go back on a decision once you’ve made it.

Things to Consider When Choosing Your Outdoor Flooring Material

First off, you should ask yourself, what exactly do you want to use your outdoor space for? Will this flooring be for a garage and driveway, or just for some walkways? Do you want to install some outdoor patio tiles that can withstand cars’ weight regularly going over them? 

While some materials such as brick might seem like attractive options for this purpose thanks to their style and affordability, they still may not be suitable. The constant stress of cars driving over bricks can damage them and make them wear faster. This will also make the weather seal wear off faster, which will cause the bricks to absorb more water and deteriorate faster. Brick also uses a huge amount of energy when it is manufactured, so it may not be the best choice if you’re trying to be environmentally friendly. 

If you’re on the market for outdoor flooring for a relaxation zone that won’t experience too much strain, then you are much more flexible to choose from the many options out there.

Things to Consider When Choosing Your Outdoor Flooring Material

Concrete is one of the best materials for driveways because of its incredible durability and the ease with which it can be customized. Outdoor flooring made of concrete can come in all shapes, sizes, finishes, and designs. Concrete may not be the best material if you want something you can make flexible, organic designs with. So, it might not be the ideal choice for colorful and ornate patio flooring. For a material more suited for that purpose, you’ll want something along the lines of tile, paving stones, or even composite materials. Stone and wood-based materials will also give you a more rustic look and natural feel than concrete or composite materials. 

What's the Most Durable Outdoor Flooring?

If you just want a safe, slip-resistant play area for the kids, rubber might be the way to go. Rubber flooring can be made from recycled materials, which is great if you wanna go in a more sustainable direction. Rubber provides a durable and slip-resistant flooring solution that feels comfortable underfoot. All these materials have their own set of pluses and minuses, so it can seem confusing sometimes to make the right choice. But no worries, because you can always consult an outdoor flooring contractor for pointers on what to pick for your outdoor flooring project’s success. 

Concrete Ideas 

Concrete is a much more affordable option than stripping out your flooring to put in paving stones. Concrete is cheap to maintain, easy to work with, and it will maintain a simple but charming appearance with just these minor alterations. No need for painting, intricately stenciled tiles, or extensive pre-measuring. However, don’t let the industrial tone of its name limit how you picture concrete - it can look absolutely gorgeous in a minimalist yet warm setting. 

Discover the Elegance of Concrete Flooring

You will need a concrete contractor to help you out with the stamping, but that’s about as complicated as things will get. If you want a completely DIY project, you can also paint your concrete outdoor floor. This is as easy as painting a bedroom wall and will add some uniqueness to plain grey concrete. 

Flooring Ideas for Charming Outdoor Design

If you want a concrete DIY idea that can simulate the look and feel of paving stones, consider creating a nice little patio with concrete slabs and colored pebbles. These materials can come together to make a charming yet simple outdoor flooring design. Simply lay the concrete slabs in a grid pattern and fill the spaces between the slabs with colored pebbles or grass. This simple layout makes for a cozy and inviting place to lounge in during the warmer months of the year. Plus the gaps between this concrete flooring allow for water to run off rather than ponding as it would on a conventional concrete surface.  

Versatile Tiles

(stenciled, painted, or both) 

If you’re one for classy aesthetics, tile is the canvas that can bring your intricate outdoor flooring designs to life. It’s a pretty versatile material because tile can be arranged in any layout and in different patterns. The other great thing about tile is that it doesn’t require you to strip out your old outdoor flooring. If your house has ubiquitous plain concrete outdoor flooring, adding outdoor tiles is a simple matter of laying the tilework over the concrete surface. 

How to Turn Your Backyard Into an Exotic Escape with Tile

And if you can hold a stencil, you can carve some pretty stunning patterns into your tiles. If you would prefer not to do the stenciling yourself, a tiler can be a big help in realizing your elegant patio flooring. Outdoor tiles are therefore great for the industrious DIYer who likes to add a personal touch to everything. If stenciling isn’t your thing, you can also buy painted tiles that can be arranged in checkerboard patterns for a retro look. You can also paint the outdoor tiles yourself, and give them bright Mediterranean colors for a patio with a cool wash color. 

Why Tiles Are Perfect for Personalizing Your Backyard

Paving Stone 

The Best Natural Outdoor Flooring Options

If you’re looking for something that is both durable and natural, you can’t go wrong with paving stones. These will require a bit more DIY work than putting in tiles since you’ll need to resurface the area where the paving stones go, but it’s guaranteed to look good when it's done. Paving stones come in different finishes, colors, and patterns so there’s no limit to what you can do with them. They are so durable that they can even be used for a driveway and garage. If your paving stone outdoor flooring gets damaged, repairs are easy because all you have to do is replace the damaged paving stones rather than strip out the entire flooring. 

Why Paving Stone Doesn't Go Out of Style

Rustic Reclaimed Wood

If you want to go full rustic, there is a huge range of woods to choose from, and all of them have their own beautiful aesthetic. Choose redwood and you can build a beautiful deck from scratch which will give you beautiful autumnal color year-round. Or you can choose durable woods like cedar which naturally resist rot and will last for fifteen years or more. For a green deck, choose reclaimed wood. This will give you the great feeling of knowing you are reusing something instead of throwing it away. Because reclaimed wood was used, it will already have a beautiful rustic character that looks wonderful on the patio or porch. Building wood flooring can be time-consuming, but it can also be an easy and fun DIY project that will improve the outside appearance of your property. 

Homey Outdoor Flooring Ideas for a Rustic Look

Brick-Floored Outdoor Kitchen

If you want to be the king of cookouts on your block, you can’t go wrong with an authentic brick-floored outdoor kitchen. Laying down the bricks is easy as long as you don’t skip any steps during the surfacing process, and will give you an expansive surface for all your grills and accouterments. The possibilities for expansion are endless with this layout. With the help of a contractor, you could get a roof with lighting installed so that you can grill even when it isn’t sunny, and can even get a sink installed to make cleanup easier. If you want to go all out with the authentic brick feel, consider using the bricks you’ll have leftover to build a beautiful wood-fired brick oven. After all, there’s nothing quite as authentic as the smokey flavor of fresh bread and brick oven pizzas.  

Follow the Lovely Brick Road to Your Outdoor Living Room