Summer seems like the perfect time to get out on your patio and enjoy the long days stretching into slow, glorious sunsets. The only problem is that for many people, the weather can make your patio just unbearable most of the time. So how do you keep your patio comfortable? Here are  approaches that can make your patio a great place to hang out all summer long.

Light Colors and Cool Fabrics

One essential thing to consider is the color of your patio, including your patio furniture and decorations. Anything dark in color is going to absorb a lot of heat from the sun. Even if you only get sun for part of the day – when the low sun is slanting onto the patio in the morning or evening – dark-colored furniture and decorations can make your patio feel a lot hotter. Choose light colors to help your patio stay cooler. If the side of the house is dark in color, consider painting it, too.Don’t forget to consider the fabric of any patio furniture. Even if they’re not literally hotter, some fabrics can make you feel hotter, so they might be uncomfortable for sitting, even when the temperature isn’t too high.

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Shade

Make sure your patio has a shade. Shade trees are your best option. Since it’s not easy to instantly get a large shade tree for your patio, consider other options such as an awning or pergola. Even patio umbrellas can make a big difference in the temperature on your patio.

Plants

Plants can dramatically cool your patio off. That’s because plants are living things who have their own built-in cooling system: each leaf is a tiny evaporative cooler. That’s why shade trees are the best choice for cooling the patio: they provide both shade and cooling. However, you can also get a lot of cooling with thick greenery in planters along the edges of the patio, or vines and bines that grow quickly and produce a lot of leaves.Plus, healthy greenery looks beautiful and provides psychological benefits, too.

Water Features

Water features can help your patio stay cooler. First, water is a powerful heat reservoir. It can absorb a lot of heat from the sun without rising much in temperature. Having a fountain on your patio has the additional benefit of evaporative cooling: the circulating water is more likely to evaporate, which cools off the air.

Fans

Fans don’t cool your patio, but moving air can help your patio feel cooler. Fans are especially useful when the temperature isn’t too hot. If, for example, it’s in the 70s or 80s, a fan can help you feel much better. When the temperature reaches the 90s or above, fans stop being effective, unless you don’t mind sweating a lot. However, fans can still make a difference if you have a reservoir of cool air to draw from. This might be a grape arbor or a clump of small, low trees that make the air cool, but aren’t good for spending time under. A fan can draw the cool air from there and blow it onto your patio.