What makes beach bars so good for chilling and enjoying a cocktail or coffee while tanning, is the comfort and appeal they offer to their guests. I mean yeah, it’s important to have a really good bartender who knows how to make a mind-blowing cocktail, but what matters more is for you to be able to feel the ambiance and really blend in the entire environment. At least what matters to me.
So from my perspective, how the sitting area in the beach club is designed matters a lot for fully experiencing the ambiance. And while drinking a cocktail in one such beach club in Bali, I got inspired by the amazingly decorated outdoor sofas and chairs; they were all white (classy, Bali style) with a splash of colour in the form of cushions; creating a perfect chilling area in combination with the endless blue and the amazing greenery. Hmm… if I could only transfer that ambiance in my backyard… wait – why not?
My eye for colours and details caught the element that makes the whole difference – the careful selection and placement of the cushions. The white chairs and sofas are nothing new; the cushions however, aren’t something you see in every outdoor design. So I decided I was buying outdoor pillows for my small backyard chill zone.
My outdoor sofa chairs are made of black wicker, which allows a lot of different choices: patterned, monocoloured and playfully designed cushions. For success in other cases, there are a few simple rules to be followed.
When sofa chairs are monocoloured
Whether you have completely white, completely pink or whatever colour you choose for your sofa chairs, when they’re monocoloured you have the most options to decorate with pillows. You can go both ways here: choose monocoloured pillows in a slightly lighter or bolder nuance than the sofa chairs, or choose something patterned: like geometrical figures or floral design, for example. The combination of colours should include the base colour of the sofas.
If you have patterned sofas
That would be the other way around. It’s just that in this case you should go only with monocoloured cushions. Patterns and flower designs are strictly off limits in order to avoid creating a colour mess. Here it’s important to choose the colour that will give more freshness to the entire ambiance. For instance, if the sofa is a combination of a bold peach colour and a creamy nuance, the best option would be creamy cushions. That way the sofa will act as a decorative element on its own and will be perfectly complemented by the rest of the surroundings like the greenery, the occasional flowers and other decorations.
Finally, leave aside the decorative advantage these little soft things offer; the comfort is far more important. It’s a lot more enjoyable to drink your frape in a cosy sofa chair sitting on a soft cushion that it is on bare wicker.
