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Nice patio with furniture and barbecue Designing and building your own patio is a great home improvement project which anyone can achieve, but it can be difficult to know where to look for patio ideas.

A great idea to get you started is just to look at your friends’ patios, and talk to them about why they chose particular patio pavers, bricks or tiles.

You’ll find plenty of patio idea resources online, including comparisons of various types of patio paving materials, patio design pattern ideas, and cost comparisons. You could also check home improvement magazines, or your local home and garden store for advice on patio design and choosing patio materials.

Factors to consider when designing your patio.

The best place to start when choosing a patio design is to think about what will work best with the architectural style of your home. Choose patio bricks, tiles or pavers which will work visually with the color and texture of the bricks in your home.

It’s very important that the overall look, texture and feel of the patio is in harmony with the style of the house. Using patio bricks or smooth patio tiles, arranged in an elegant design pattern like herringbone or running bond will give your patio a traditional formal look, while a patio laid in natural stone or concrete patio pavers will have a more rustic, rugged feel.

There are also a few practical ideas to take into account when designing your patio, such as the climate in your area, and the position of the patio. Light colored patio surfaces can give off a lot of glare, which may be visually uncomfortable if the patio is in an area which receives a lot of strong direct sunlight.

Dark colored patio surfaces absorb heat, so the patio will remain warm into the evening after a warm day. Some tile and natural stone patio surfaces can be slippery when wet, and can sometimes buckle and become uneven if there are frequent dramatic temperature changes.

For more information on building your own patio, please read this article on Patio Pavers, Tiles and Bricks.