Skip to Content

15 Paver Patio Ideas To Enhance Your Backyard Space

Are you unhappy with your patio space? Maybe it’s overgrown, outdated, or has a boring design. Life gets busy, and sometimes it’s hard to keep your outdoor space looking great and up to date. Luckily, you can fix this through the use of pavers. There are plenty of paver patio ideas out there to help transform your yard into a beautiful space!

Your patio should be a place that makes you want to spend time outdoors. Treat it like a second living room or sitting area for the warmer months. If you don’t feel this way about your current patio, it’s definitely time for an upgrade. So, keep reading to get inspiration for your new paver patio!

Paver Patio Ideas

Paver Patio Material Ideas

1. Classic Brick

Red Brick sidewalk for garden or  landscaping around the home.

Brick patios are a true classic, and this material is one of the cheapest paver options. Clay bricks are strong and can handle quite a bit of damage. You can expect them to last for a while– sometimes over 100 years! Not only this, but they help create a symmetrical look that goes well in any yard.

If you’re not a fan of typical red bricks, there are a few other colors to choose from. You can often find gray, white, and brown, along with a few specialty colors at select places. Some stores might even have a variety of brick shapes, such as hexagons, to utilize for your paver patio idea!

Look in your local hardware stores for bricks if you like this paver patio idea. You might also want to pick up a masonry saw to help cut the bricks.

2. Porcelain

Opting for porcelain pavers, like tile, are a great option if you want a more home-like look to your patio. It’s especially great for outdoor kitchen patios, as it will provide a more kitchen-like feel than something like rough bricks. Porcelain is also a strong material, as it gets fired at high temperatures to harden.

Porcelain tile is typically lighter than other paver materials, allowing for easier lifting and paving. It’s also easy to clean with a garden hose, which is another reason it’s perfect for outdoor kitchens.

If you visit your local hardware store, they’ll often have plenty of colors and sizes for you to choose from. So there is bound to be a style that you’ll love for your paver patio idea.

3. Concrete

Concrete curved path

Concrete pavers can offer a sleek look and make a great budget-friendly option if you’re trying to save money. You can easily access concrete pavers at your local hardware stores, or you can make your own. Whatever route you choose, concrete is a material made to last for many years. It can handle a lot of damage, making it great for outdoor use for your paver patio idea.

Using concrete molds can help imprint designs into poured concrete, allowing for a more eye-catching look. There’s also the option of painting your concrete pavers to match your house! Concrete pavers are like a blank canvas for your creativity, but they also look good just as they are.

4. Flagstone

Do you like the look of natural rock? Then flagstone pavers might be a great fit for your paver patio idea!

These pavers are flat pieces of asymmetrical rock, which many home improvement and hardware stores offer. When you lay them down, you almost have to put them together like a puzzle by matching similar edges.

Due to the rough edges, you’ll have sizable gaps that need a gap filler. Polymeric stone dust is one of the best fillers for this type of paver. It’s easy to use, dust-free, and fills the joints perfectly.

Flagstone pavers create a nature-made look and offer a slip-resistant surface for your patio. Their naturally rough feel helps with traction, which is especially helpful if you have small children running around.

5. Marble

marble tile playground in the night backyard of mansion with flowerbeds and lawn with ground lamp and lighting in the warm light at dusk in the evening.

Using marble pavers can give your patio a classy look. You’ll often find these pavers in white and tan, but stores may offer more options depending on their suppliers. It’s a very durable material and can even withstand cars driving over it. So, it makes a beautiful and long-lasting patio surface for any paver patio idea you have in mind.

Another perk to marble pavers is that they don’t retain heat like other pavers. You can walk around barefoot without the fear of burning your feet or your pet’s paws!

Marble pavers are more common in chain hardware stores than small hometown ones. And be sure your ground is flat before laying the pavers, as the uneven ground can cause them to lift. If you lay them yourself, you’ll need a garden tamper to flatten the dirt.


Paver Patio Design Ideas

6. Borders

Stone pathway in the garden. Fragment of front garden with grey gravel. Flower beds and brick borders

As you finish creating your paver patio idea, take a look at the edges of the space. Do you like the way it looks, or does it look unfinished? A border can help clean things up! Adding borders to your patio is a great way to help separate the space from the rest of your yard.

You can also use things like different colored pavers to make separate spaces within your patio. Maybe you have a kitchen area, a seating area, and a fire pit within your patio. Try using different pavers to help border or outline each area. If you have flower beds built into your patio, use contrasting pavers to outline the beds.

The simplest things, such as color contrast, can easily spruce up your paver patio idea!

7. Pathways

Try adding pathways that branch off your main patio area! You could have them lead to other areas of your yard, like a garden, flower beds, seating areas, and more.

Pathways can expand your patio space and help your guests explore your yard. They make a type of walking map and create a more inviting environment that your guests will be comfortable in. It won’t feel like the rest of the yard around your patio is off-limits when they visit. You’ll notice a more open feel rather than closed or boxed-in.

Using pathways within your paver patio idea will also help keep feet and shoes mud-free!

8. Contemporary Groundcover

You don’t always need tightly-packed gap fillers between each of your pavers. Using things such as decorative gravel can make a great-looking filler. It will be a little looser than other filler options, but you can easily brush it back into place. Pairing pavers with gravel creates a type of contemporary ground cover, which has a more minimalist look.

Not only is decorative gravel more eye-catching, but it also serves a functional purpose that’ll keep you safer. Using it in your paver patio idea will help with water drainage. This is especially helpful if you live in a rainy area. You’ll have fewer puddles or flooding on your patio. And in return, it should be less slippery when it rains or if the sprinkler hits your pavers.

9. Pavers With Grassy Borders

Filling in the gaps between your pavers does take some time and attention. So, if gravel and other fillers aren’t your style, you could also try letting the grass grow around your pavers.

Allowing your lawn to do this will give your neutral patio a pop of color. It’ll bring in a soft, nature-like vibe that’ll add to the relaxing atmosphere. You’ll even save some money, as the most you’ll need to buy are the pavers and possibly grass seed.

Grassy borders within your paver patio idea are also easy to maintain. You can go over them with your lawn mower or string trimmer to keep them at a short length.

10. Contrasting Textures and Colors

When creating the paver patio idea of your dreams, you don’t need to use just one kind of paver. Think outside the box and try playing around with textures! Combine rough and smooth pavers to create a rugged and natural look. You could even use two different materials if you really want the textures to stand out.

Many pavers come in different style cuts. You can usually choose between a smooth or a rough cut. Manufacturers typically sand the pavers down to get a smooth cut, and the rough-cut pavers get chiseled out and left the way they are.

If you like the idea of one cohesive texture, you could also try playing around with colors. Maybe try out a color palette of pavers. Try things like both black and white marble, red and brown brick, or multicolored flagstone. Utilizing contrast will always be eye-catching and aid in enhancing your backyard space.

11. Patterns

Using patterns is another way to draw attention to your paver patio idea. There are plenty of design patterns to try, but the most common include basketweave, herringbone, running bond, or stacks.

These patterns pertain to rectangular pavers such as brick, concrete blocks, or skinny tiles. As for asymmetrical pavers, like flagstone, you can alternate colors or sizes to create your pattern.

You could also create circles, stripes, a checkerboard, and other designs within your patio. All you’ll need is a variety of colored pavers to help the designs stand out.


Paver Patio Feature Ideas

12. Firepit

Closeup of glowing outdoor campfire in fall

There’s nothing like sitting around a firepit on a summer night, so why not make one for your patio? You can easily create a firepit out of pavers by stacking them into the shape you want. You just need to ensure that the bottom of your fire pit has dirt or rocks. These two materials don’t burn, so they’ll keep the bottom flame-free and contain the fire.

However, keep in mind that you cannot use just any type of paver for firepits. The strongest and generally best ones for this paver patio idea are concrete or brick. These materials can handle the heat and will not burn or break.

13. Paver Bridge

natural stone path along flower bed near tile walkway with lattice drain system in backyard with plants evergreen bushes and pine trees landscaping of eco summer park with wooden bridge, nobody.

Do you have a pond in your yard? Or are you thinking about adding one to your patio space? If so, you can create a paver bridge that cuts through it!

When the water is out of the pond, you can stack and bond your pavers together to create your bridge. Concrete pavers are probably your strongest option for this type of paver patio idea. This is because they’re thick and can handle water without crumbling to pieces.

Once you get your pavers stacked tightly, it’s a good idea to fill in any gaps. Sometimes bonding them with cement or mortar isn’t enough. So you may need a watertight sealant as an extra precaution to fill in the visible gaps.

14. Above Ground Fountain

A fountain is a mesmerizing water feature that can instantly enhance and liven up your backyard patio space. And why buy a fountain when you can make one with pavers?

The process is similar to building a paver firepit. You’ll stack and shape your pavers into a design you like on your patio. But the primary difference is that you need to make the inside watertight. To do this, you’ll need a pond liner to separate the water from your pavers. So, after you finish stacking and designing your fountain, you’ll put the liner inside and cut it to size.

Part of the liner should hang over the sides of your fountain to keep the water from leaking out the top. You can cover this extra material with more pavers. Then fill your fountain with water and throw your fountain pump in for an eye-catching paver patio idea!

15. Walls

Using pavers to create half walls is an excellent paver patio idea that can help close off your patio area. The walls almost make it feel like an outdoor room and create a cozier feel. They’re especially helpful if you have a sunken patio, as they’ll act as retaining walls. Using them in this way will prevent erosion and dirt from falling into your patio area.

But if you aren’t using them as retaining walls, they can add an aesthetic appeal to your paver patio!


Try Out Some of These Paver Patio Ideas In Your Yard!

Revamping your patio can be stressful as you struggle to decide on materials, but it doesn’t need to be. Simple pavers and a little elbow grease can help you make the backyard you’ve always been dreaming of! Hopefully, these paver patio ideas gave you some inspiration and got you brainstorming for your project. So, pick out your pavers and start building!

Are you looking for more ways to enhance your backyard? Check out our Backyard Living page for more ideas!