Balcony Decor Plan

Now that our home office is done, it’s time for another home project! I asked the gram what I should tackle next and most people said I should do the balcony. Totally understandable since the usual summer indulgences of hanging out at the park or beach or going to a friend’s backyard are all canceled, so we have to make the most of whatever small outdoor space we have. We actually are pretty lucky and have two balconies, but aside from a few chairs and a plant, I haven’t given either of them much thought until now. Here’s my balcony decor plan for the balcony off our living room.

We use our balcony on weekday mornings to get TKB some fresh air and Vitamin D, and sometimes in the early evenings we’ll sit out there and enjoy the sunset. We live on a slightly busy intersection, so the lack of privacy prevents us from enjoying the balcony more. But that’s going to change!

Balcony Inspiration

Here are some of the balconies I’ve been pinning for inspiration:

Balcony Plan

As you can see all that was really going on in the balcony were a few chairs (mix of beach chairs and rattan chairs), boxes from my gardening & spray painting adventures, and old plants and pots. We do have a rubber plant that’s not visible in this pic (but you can see its original location in my plant tour before I moved it for a photo), but otherwise, there’s nothing about this space that’s inviting.

I recently got this lampshade from the Etsy shop Bespoke Binny, and thought I could build a balcony design plan around it. I try to infuse an African touch to all the rooms in our apartment, and this lampshade (which can also be used for floor lamps or table lamps in the smaller size) was the perfect bold accent piece to get the design started. Also shout out to Jonathan for holding the lampshade while I decided if I wanted it here or in the bedroom ?

I decided to go with a black, white, and green color scheme – because there’s so much wood in our apartment, I actually haven’t been able to do a black & white themed room (which is one of my favorite design palettes) yet. As usual, I measured out the space and put together a mood board of what I’m envisioning.

The main components that I’d like this space to have are a seating area with two chairs and a table, a rug so we can walk outside without feeling like we need to wear shoes, a few tall plants to create privacy, and an herb garden hanging from the rails. I know, I know, I already had a hanging herb garden, and while it was beautiful, it didn’t get enough sun and my herbs died. Also I had potted them in compost and not soil because I’m a scrub, so they would have died eventually anyway. If I have money left over in the budget, I’d love a storage situation for things like extra potting soil and the beach chairs – maybe a bench that doubles as seating? I wanted to add hanging string lights but Jonathan passionately vetoed that idea… but lanterns might be cute!

Because I’m trying as much as possible to buy home decor from Black owned businesses, this project might take me a bit longer to put together than if I just passed by Target (oh how I miss Target ?). Surprisingly (or maybe not), many of the big furniture stores in Kenya are not Black owned, so I’ve had to do some deep digging to find sources for the things I’m looking for. But I’m very excited to create an outdoor space that is cozy, intimate, and functional, so stay tuned for the reveal!