Happy Friday and a grand welcome to my balcony reveal *over-enthusiastic high fives all around*. This is the first space I’m sharing with you guys from our current apartment, not going to talk too much right now and just get into it. BUT, do want to say that nearly all items that you see here are linked at the end, and more details on the decor are scattered all over the post. Chalo let’s go.

Here’s the ‘before’ from when we moved in.

And here’s the ‘After’. Welcome to my (wannabe) tropical oasis in the middle of the city.

I’m wondering how you like it? :O Cos I really like it :O

Let’s move around the space? (it’s tiny, but it does have aspirations to be many things). This is our main sitting area for chilling, loving, napping.

This part is our eating area for grand outdoor luncheons (by grand I mean an astounding number of exactly two persons).

This is the area which pretends to be an oasis of peace and relaxation with multiple plants at your service.

And on top I have some festoon lights, installing which has been one of my high priority life goals since 2016, thanks everyone.

Now that we’ve taken a ‘tour’ of the balcony, let me tell you why I chose some things and how I decided on decorating these sections? Aa jao.

Design Concept. My primary goal with this balcony was to have a space where we could truly enjoy the pretty great weather that Sydney has nearly all through the year and be able to hang out here AND nap, whenever we wanted to. Which is why I was always clear that I wanted a couch here, and not just a set of chairs/table. While I was looking up outdoor furniture, I have to say it was a struggle to choose functionality along with form, because some of the more decorative (and very on-trend) pieces were really calling out to me. But I kept reminding myself that I didn’t want something that only looked good but wouldn’t be comfortable beyond an hour. This IKEA couch was within our budget and we chose this L-shaped design to be able to allow one of us to stretch out, while reading let’s say, and the other one to nap, heh.

We’ve been using this space since quite a few months now like this and we really do love it. It’s comfortable, relaxing and so easy to just melt into on a Friday night and then re-emerge only on Monday (moderate exaggeration).

The other bonus of this couch was that the L-part/ottoman was moveable. So when we want we can use it to turn into a couch and nap/read/chill. And when we want to eat, we can use it as a coffee table. It also has storage (as do all the seats in the rest of the couch) so when there’s a crazy storm, we put the cushions and throw inside so nothing goes flying into oblivion.

I also added lots of plants to the wall facing the couch, because like I informed you earlier, this is a wannabe tropical oasis. I tried to keep a variety of these so there was enough interest in terms of size and type and color of leaves.

No one cares but the bromeliad in the pink pot is my favorite.

Now let’s talk some challenges in this area. We had the outdoor AC unit in the balcony (you can see it in the ‘before’ picture) that ended up being behind the couch. The direction of the couch was also quite a discussion for us and we eventually chose to place it in front of the unit because of multiple reasons (if you want to know, I am happy to eat your brain by telling you about it). We also added some plants on top of the unit and they camouflage it super well. (In my research I also found outdoor AC unit COVERS on amazon I think? And some people had also DIY-ed some wooden covers but I’m too lazy for that, so I chose plants).

The second ‘challenge’ was that because of the AC unit being behind the couch, there was lots of dead space behind it on one side. So again, we added plants to the back to create the oasis feel and also use that space.

Also, all walls we have here are windows (the other one you don’t see is all glass and connects to our living room) and not something you could hang art over, so I added the lights and lantern in a way to balance the top and also fill that empty space.

You don’t really see it in the pictures but on the right side of the plant wall, there is a small wall space and here we hung some wall art. This is the part from where we enter the balcony. We used outdoor mounting tape on the frame, which is water-resistant (for the rain) and also stuck on super strong (for the intense wind). It’s been up since months and hasn’t budged a bit.

Now let’s talk some decor bits, that add the fun to the space. I love having rugs everywhere, I’d wear one if I could. But it rains here quite a bit and I didn’t know what to put here that wouldn’t get wet and start growing stuff all over it. After much looking I found this outdoor rug that was perfect because with all the water that comes through (when it rains), it gets wet and then dries up quickly. It’s also reversible so the other side is an inverse of it with the black being dominant, I like both and keep flipping, it changes up the mood of the space instantly.

Also added color and texture through the cushions and throw.

These cushions aren’t outdoor but easily washable and in the few months that we’ve had them, they’ve been perfect. By the way, if anyone is wondering, the seat cushions on the couch are outdoor material so they’re easily wipe-able and don’t get dirty even though they’re white. The entire couch is made for the outdoors so it’s meant to handle the weather.

I also added a small side table for stashing extra stuff like books, glasses, chai cups whenever we’re hanging here.

For the plants, I alternated the size of the pots and the heights with plants stands etc so it just didn’t look like one assembly line. I thought about adding a big plant stand but I didn’t want to eat up the space too much and decided to keep it airy like this.

Also broke up the order of the plants with a lantern in between (with outdoor battery operated candles inside). Who remembers I got this lantern from a second hand store for just 5 bucks? (no one’s interested, I’ll shut up)

And here we are, in my very own tropical oasis in the middle of the city. We have a really nice water view from the balcony but my photgraphy is average and you can’t see it so let’s all just imagine it.

Tell me how you like it? Overdramatic reactions are entirely acceptable, so please indulge yourself. Listing all product sources at the end 🙂

Outdoor Couch: Solleron from IKEA / Outdoor Rug: Fab Habitat / White Tassel Cushion: Adairs / Yellow Cushion: Adairs (can’t see online) / Mustard + Blue Cushion: Adairs / Fur Cushion: Urban Outfitters /  Throw: Urban Outfitters (available in another color) / Plants: Bunnings & Flower Power / Black & White Plant Pots: Bunnings / Pink Plant Pot + Rattan Plant Stand : Kmart / Wooden Plant Stand: IKEA /  Festoon Lights: Target / Macramé Lantern: Tree Of Life / Camel Wall Print: Olive Et Oriel (in an IKEA frame) / Cane Side Table: I got it from a roadside shop in Lahore on one of my Pakistan trips / Moon Planter: Urban Outfitters / Outdoor Candles: Ali Express