When planning your patio, there are many elements to consider: the landscape, climate, budget and how you and your family will use the space. But there’s one workhorse material that manages to find its way into almost every outdoor patio design project: pavers.

With the variety of patio paver materials, sizes, styles, colors and textures, they truly are one of the most versatile materials out there. Patios with pavers can likely work for your home no matter your style or budget.

Long, rectangular pavers like these — especially ones in small quantities that might be left over from a larger project — are just what the landscaper ordered for oddly shaped spaces that could use a bit of whimsy. Completed with contrasting infill, this casual look is perfect for a private nook. See the following photos for more backyard pavers ideas.

This enchanting South Carolina home features both a formal, raised bluestone patio and a more casual space with irregular slabs of the same material. Wide spaces between those slabs provide ample room for textural ground cover like dwarf mondo, sedums and thyme; those diminutive plants flow gracefully into larger beds around the space’s perimeter.

Viewed at a distance, this boldly geometric combination of concrete pavers, pea gravel beds, a graphic strip of lawn and mulched foliage functions like an outdoor art installation — and reads like an extension of the architecture beyond it.

These massive slabs of gray natural stone that meander down wide steps, wind across a small patio and bridge, then conclude at the foot of a stone hearth beneath a pavilion demonstrate how well a single resource can lend itself to a variety of structures. The trees, plantings and koi pond here are so spectacular that look-at-me pavers would overwhelm the eye. Instead, these understated materials let visitors breeze past without watching their steps.