How to Choose the Right Outdoor Furniture

The best part of having a backyard or a patio is that you can create your own little paradise where you can spend time with your family or friends. Whether you choose to create a simple sitting area with a few pieces of outdoor furniture, go for a more luxurious entertainment area with a spa, or with a big outdoor kitchen, one thing is certain: not taking advantage of your outdoor area to create a place to relax and have fun, is a lost opportunity.

Probably the easiest and fastest way to use your outdoor space is to create a simple outdoor “living room”, a sitting area, where you can curl up and read a book under the shadow, or spend a spring or a summer evening talking with your friends or dining with your family. Comfortable and beautiful outdoor furniture can make your garden or patio pleasant, luxurious and functional, and finding the right one for your place is an excellent first step towards an alluring and enticing outdoor entertainment area.

Choose the Proper Material

When buying furniture, some of the most important things to consider are how well will it endure all the wear and tear and how long it will last. In outdoor furniture, resilience is even more important. You need furniture pieces that will not only look great in your garden, complementing the entire look and vibe of the house, but that will be able to withstand the exposure to the weather outside. In other words, the most important thing is to choose the right material. The most common materials for outdoor furniture are metal, resin, plastic, wood, concrete etc.

While wood and resin furniture can look quite beautiful, both metal and concrete are the most suitable for outdoor conditions, because of their strength. Since metal is easy to manipulate and manufacturers can make incredible shapes with it, and it’s also very strong and durable, metal outdoor furniture is a great option for creating a lovely and cosy patio or garden in humid areas. In fact, some of the most stunning and stylish pieces of furniture are made from metal. However, no material is 100% waterproof. Garden metal furniture can be made from different metals, including stainless steel, cast iron and aluminium.

Cast or wrought iron offers some stunning, almost artful pieces of metal outdoor furniture. Since it’s quite a heavy material, it’s a great option for outdoors, since it can’t fly away or tip over under windy conditions. Cast iron can be hard to maintain, but you can find some beautiful outdoor tables made from a combination of cast iron and marble, or cast iron and concrete, for instance, since the marble and the concrete can protect the iron from the rain, and they will offer even more durability. Not to mention the stunning sophisticated and classy look these types of furniture offer.

If you want to be able to move your chairs easily, you can combine your table with galvanised chairs. They are lightweight, but they are suited for outdoor use. Out of the three metal materials used for outdoor furniture, stainless steel is the most expensive, but it´s also one of the most durable options. The best thing about stainless steel is that it’s corrosion-resistant. It looks nice, and it offers some very contemporary pieces of furniture.

Consider Your Preferred Style

When you are thinking about the design, it all comes down to your taste and the style of your home. However, generally, it’s best if you go for natural colours since they allow for the easiest styling. That’s why metal, concrete and wood hues are the most common ones. Later you can add colour and hues with cushions and decorations, you can even add rugs to add warmth to your outdoor area, you can decorate with outdoor pots, with vases, with plants and flowers, with candles etc.

In fact, when it comes to the style of your outdoor sitting area you can treat it like you would a small living room. Think about colours, textures, patterns, accent pieces, combine everything to create balance and thinking of the entire picture. Take the look of your house into account, the colours, the garden and all around it etc. Look at the whole scene as a photo composition and create the best image you can to enhance the joy your outdoor area offers you because nothing relaxes as beauty and nature.

Don’t Forget to Make a List of the Pieces You Need

Before going online and browsing for your outdoor furniture, once you’ve decided to go forward with creating a cosy and lovely outdoor area you should decide which pieces of furniture you really need, and which you simply want to own. Once you’ve made a list of all you need and want, you should look at your budget and shorten your list as much as you have to – if you have to. When you are making a list, consider where you’re going to store your furniture for the periods when it’s too cold to sit outside, consider the weather conditions, consider maintenance etc.