Regardless of whether the garden is intended for growing vegetables and fruits or for a recreation with nature we always try to organize it. Today, people love to buy outdoor furniture in summer and this trend push the furniture brands to build nice, functional and stylish garden furniture from improvised materials. What to consider when buying online garden furniture? What style and size should it be, and most importantly, what material of garden furniture is preferable?
Tough weather conditions need to be faced by the outdoor furniture, so it should be;
- Resistant to rain
- Resistant to sunlight, it is advisable not to fade
- Easy to clean
- Match the landscape design of the house
If everything is not very good with the first two parameters, it is important that the outdoor furniture is folding and not very heavy – if necessary, it can be placed in the room.
#1. Garden Furniture Material
The first thing that every buyer takes into account when choosing garden furniture is the material from which it is made. There are several options:
- Plastic
- Wood
- Metal
- Natural and Artificial Rattan
- Cement
- Improvised materials: pallets, stumps, tires, logs, old furniture, barrels, etc.
#2. Plastic Garden Furniture
Plastic garden furniture is one of the most popular option, as it is distinguished by an affordable price and plenty of options. It can be primary, folding and portable – the choice depends on the purpose of use and free space for storing such furniture.
Advantages:
- Low price
- Light weight, which greatly simplifies transportation
- Huge assortment. You can find both the simplest plastic furniture, and the one that imitates wood and even antiques. Other than this, it is worth highlighting transparent polycarbonate – such furniture will not look cheap, but very modern, stylish and dignified – an option for sites in the style of minimalism
- Ease of care, because to maintain cleanliness it is easy to wash the furniture from the water and let it dry.
Disadvantages:
- The material is troubled of sunlight, quickly burns out, so it is advisable to use plastic furniture in the shade
- It gets the scratches quickly, which reduces its aesthetics
- Low durability
- For the winter, such furniture will have to be place in the room
- Low durability and almost complete unrepair ability, because it will be almost impossible to repair a broken leg or a damaged plastic tabletop.
Tables, chairs, chaise lounges, benches and other elements of garden furniture are made of plastic. You can refine and improve the appearance of plastic furniture with the help of soft pillows.
# 3. Wooden Outdoor Furniture
Wood, natural material, is the best suited for the outdoor area and will be appropriate in almost any style of landscape design. For the production of garden wooden furniture using teak, larch are the best but pine is in budget option. A tree goes through several stages of special processing that protects it from moisture, insects and fire, but even though, it’s better to opt for mobile furniture that can be moved to a room for the winter, it will be more difficult to take care of outdoor products.
Advantages:
- Excellent appearance
- Full environmental friendliness and naturalness
- Strength and durability (subject to regular care)
- Smoothness of a tree allows to make furniture of any form and design from it
- Maintainability
#4. Metal Garden Furniture
Metal garden furniture is not a cheap, but a very durable solution that will last for years with minimal maintenance. The design can be either very minimalistic (simple aluminum chairs and tables), or with forging elements. Steel furniture have considerable weight, so they can leave their legs in loose soil – it is better to install them on paved or paved areas.
Advantages:
- Durability and record strength
- Excellent appearance of metal furniture
- Resistance to sunlight and temperature fluctuations
- The possibility of repainting in any colour
Disadvantages:
- Dependence on weather conditions
- Flammability
- Rotting
- The need for constant care
- Price
For expensive, durable and beautiful wooden furniture to last for many years, get ready for the fact that it will need to be regularly covered with special compounds and varnishes that protect the wood from moisture, insects and prevent fire. For the winter it is better to place all wooden furniture in a room with a stable level of humidity. If scratches or stains have formed on the surface, they can be cleaned with sanding and coated with a protective varnish on top. When purchasing online wooden furniture, pay attention that there are no chips, cracks or other deformations on it.
Disadvantages:
- High price, especially for furniture with steel elements, because it is often exclusive handmade work
- The ability to heat up in the sun and get very cold in frost, therefore you cannot do without arranging soft or wooden seats
Initially, metal furniture is covered with special anti-corrosion coatings, so it is not afraid of rainfall. For the longest possible preservation of the appearance of such products, it is better to coat them with anti-corrosion paint once every 2-3 years.
# 5. Outdoor Rattan Garden Furniture
Rattan is the peeled and dried stalks of a rattan palm tree that grows in the tropics of Asia. Despite the exotic origin, natural rattan has become very widespread today and is used both for the production of home furniture and garden furniture.
Advantages:
- Environmental friendliness
- Excellent appearance
- Light weight
- The flexibility of rattan allows you to create the most unique shapes of furniture
- Relative durability
Disadvantages:
- Fragility, therefore, such furniture must be handled with extreme caution
- Under the constant influence of sunlight and high humidity, rattan products can be deformed, therefore they are more suitable for covered verandas, arbors and terraces under a canopy, and with the onset of cold weather, furniture must be place in the room.
To clean rattan outdoor furniture, you can use a vacuum cleaner with a special nozzle for furniture. It is allowed to occasionally wash products with soapy water, after which they must be thoroughly rinsed from the duster. Do not use furniture until completely dry.
# 6. Artificial Rattan Garden Furniture
Almost all the shortcomings of natural rattan lack its artificial counterpart. It is made from polymers, sometimes a metal frame is used to strengthen furniture. Artificial rattan furniture looks great, so today it is often installed on summer cottages and suburban areas, terraces, balconies, summer areas of cafes, but the appearance is not the only advantage of such products. Among other advantages:
- A light weight
- Excellent wear resistance
- Resistance to sunlight and moisture, so you can not worry if such furniture gets wet in the rain – it dries quickly, and performance is not lost. Artificial rattan does not decay, does not fade and does not dry out
- Strength and durability
- Easy care
- Huge variety
- The absence of burrs, which are integral to natural rattan, can also be considered a virtue
- Acceptable price
Often, artificial rattan is combined with glass (when organizing tables) and soft pillows (chairs, armchairs, sofas, chaise lounges). Artificial rattan is an ideal material for garden furniture, since it has practically no shortcomings.
# 7. Garden Furniture Made Of Stone
Stone is a rather rare solution in terms of organizing garden furniture. It is suitable mainly for large suburban areas, as it looks monumental. The stone is not afraid of the effects of moisture, any precipitation, fire, pests – it is strong, durable, natural and beautiful, it can stand for centuries. Stone furniture has a high price and can heat up and cool down so that you have to cover the seats with something.
# 8. Garden Furniture From Pallets
If you want to decorate your site with original furniture that you cannot buy in a store, or just save money, you can build garden furniture from improvised materials. One of the most popular such options is wooden pallets. These are large-sized trays in which building materials are usually transported, so you should look for empty pallets in large construction stores.
The pallets consist of boards, but they are stacked not close to each other, but at a distance of half a board. The sizes can vary significantly, but, as a rule, there are pallets measuring 80 * 120 cm (European standard, and the boards can be stacked close to each other) with a side height of 10-14.5 cm. Before starting work, the pallets are thoroughly dried and ground, sometimes coated with a paintwork to reduce the risk of splintering.
From pallets you can make:
- An Outdoor Coffee Table: It will take two pallets, nails to connect them, a sheet of chipboard, plywood or glass to form a countertop and a fantasy to give the table an original appearance. Castors can be installed for ease of movement around the terrace
- The Dining Table will require more effort. To form the countertop, you need to use two pallets, and for the legs one will fit, but it must be divided into 4 parts and nail them in the corners
- Deck Chair: It involves the creation of a base from two pallets, and the backs from one, while several boards are removed from it so that it can be installed at an angle to the base
- A Sofa: The number of pallets used depends on the desired height and length. The back and sides are also made of pallets, all elements are fastened with thick screws and additionally fixed with metal corners. From above, the blank of the sofa is covered with plywood, and a mattress with pillows can be bought ready-made or made independently from foam rubber and the necessary fabric.
# 9. Garden Furniture From An Old Chair
Do not rush to throw away the old, but still strong, furniture – chairs and stools can be ennobled and reused. Seats and backs are removed from them, leaving only the frame, and then a hedgehog is a matter of fantasy. You can take a thick rope, cord, strong wire and braid the frame with interesting patterns. With little effort, it will be possible to create original garden furniture and give it exactly the appearance that is required of it.
# 10. Garden Furniture Made Of Stumps And Logs
Stumps and logs are natural and affordable materials from which you can easily build nice outdoor furniture with your own hands. Depending on the size of the source material and your own wishes, stumps can be used as stools, chairs, tabletops or table legs.
A log can make a pretty shop. The easiest option is to lay the log on the ground, and lay a few pillows on top for convenience and beauty. You can squeeze the log a bit to get a flat surface, make two recesses for the supporting elements on the reverse side, and use smaller logs as legs, on which they also make a small saw cut for structural stability.
Something similar can happen if you put the board on boulder stones that are sunk into the ground so that the surface of the bench is flat. Holes are drilled in stones and in the board for future fastening with special anchor bolts.
It is unnecessary to paint furniture from stumps and logs – it is enough to soak a tree with a heated drying oil and cover it with several layers of colourless varnish, the ends can be treated with a stain.
# 11. Other Materials For Garden Furniture
In addition to all of the above options, you can use:
- Old barrels that are cut with the formation of a seat and back
- Concrete can be used for independent creation of garden furniture, pouring it into a mold, and decorating with ceramic tile parts or glass
- Old tires – a huge scope for imagination. For example, two tires can be folded on top of each other to get a seat, install a third tire at an angle to them, make armrests from the parts of the tires and paint the finished chair in the desired colour. As a seat, you can use a pillow, or you can make a mesh of threads and ropes. You can go further and install tires on wooden legs – you get a full-fledged chair. Enterprising summer residents make sofas, tables and full chairs from old tires. Another idea is to wrap the tire with a scourge, use it as a strong worktop for a small coffee table
- Plastic bottles will also work in the manufacture of garden furniture. You can build an excellent armchair from them, however, you will need at least 250 bottles that are folded in a special way, tied and covered with a fabric cover. Sofas are constructed in a similar manner. Such furniture is not afraid of sunlight and rainfall, suitable for a small summer residence. From the bottles you can build a base for the table, gluing together the individual elements, the tabletop can be made of plywood or plastic.
They decorate furniture not only with cute pillows and rugs, but also with LEDs, garlands, flowers and tablecloths.
# 12. Size And Style Of Garden Furniture
The size and design of garden furniture depends on the size of the plot and the style of its design. A small terrace or gazebo will not tolerate large and massive furniture – it is better in this case to use light plastic, folding wooden products or compact chairs and tables made of artificial rattan. Owners of spacious seating areas can afford roomy sofas made of rattan, wood and with forging elements.
When choosing a style of furniture, they are based on the characteristics of the house and the site itself. If the cottage is made in a modern style, then you can opt for metal chrome furniture or polycarbonate. For a country-style site, rough and massive furniture from a log house, stumps and logs is suitable. Gardens, which are surrounded by greenery and flowers, can be supplemented with openwork wrought-iron furniture. If the facade of the house is decorated with wood, then garden furniture is better to be wooden. The universal option is artificial rattan.Own plot can be made stylish and functional for any budget. If the means allow, you can opt for ready-made garden furniture, and if necessary save money or if you want to create something that is not in the collection of any manufacturer, you can build your own exclusive garden furniture using improvised materials.