Outdoor furniture and garden furniture: buying guide

If you already have an outdoor space, you can consider yourself lucky and luck should not be thrown away as if it had always been there and always will be. A small garden represents a value and can easily become the favorite place to organize time for oneself and with others. There are cities in the world where the value of the square meter of home is very high and, right there, outdoor spaces are greatly exploited and made welcoming.

In reality, a few things are enough to make a space livable, usable and personalized.

To begin with, you need to take a first step which is to throw away and clean.
Throw away the superfluous and clean everything well, tidying up of course. Once our space has been cleaned and tidied up, we will have a clear idea of what we need. A table, chairs, armchairs, sofa, rocking chair, umbrella, lighting, plants... and so on and so forth!

But what to buy? Good question, the style, the color, the material of the furniture. The offer is so wide that you get lost but, if you want to see it well, it is not so difficult to choose. Let's take it one step at a time.

What material do I want

Garden furniture, when new, often looks all beautiful but what is it made of? What does it matter someone would say! oh no! The material that garden furniture is made of is important because every material has a durability. Let's start with the structure. There are furniture structures in plastic, iron, aluminum, wood and then also others, such as carbon, but those pieces of furniture are not for everyone.

Furniture with plastic or plastic structure

Plastic has a shelf life of about three years, then the sun discolors it and wears it out so much that it deteriorates, dries out and cracks. You don't want to sit on a nice plastic chair and fall to the ground fatally! It happens with plastic. There are light plastic furniture but also heavy ones but plastic is plastic and these pieces of furniture after about three years leave us. It goes without saying that these furnishings are cheap but also worth little. It is a choice, but as a choice it must be conscious.

Furniture with iron structure, covered or not
The iron rusts and is heavy in the long run. Even if treated properly, iron does not resist atmospheric agents very well but is robust and cheap. Its duration? Five years. Then..... is not to be thrown away but almost. In short, it is no longer as beautiful as before, to be bought again.

Furniture with an aluminium structure
They are the best because they are sturdy and lightweight. The weather literally makes a mockery of him. The aluminium is painted with very protective and adherent powder coatings. These are those pieces of furniture whose structure lasts at least ten years without deteriorating. Then, like all things, they also get old.

Furniture with wooden or wooden structure

These pieces of furniture are very beautiful but wood, as we know, needs treatments otherwise it doesn't last long. Wooden furnishings then often have an accentuated weakness on the mechanisms. The wood and metal of the mechanisms clash. One is soft and the other is hard. The soft one wears out and the structure loses rigidity. The best wood for the outdoors is teak but that is also wood. The external treatment, with the sun tends to crumble and so you often need sandpaper, elbow grease and paint, every year.

The padding

At this point you will have an idea of what structure you want for your outdoor furniture. But, when you choose, take a look at the pillows. They must be made of good synthetic material to dry quickly in the first sun after rain and must be easily removable. The padding should not be spongy so as not to absorb rainwater and moisture. Turn to so-called "technical" fabrics and not to cotton or linen which, although precious, are not the case. Also take a look at the thickness of the padding and its hardness. The padding must be hard but comfortable.

The mechanisms

Think of an extendable table. It must be easily stretched and the mechanism must be solid and durable. Before you buy, try it out. Always ask to open and close. First the seller does it and then ask to do it yourself. Do the same thing with chairs if they are foldable, with sun loungers and deck chairs.

Spare parts

Ask if there are any spare parts for what you buy. Coatings for example, are there spare parts? This is the question to ask.

In order not to make mistakes, here is what you might need, the discourse of materials also applies here:

Pergola: it shelters you from the sun and humidity at night. There are also bio-climatic ones. These have crank opening slats so that you can adjust the ventilation. When the slats are closed, they must have drainage channels for the rain so that in the event of a downpour they can offer good shelter. Here do not save because the valuable pergolas do not change them almost mail.

Parasol: Choose it solid because the light ones are carried away by the wind.
Choose it with solid mechanisms because the umbrella, due to the wind, is always under stress.

Table: choose a size that is well suited to the space you have available. Give it a try and sit on it. It doesn't have to be a pudding. If it doesn't hold your weight then it's worth little. If possible, choose an extendable table because it is more versatile. If necessary, you lengthen or shorten it.

Chairs: choose sturdy and stackable chairs. If with fabric I recommend the "technical" fabric and take a look at the seams. If the fabric is welded then it is worth little. Chairs of the same type but with different colors are also fine around the table.

Living rooms: generally living rooms consist of a sofa, armchairs and coffee table. Make sure of the material, not only of the structure, but also of the upholstery and fabrics, I recommend. For upholstery, prefer synthetic wicker to rattan or wicker because it is much more durable and retains its beauty over time. The coffee table must have a smooth surface to be cleaned. If it is covered with glass, make sure that the glass is ground and with a minimum thickness of five cm.

Dondoli: That they are robust. If they are for one person then try it for two! Watch out for the structure that is solid.

Sunbeds: better aluminum covered with sewn "technical" fabric. Everything is done on the sunbeds and therefore they must be sturdy, washable, transportable, comfortable and foldable. You spend a little more but they last you a long time.

Deckchair: the deckchair follows the same characteristics as the sunbed. There are also ones with head pads.

As for the colors

The ones that go the most are: Taupe, Anthracite, Gray and White. Here you choose according to taste. If you need to buy four sunbeds you can also buy one per color. One next to the other they make a good impression.

The style

The preferred style is modern, linear, simple. Time changes but furniture does not. The more neutral they are, the more you'll like them over time. With accessories you can easily characterize the environment. You can use lanterns and vases with particular styles. A rustic lantern near a modern and linear table will warm up the whole environment.

In the evening, don't forget to light a candle, the soft LED lights that you have chosen with care, preferably solar-powered, a good company, an aperitif and a good book. That's it, if nothing else, it's a good start.