Choosing the Right Furniture for Your Deck
Selecting furniture for decking will come easily for some and feel like a real dilemma for others. Don’t let it cause you any angst.
Lakeland Verandahs has your back and would encourage you to read our uncomplicated guide to deck furniture if you are finding it difficult knowing what seating styles will enhance your extravagant outdoor living area and want to learn information on which will be simplest to care for.
Furniture for Decking Based on Use
Garden decking can cater for boundless functions. Maybe you’re compelled to invest in the product so that you have a stylish sunny retreat to make a beeline for in baking temperatures or you’re keen to have more external family gatherings in summer than at present and need a platform to host them.
Furniture for decking ideas will be guided by your desired primary usage for the incoming deck, so make a concrete decision on functionality and then proceed to look into furniture solutions that will best serve your chosen purpose.
Types of Deck Furniture: Material Choices
Getting your money’s worth out of deck furniture, as well as it providing beauty and comfort, is what matters most and there are several prospective materials up for consideration.
The leading materials are rattan, wood, metal, and aluminium.
Lakeland will supply some background to each of them so that your furniture buying experience is simplified.
Rattan Furniture
When you think of furniture for decking, rattan is a material that springs to mind, recognisable for its wicker-like weave method and natural elegance.
Formerly, most rattan furniture would be forged from natural materials, but nowadays the majority of it is made using synthetic materials.
Durability is one reason behind its vast popularity and synthetic rattan doesn’t degrade over time. Maintaining it is no great stress, with warm soapy water passing muster to restore it back to a clean state (power washing must be avoided!).
UV resistance and weatherproofing is also assured, so you don’t have to worry about leaving rattan garden accessories outside.
There’s an abundance of style options in rattan, including bistro and duo sets and corner sofas.
Wooden Furniture
The timeless elegance and natural feel of wood furniture are just two of almost countless benefits.
Observe the visual variation between each item of wooden furniture that you view – from piece to piece there will be aesthetic distinctions due to contrasts in the legion of knots and grains.
To say that it’s hardwearing is an understatement, especially if it’s produced using a suitably durable wood. Quality timber shouldn’t warp, and it’s high oil content lessens the chances of infestation occurring.
Hardwood needs smaller attention than softwood. Although you can oil and stain it now and again, you’re not obliged to, and can just carry out the advised intermittent maintenance of washing down the wood with soapy water.
Metal and Aluminum Furniture
Some outdoor furniture sets only survive for a short period of time because they’re simply not up to coping with regular exposure to sunlight, snow and whatever else the weather treats us to.
Metal and aluminium furniture cannot be put in this bracket as it offers fantastic sustained weatherproofing and monumental durability.
There’ll be no tiresome scrubbing down of the furniture necessary, with warm soapy water and a cloth easily removing any marks or stains that it collects.
It still does no harm to cover metal and aluminium garden fixtures when not in use or store them away, such as over the winter months, which could well extend their life cycle.
The sleek, modern look of metal and aluminium will be more visually enticing for some than e.g. chairs crafted from rattan.
Built-In Furniture
Having garden furniture for decking built in avoids needing to shop around for solutions separately once the construction of the deck has come to a close.
It’s helpful where every inch of space needs to be maximised, whether it’s because of a small deck or one that’s unconventionally shaped, and including it from the get-go enables you to ensure the benches or alternative seating complements the deckboards and chosen decor.
Tailor it to suit, and as a permanent fixture, it reduces the chances of any part of the furniture becoming misplaced too if stormy weather hits your village, town or city.
Maintenance can be less intensive as it is made to resist the weather and you can hose it all down and clean at once.
Seating Options for Your Deck
Furniture for a decking area will be where you can comfortably park yourself to survey your outdoor space and the world around you on a cloudless day or starlit evening.
A deck bench can mirror the flooring aesthetic or at least be similarly finished, or put a cushion cover on that has a completely contrasting colour.
There are countless sofa sets on sale that look good and are easy to clean, but if you see them as too formal for your taste, install casual seating for a more relaxed vibe. We’re thinking along the lines of swivel chairs, bean bags, an Adirondack rocking chair, hammocks, and daybeds that you can lie back and unwind on.
Dining and Table Options
Why would you even contemplate eating indoors in the evening when the sun is out and there’s a deck you can do it at? Furniture for decking will see you make a hasty external retreat on a pleasant day.
A two-tiered dining table will be an inventive furniture addition, providing lots of arm room to tuck into plated food brought outside and space underneath for magazines, photo albums etc., that you like rifling through once the eating and washing up is over. Some tables have an adjustable height, handy for the little ones at family mealtimes.
Select from metal, wood and wicker tables, locating a style that aligns to the deck and environment. It needs to be big enough to accommodate a collection of diners, fitting seamlessly within a space of around 10×10 feet if four people will be dining together, rising to 12×12 feet to house six to eight diners.
Accessorising Your Deck Furniture
No deck should be without a series of accessories, which will elevate its appearance and entice you to constantly retreat to it.
Outside of the spring and summer seasons, lighting is a most crucial accessory as you need it to be well-illuminated under the cover of darkness and radiant.
Festoon or string lights hung from or draped over fence posts or railings will create a warm and inviting atmosphere at night or rely on lanterns placed on and around the platform. Step lights will help you safely navigate any steps incorporated into the design.
Spruce it up with planters too for an injection of colour and decoration and look into eye-catching sculptures as focal points. Where there’s a wall area behind your seated section, install some outdoor artwork carrying some jocular or earnest messaging or that’s purely ornamental.
Maintenance Tips
Being able to do minimal maintenance will allow you more time to chill out on a deck. You look after the various furniture materials in different manners.
Wooden pieces can be scrubbed down with hot soapy water and a soft bristle brush, whilst with rattan, all you need is warm soapy water and a sponge. Hand wash plastic or take a hose or pressure washer to it for removing stains. Refrain from use of harsh chemicals as it can cause discolouration.
Carry out these routines twice yearly, firstly at the beginning of spring and then as we enter autumn.
Give your cushion covers and upholstery a wash to get rid of any dirt and dust on them, and if you have storage space, put the furniture away once conditions get too cold to enjoy your garden space, or invest in some covers to protect it.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a detailed rundown of not just what to contemplate when buying outdoor furniture and the versions there are available via the digital universe and in physical stores, but also how to dress and care for it.
One of the best takeaways from what we’ve written is to consider your personal style and needs when choosing furniture as that will put you well on course to create an inviting and functional outdoor space.
If your budget is tight or you are struggling to make a decision on new furniture, you can always consider using existing indoor furniture to extend your living space onto the decking etc., also helping you decide how to use it before investing in an outdoor piece.
FAQs
What kind of furniture is best for decks?
Importantly, you need furniture that will last and can survive the elements, not liable to fade easily or gradually deteriorate as it comes into contact with rain or UV rays.
Wooden furniture is initially attractive, but you have to commit to regular upkeep, otherwise it is prone to warping and swelling, a phenomenon that can quickly occur if timber is not properly treated.
Plastic, wicker and rattan are better equipped to handle weather conditions and need a fraction of the maintenance.
Collapsible chairs and tables are clever investments if you don’t want furniture out all the time and can put it away in storage when not embracing outdoor living.
How to arrange furniture on decking?
When you first move into a house, you tend to play around with furniture to find its optimal position and it’ll be no different when your outdoor seating arrives ready for setting up outside.
Organise it so that everyone can get around easily and won’t get in the way of each other as they move around. Measuring the space beforehand will help with this and prevent it being too ‘busy’.
An L-shaped sofa or corner bench is ideal for small decks, where every inch of space needs to be maximised and will allow a series of guests to join together for intimate chats and drinks.
Does outdoor furniture have to match?
Some like their outdoor furniture to all be perfectly coordinated in look and colour for consistency, but there’s no rule to say that everything has to match.
Buying a set of furniture that’s identical through every piece could actually be viewed as very unadventurous and to put it politely, boring!
Get mixing and matching, combining different materials, colours, textures, and styles so that it stands out for the right reasons and isn’t too much for the eyes to process.
Keep the number of colours used to around four and ally e.g. wicker and wood in your furniture arrangements.
How to make decking look nicer?
See your new UPVC deck as a blank canvas and titivate the enhancement to give it additional vibrancy, colour, and allure.
There’s no end of ways you can do it, from introducing planters for a splash of greenery to shading the space using an eye-catching pergola or lighting it up at night with fairy lights for emphasis.
Garden furniture is a must so that you can rest up, read, or dine al fresco. Place down cosy throws and cushions so that outdoor seating is ultra-comfortable, rotating colour themes so that they’re in tune with the season.
A lively-looking large outdoor rug would also break up sight of the many deckboards and make the area feel more homely.
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