Garden Furniture Shows You What It’s Made Of - By: Tina M

When it finally comes time to start buying garden furniture, one of the most important decisions you're going to have to make is deciding what kind of furniture you're going to look at in terms of construction materials.

This is a big change from buying indoor furniture, where the materials used in construction are only important because of how they look. You probably won't care whether the interior construction of that new sofa is oak or walnut, so long as it doesn't fall to piece ten minutes after the movers come in.

Garden furniture is entirely different. For one thing, you're actually going to be seeing the materials used to build them, since they aren't typically covered. This means that what they're actually built out of is going to affect how they look, so you'll need to keep that in mind.

Of course, what your garden furniture is made out of also matters because, by definition, it's going to be exposed the elements. Barring major catastrophe, your indoor furniture is going to be kept at a relatively stable temperature and will never get rained or snowed on, but your outdoor furniture will.

Wood is the classic construction material for garden furniture, and probably every tree know to man has been made into a convenient place to sit at one point or another. Wood has the definite advantages of looking nice and generally holding up under most weather conditions.

The downside to wood is that it does require some degree of maintenance. While most wooden garden furniture is already pretreated to make it resistant to the elements, you're probably going to want to rub it down with wood oil at least once or twice a year to avoid weathering or, in the worst case scenario, rotting.

The most popular wood for garden furniture the last few years has been teak, which is durable, relatively light, and not too expensive. Be aware, though, that quality wooden furniture is going to usually be a lot pricier than resin or plastic materials.

These days, plastic or resin is an extremely common material for garden furniture, and you can get everything from garden chairs to garden parasols made from it. It's relatively inexpensive, and if made correctly, lasts nearly forever.

There is an incredibly wide variety of styles and levels of quality available with plastic and resin, ranging from cheap chairs that are just this side of disposable to great looking piece that are all but indistinguishable from their wood counter parts.

The biggest problem with resin or plastic is aesthetics; a lot of people simply don't like the look. This is more of an issue with the cheaper stuff, as the high end furniture can be just as good looking as anything else.

You can also get garden furniture made out of metal. The classic version of this is the Victorian wrought iron furniture, but it's not uncommon to find aluminum framed garden furniture. Metal, like resin or plastic, has the advantage of being immune to elements and, in the case of wrought iron, is entirely likely to outlast you.

But not everyone likes the look of metal garden furniture, since the wrought iron can look intimidating and the aluminum stuff cheap, and it can be difficult to move, especially in the case of wrought iron.

Last but not least is wicker, which is technically wood but deserves its own mention. Wicker is another classic material for garden furniture, up to and including garden sofas, and a lot of people are extremely fond of it.

Wicker is comparatively fragile compared to the other materials, so you need to avoid putting excess weight on it as well as making sure that it doesn't get a lot of exposure to extreme weather. Wicker looks nice, but it's by no means a low maintenance material.

Before you buy, you should take a good look at what you want and what you need, and these don't always match up. If you like in area where, for instance, wet is the default condition, you might want to avoid wicker even if it's your favorite thing in the world.

Likewise, if you're going to need to move your furniture around a lot, wrought iron is probably unwise, unless you're looking for a way to get a workout without the gym fees. Always, though, try to buy as much quality as you can within your price range. Not only will your garden furniture look better, it will save you money in the long term.

About the Author

f youre looking for new garden furniture look online at Go Modern, who have garden furniture in a number of different materials as well as a large collection of outdoor furniture from Italy.

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