If you’re planning on buying furniture this season, careful planning and choosing will mean the difference between hanging out on your patio for hours and enjoying your new comfortable living space, and heading indoors after a few uncomfortable minutes parked on poorly designed and bad quality furniture.
With a quality table and comfortable chairs a simple patio can be transformed into a luxury dining and hang out space for friends and family to enjoy. A cozy patio with wicker sofas and a classic wicker rocking chair with lots of cushions will quickly become the second family room during the hotter season.
However, we all know this luxury patio furniture does not come cheap. For those of us on a budget and who do not have money to throw at our patio furniture, careful planning and researching is required to ensure we use our money wisely and choose patio furniture which is attractive, comfortable, practical, has good build quality, can withstand the elements, and is good value for our dollar.
Here are 8 tips you should keep in mind when choosing patio furniture on a budget.
1. Write a list
Start by making a list about how you would like your outdoor space to function, this is an important stage in selecting out the correct furniture for your needs. Would you like it to be a functional family dining area? Is it a peaceful reading area? Is it a place used to entertain friends? Make a list of All Weather Wicker Furniture the things you would like to do in your patio space.
– If you would like to host and entertain friends, choose comfortable sofa seating, several smaller side tables and a fire pit for those chillier evenings.
– If the space is for relaxing and reading, choose a recliner or rocking chair, a smaller side table, and a relaxing water fountain.
– If the space is for family dining, a good quality table and chairs are needed.
2. Buy at the end of the season
The best time to buy patio furniture is at the end of summer. Avoid buying in the spring. All the unsold furniture for that season will go on sale for HUGE discounts as suppliers do not want to store the products over the colder months. The time to buy is July to August as you could save up to 40%.
3. Insist on good quality
From bad welding, cheap paint that will flake off, cracked casters – these will expose the cheap furniture for what it really is – a bad buy that probably won’t last until next season. Think of buying quality patio furniture as an investment. Over time it will pay you back. Inspect your furniture before buying, especially if the deal sounds too good to be true.
4. Take a seat
Before you buy, make sure to take a seat. Do not make the mistake of buying from the picture on the box! Sometimes the comfiest looking furniture can be the most backbreaking.
5. Choose easy-care material
This material will last for years, look good and new for years and will require minimum maintenance. Good materials to choose are; metal, teak, cedar and weathered wicker. Shop around and find the best deals on these materials..
6. Outdoor rugs
Fast textile developments in recent years have led to a boom in quick drying outdoor rugs, and as the competition is fierce, they are not as expensive as you may think. These all-weather rugs go under your patio furniture, and provide the comfort and cosiness of the indoors on your patio. Will dry in a very short time.
7. Don’t forget shade
During the hottest parts of the day, sitting outside can be pretty uncomfortable without any shade. A way of keeping your garden looking as natural as possible is to use large plants or trees as shade. Large plant pots with trees and large plants will look very trendy and bring some nature to your patio or deck. Evergreen will be best as they will provide shade all year round. You can set the plant pots and trees around the sides of your patio or deck which will act as a screen from the sun. Excellent for people on a budget.