March 19th, 2021 by Sarah Miles

Summer is on the way and, while it’s always nice to have our gardens ready for socialising in and enjoying during the warmer weather, this year it feels particularly important to create a lovely, welcoming, social space where we can spend time with friends and family properly after a year of so many sacrifices and isolation.

After spending the last year with only the faces of our own household to gaze upon, a summer of being able to invite others into our gardens and our homes cannot come soon enough. To be able to entertain in our outdoor spaces, we’re going to need some garden furniture so that we can sit, eat, relax, and catch up in comfort.

So, what garden furniture is best for your garden? Obviously, this is subjective and depends on quite a number of factors. We take a look at all the things you might want to consider when choosing some outdoor furniture:

Size and Space

A big consideration is a practical one – how much space do you have in your garden? If you are lucky enough to have a large garden, you could have ample room to accommodate some large pieces – for example, a lovely spacious rattan corner set. You may even have different zones in the garden where you want to place furniture so you could have a sofa-type configuration in an area that gets the most sun and perhaps an area for eating in the shade. If space is more limited, which is the case for many, something like a bench or a patio set can be much easier to find room for – especially ones that allow you to tuck chairs in out of the way when not in use, which a patio set would allow you to do.

How Will You Use Your Garden Furniture?

Form follows function so think about how you want to use your garden and your furniture. Garden furniture has multiple applications: you may want to catch some rays on a lounger, chill with a glass of wine on a comfy sofa, eat your meals from a table, or relax while you sway gently on a hanging chair or hammock.

If you are planning to entertain, think about how many people you’re likely to accommodate in the garden and how you can provide enough seating. If you have a large area, you may just want to include lots of spacious seating. If you have a smaller area, or you don’t anticipate having large gatherings too often, it might be that you have some permanent seating in the form of a bench or a smaller outdoor sofa and then some extra seating that can be folded or stacked away and kept in the garage when not in use (such as a folding bistro set).

Style

Naturally, style is really important, and you want any garden furniture to add to the aesthetic feel of the whole space. For many, it’s the furniture itself that sets the whole tone. There are many different paths you can take with this, whether it’s something very modern or industrial in feel, something soft and homely - perhaps that even feels like an extension of your indoor furniture - or something classical and elegant that is maybe quite European or vintage in style. Consider how it fits in with your planting and garden design. You may even want furniture for a summer house so think of the whole scheme as one.

Aspect

Some gardens are very sunny, some quite shaded, and some will vary as the sun moves throughout the day. Think about how you’ll want to use the garden and where you’d like to sit with this in mind. Some love to soak up the sun whereas others enjoy the shade. Place your furniture accordingly and use this to gauge how much space you have in those areas. You may even want furniture that can be easily moved around the space so you can choose whether to bask in the sun or not. Remember as well that a parasol is a very useful item to have and can allow people who either love and loathe the sun to sit together!

Storage

Garden furniture is designed to live happily in your garden throughout the spring and summer, but some pieces may not be suitable to endure the harsher winter weather. If you have some storage space, such as a garage or shed where you can put furniture away over the winter, then this is an issue you don’t really need to worry about too much. However, if you don’t have this, you may wish to choose furniture that is a little more hard-wearing, such as pieces fabricated in strong metal. Iron is a good choice.

Flat Surfaces

Nobody enjoys sitting on a wobbly chair, so consider the surfaces of your garden and where you are likely to want to sit. Hard surfaces such as patios and decking will accommodate any kind of furniture, but lawns can be a little more uneven so might be better suited to furniture with a wide base, such as benches.

Evening entertaining?

If you expect your soirees to go on into the evening (and, let’s face it, people have a lot of catching up to do this summer!), or you just don’t trust British weather to be warm enough even during the day, an outdoor heater is a great asset for your garden. It means that your parties can continue as long as your stamina holds out! If you enjoy relaxing outdoors on a summer evening, an LED parasol is also a smart investment. These parasols are fitted with down-facing solar-powered LED lights, so you don’t have to end your day when the sun goes down.