Maintaining your Outdoor Furniture
With a clear home interior trend that brings outdoor living as an extension of the home complete with its own furniture, it’s a good idea to arm yourself with the skills to maintain outdoor furniture with the same passion as your wood indoor furnishings.
Having the right garden set is the first step. Using teak garden furniture or cast iron pieces that have been weatherproofed can take much of the worry about ravages of the elements away. But whether you live in a sunny state like California, rainy like Florida or snowy like Alaska, the right outdoor furniture will still need some practical caring not only to make them last longer, but to make them fit to luxuriate in.
Reasonable Maintenance
Outdoor furniture made of bamboo, real wood, cast iron, aluminum, rattan wickers and synthetics gather dust at a much faster pace than your indoor furniture which you often dust away or vacuum once in a while, typically every other day depending on your location. Living in a city would accumulate more pollutant dust particles than in the suburbs or the country, so that daily dusting is often in order.
• Your garden water hose does more than just water the lawn and the plants. A study weatherproof garden furniture can benefit from a periodic hosing at least once a week and a good drying thereafter.
• A simple dusting using nylon brush for everyday use can help unclog dust build-up in furniture crevices especially for garden sets that use rattan or wicker surfaces. A handheld blower or vacuum with a reverse blower function can also do the job.
• Wood garden furniture may be sturdy and resilient enough to weather the elements nicely but in times of severe snow storms and hurricanes, it is best to bring them indoors. This is advisable especially for lightly constructed wood furniture as they could easily be blown away with strong winds. In addition, while most woods with natural staining can withstand the elements, it wouldn’t hurt to wax them regularly as this is sure to strengthen their resistance to water and humidity.
• Metals like wrought iron are painted to make them rustproof. But if you notice the first instance of rust building up, don’t let it stay and do a recoating of the protective rust proofing paint before the rust spreads.
• Bringing weather-tight cushions indoors is the best care tip you can do especially if they have colorful patterns that are sure to fade under the sun. This is the reason why cushions for outdoor are better off as solid earth colors of beige, green or brown since they age and weather more gracefully than floral or patterned ones.
