When the weathers fine and you got time on your hands there is nothing better than sitting outdoors and enjoying the day. To get the most out of the experience you need some good garden furniture. But there is so much choice with garden furniture it can be tough to know what to go for. What's going to give you the good service whilst being convenient and hassle free? Whats stylish, robust, maintenance free?

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Often with garden furniture the best place to start is by deciding what type of material you want the furniture made from and deciding just how much furniture you want. Do you want a set, individual items, chairs only, recliners, swings or sofas. It's worth considering do you want to use the furniture year round, outdoors and perhaps in a conservatory, how much storage room you have and what budget your likely to have. With these considerations in mind you can begin to look at what furniture will be best for you.

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In general there are four main types of materials used to construct garden furniture and they all have different characteristics and benefits. The main types of garden furniture materials are plastic/resin, metal, wood, and wicker.

Plastic/resin garden furniture - benefits from being durable and easy to maintain, is light weight and therefore easy to relocate around the garden or patio. Being man made means a wide variety of style choices are available to suit many tastes. Plastic garden furniture is often available at budget price but doesn't lend itself well to indoor use and unless you've got cushions your going to get sweaty behinds using some styles of plastic furniture. Great for leaving outdoors all year.

Metal - cast iron or wrought iron, both durable long lasting materials but can require maintenance if paint work becomes chipped or damaged. Easy to clean, and with a wide variety of styles meaning they can be used indoor or outdoor. Often metal furniture looks spindly as manufacturers seek to keep weight down and keep furniture easy to move around. Can be cumbersome, but guaranteed to give long service if maintained appropriately, usually expensive compared to plastic furniture and range of styles more limited, also great for leaving outdoors all year if maintained.

Wood furniture - Teak, mahogany, pine are all used extensively in wooden garden furniture. Due to its organic nature wood furniture carries a warmth and inherent outdoors style to it. Expect hard wood furniture such as teak and mahogany to last up to 25 years without treatment and pine 10 years. Easy to look after, move around the garden and a vast array of crafted styles mean furniture from this group can be great indoors and outdoors. Hardwood furniture usually requires a significant budget but softwood furniture can be purchased at rates similar to plastic furniture. Hardwoods can be left outdoors without fear of rot or decay, but softwood will need storage.

Wicker - Wicker tends to be a process rather than a material, but the materials used are significantly different to materials in other categories. Wicker furniture can be made from rattan, a natural vine, cane, bamboo, reed, sea grass, or man-made materials to give the effect of rattan or cane. Generally speaking for outdoor use you want man made rattan furniture but if you have storage such as a conservatory and only intend to take your furniture outdoors when the weather is fine then all the traditional wicker materials can make great garden furniture. Available in extensive traditional and modern designs, lightweight and easy to maintain, wicker furniture offers a good mid level material between plastic and teak.

Which Garden Furniture is Best?

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