Outdoor Patio Furniture for Great Homes

Patio or outdoor furniture has gained new momentum with shifting tastes, preferences and modern lifestyle. Gone are the days when all-weather plastic in the garden was used to entertain guests on a sunny afternoon. Patio furniture includes a broad range like deck furniture, garden furniture, chairs, tables, lounge furniture that can be easily switched over for evening parties by the pool or the garden.

The first impressions can be buttoned up from the outdoors and the lobby as they carry the impressions of your home. Yes, patio furniture fashions an integral part of your home. It does not matter how you have styled your outdoors, if it has the right furniture, you will find yourself spending free time, and even going out of way to spend time in the garden or by the pool.

Teak is a time-favored weatherproof material for outdoors. As to what all comes under outdoor furniture, count everything right from hammocks, lounge chairs, tables, deck chairs, stools bar tables, garden chairs to accessories like grills for barbeques, hammock stands. All comes under it. Hosting outdoor parties is pretty much in vogue and metal or wicker furniture in a combination of teak looks really great with greens. Teak has natural anti-weathering properties and itӳ not unusual to see a great rugged table below a green tree with a set of chairs outdoors.

As to wicker and metal outdoor furniture, wicker may need a bit of seasonal care, and metal furniture, it may looks equally stunning. Low-maintenance makes a high keynote when it comes to patio furniture. It is really up to you as to the look you would like to embrace for your patio; green blue stripes on the cushions look great too and come in synthetic material to weather it off.

A few points you may like to ponder upon while selecting patio furniture,

ՠ The furniture should blend with overalls of your lobby or patio and not just stand there grabbing attention
ՠ Natural looking furniture outdoors is used more prominently for its casual appeal
ՠ Too much of gloss/shine should be avoided, as the furniture will soon look worn off
ՠ A customary seasonal maintenance routine will help you maintain the furniture for years
ՠ Good quality furniture tends to make a wise investment for weathering elements outside are much higher than inside a home
ՠ Childrenӳ patio furniture should have large tables for play and the edges should be round to avoid injuries while playing.


Painted furniture as art

If you think of painted furniture as a scraped-up old chair you pick up at the flea market to put in the laundry room, think again. Did you ever think of painted furniture as art? You need not be especially artistically gifted to successfully create a conversation starter as well as a true work of art.

For your first project, start with a thrift shop or flea market chair or small table. It doesn't matter if it's scraped up or if it's already painted and scratched up. A little sandpaper will take care of that.

Choose a base color, buy some acrylic paint in a can and a good brush. Get a set of small bottles of acrylic paint in several colors at a crafts store and an inexpensive set of little brushes. Paint your furniture item. Acrylic dries quickly, so you're ready to move on in half an hour.

When you're doing this type of painted furniture project, you can ad lib, painting an appealing shape wherever it pleases you. Maybe you'll then outline that shape in a contrasting color. Painted furniture can be a kind of pop-art creation. Perhaps you want to paint a vine that drapes gracefully across the chair seat or runs across the table like a runner. How about stripes on the rungs of the chair? Anything goes. A geometric pattern can look very attractive, a la Mondrian. Use any colors you fancy. Bright, primary colors are favorites with kids. For your teen daughter, various pastel shades may be just the ticket. If you've chosen a dark green as your base color, a burnt orange can provide a nice contrast.

There are some other tricks of the painted furniture trade you'll want to explore while creating your work of art. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water and layered over another color, a bit like a batik. A swath of light blue crossing over a purple area creates a new shade and added dimension. There are clear acrylic gels which you can use to dilute the color while retaining the same body of the full strength paint. Experiment. Have fun.

When you've completed this first project, consider the possibilities. New, unfinished furniture can be painted as well. Think what a terrific toy chest you can make as painted furniture for a youngster. That child will treasure it forever.

A painted furniture project is one you can put away and pick right back up when it's convenient to your schedule. I can almost guarantee you'll be eager to come back and work some more, because it's a therapeutic and satisfying activity.

Be forewarned. Painted furniture projects can be addicting, just for the pleasure of creating a little work of art.
After many long years of saving my money and putting up with lousy apartments, I was finally able to get together a down payment for a home of my own. There were many things I was looking forward to with my new home. Of course the two main benefits were that I would be able to build equity and have enough room for all of my stuff. But I was also very excited about being able to have all my friends over for barbecues and parties out on my fabulous deck. There's nothing better than a relaxing night of good conversation and refreshing beverages out under the stars. I just need to find a place that had patio furniture for sale so I could fill the empty space.

I'd never noticed which stores had patio furniture for sale before because I never needed any. But now that I had a backyard and deck to furnish, I wanted to find cheap patio furniture for sale so that my guests would have a place to sit and eat when they came over. I spent an entire weekend looking for suitable chairs, tables, chaise lounges, and umbrellas, but didn't have any luck. Since it wasn't spring or summer, not many stores had patio furniture for sale at the time. The ones that did only offered a very limited selection, and none of it was appealing to me.

I thought I would have better luck finding patio furniture for sale on the Internet. That's because online stores are much more likely to sell products all year long, even when traditional stores consider those items to be seasonal. So I ran a couple of quick searches and soon was looking at more patio furniture for sale than I knew what to do with! As I hoped, a majority of those websites offering patio furniture for sale had a huge selection of merchandise for me to choose from, and more importantly, would be able to deliver immediately. I spent a long time browsing through all that patio furniture for sale, and finally chose several fantastic sets that would really make my yard look great. Best of all, I got a very sizeable discount on all the items and even got free delivery.

If you're looking for patio furniture for sale, I recommend checking online instead of in local stores, especially if it's out of season. You're probably going to notice the same thing I did: it's much easier to find a wide selection of cheap patio furniture for sale on the Internet than at the mall or department stores. Hopefully, you'll even save a lot of money like I did!