With summer coming up very soon, now is a great time to start thinking about how you can make some changes around your home to take advantage of the warmer weather and prepare for the heat of hot summer days. In particular, it pays to revamp outdoor patios and other external living spaces.
You want to have some nice, comfortable furniture in these areas, so it’s worth investing in upgrades if you haven’t purchased new items for such spaces for many years now. Read on for some tips to consider when you shop for new pieces.
Work Out Your Goals in Advance
Before shopping for new outdoor furniture for your home, get clear about your goals for your external areas and the pieces you buy for them. You need to know how you plan to utilize your outdoor entertaining areas and the look and feel you want to create. The more you work out your goals for the space, the quicker and easier it will be to see which furniture pieces will suit.
For instance, you might be looking to purchase patio furniture you can chill out and read a book or otherwise relax on, or you might be more focused on being able to host guests around a well setup dinner table. Everyone’s goals and needs are different, so work yours out ASAP, and you should find it much simpler to shop for new products.
Create a Budget to Follow
Another element to consider before you browse for furniture is your budget. It’s wise to create a maximum amount you feel comfortable with and can afford to spend on your outdoor pieces before shopping. This way, you won’t waste time looking at products you can’t say yes to anyhow, and you won’t get carried away with excitement when browsing and spend more than you should.
Having a finite figure based on the total figure you can spend on outdoor furniture will keep you focused on what you need and make it easier to relay what suits to sales assistants and the like.
Measure Up
There’s not much point in looking around for furniture until you have a good idea of exactly how much space you have to play with. Understand the dimensions of your outdoor entertaining and relaxation zones so you know which pieces can fit best and what might have to be put in the “doesn’t suit” category.
When in stores, you can use a tape measure to compare product sizings against your pre-measured dimension info, or even just step out the approximate areas of items to see if they’re likely to fit as needed. Don’t forget that you not only need to ensure that furniture will fit but also that there’s enough room to pull out chairs or open benches and the like, plus room to walk around between different pieces.
Thinking About the Style of Your Home’s Internal Areas
Next, think about the style of your home’s internal areas and how you can decorate your external zones to match or at least to give enough of a sense of flow and cohesiveness. You want to have, at minimum, a similar aesthetic on the inside of your property to the outside. It may be tempting just to choose whatever looks stylish and interesting when shopping for outdoor furniture, but it’s wise to think about whether the items you’re interested in will mesh well with the goods you have inside your place before you start outlaying money. For instance, if your home is decked out in mid-century modern gear on the inside, it may look a bit mismatched if you opt for outdoor furniture with a laid-back beachy vibe or something else incongruous.
Consider Weather Conditions and Other Practical Matters
Lastly, keep practicalities top of mind when buying new furniture for your patio or other external areas. For example, it’s essential to buy pieces for the outside that are made to withstand the elements, such as the hot sun, cold temperatures, lots of wind, humidity, or even ice or salty air. Some furniture may look very appealing in a store, but if it’s not designed appropriately to live outdoors, it’s not a good investment.
Something else to think about is whether furniture is practical when it comes to cleaning and general care. It’s helpful if what you buy can be cleaned quickly and efficiently as the months go by and not cause you too many headaches due to difficulties in that regard. You don’t want to have to throw out not-very-old pieces because too much mold grew on them or they got too dirty too quickly and you couldn’t rectify that.
You should also factor in whether furniture has flexibility and mobility going for it in case you want to move things around every season or more or change the setup according to the number of visitors you might be entertaining.
As you can see, there’s more to buying outdoor furniture than meets the eye. If you consider all the above tips, you should find it simpler to buy goods that you’re happy with for the longer term.
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