Those of you with rattan furniture...

[Beenawhile1]

I bought a lovely sofa set end of last year in the sale. Cushions are currently stored in the garage. I have never had one of these before and don’t want to ruin the cushions. At what point do you put your cushions back on to the sofa? I was thinking I will stick the cover over the whole sofa (with the cushions) for the whole of summer and then pack the cushions away again when it goes cold and wet again. Is this what you do? There are a LOT of cushions so don’t want to pack it away constantly each day but at the same time it needs to be covered as I love to sit out with my coffee early morning snd don’t want damp cushions??

Yes we have ours out now and will leave them all summer and pack away in about September.

I have a great set from IKEA that stores the cushions under the seats of the chairs and sofa, however, this is not waterproof and I live on the coast so when seagulls inevitably crap all over it, it goes down through the furniture and on to the cushions. Not the end of the world as the covers can go in the wash but annoying.

2 solutions I'm considering: either a waterproof cover chucked over the whole thing (with cushions on) for the rest of spring / summer or buying one of those waterproof cushion storage boxes. Or maybe both as the poo issue is annoying!

@sittingonacornflake I couldn’t be doing with that

I have a cover that is supposedly ‘waterproof’ from Amazon although I doubt it would be completely waterproof to be fair, it was quite cheap and quite thin but has faired all through the winter whilst sat over the base of the sofa.

@Insertfunnyname is yours covered over night?

We leave ours out & only cover if it’s going to rain.

@ImAncient do the cushions not go mouldy at all?

I have waterproof covers for mine which I put over in the evening or leave on if it's rainy during the summer. Then the cushions go away during the colder months.

I am an upholsterer and mildew staining in the fabric is impossible to get out. The morning dew can soak into the filling too and if it's not warm enough during the day will eventually become mildew and smell funny.

@PandaLady that’s my concern! Are you able to share which covers you have please?

I put the cushions away every night, because even at the height of summer, they have dew on them in the mornings

If we’ve had a particular boozy bbq, they might get left out overnight and after 6 years they do now have a few mildew spots which won’t wash out

We have a storage box that doubles as a cushion store and side table next to the sofas so it doesn’t take long to put them away

We bought a tiny shed (I think it's officially a bike shed) which is tucked away at the end of the garden and takes 4 of those very large Really Useful boxes just for all the cushions - they're out now and fine in an occasional shower but if we get a spell of a few days of bad weather we'll put them away again for a bit.

I bought some from the range but my garden sofas are vintage upholstered railway luggage trolleys so I just needed two waterproof table covers.

They are in a flexible waterproof fabric (similar to a raincoat) so the water won't pool in the creases. With the really thick tarpaulin covers the water can end up pouring on the the sofa as you lift it off (caveat, I am clumsy!).

I bet there are custom made ones somewhere on the internet which will fit your sofa. It's totally worth it IMO.

I really like this sofa set and it’s SO comfortable and I really want to look after it so happy to invest in more expensive covers.... just have to find some! It’s an Lshape sofa just to make things more complicated for covers! I would really like not to have to take the covers on and out all summer but equally won’t leave them as we nearly always have dew through the summer

We have the kettler range & while not as pristine looking as they were, they are fine - it’s garden furniture so have to accept some fading etc! We have the kettler covers as well.

Kettler is expensive isn’t it? Someone recommended me a Kettler parasol and was a lot. Happy to pay for decent stuff that lasts though. Will have a Google for sizes

No we don’t cover ours over night

Where did you buy your set beenawhile? Currently scouring the internet for a set but everything sold out.

We had a cover made to measure from []www.bagsandcoversdirect.co.uk/ this]] company.

www.bagsandcoversdirect.co.uk/

I think a friend of mine has a big (few hundred pounds!!) storage box specifically for chucking the cushions in over night, if you have a corner of the garden nearby then it might be easier to get one of those as they are waterproof

@rainbowfairydust there are about 14 cushions, I would need huge boxes! Over winter they were in the garage in two massive bags. I can’t be doing with putting them in and out every day in summer hence why I want a new cover.

Thanks will look there @Knittedfairies

@crappytimes outandout.com

We put ours away in the shed every day - I've assembled a rack that they all fit into, including the long ones that go on our sun loungers. I'm far too pleased with our garden furniture to risk it getting done over by the pigeons that live in our garden.