Wooden garden furniture advice please

[ByAmberteacher]

I really like the look of wooden garden furniture - table, 6 x chairs, sun loungers
But ...do you have to take it inside everyday? Can it be left out in the rain? Is it heavy to be carrying about all the time? Does it have to be painted often? Is it too much hard work for a nice look in the garden? I have never had 'posh' garden furniture before, so please excuse my clueless questions! And - What do you do with the cushions when you aren't using the furniture?
Many thanks gardeners!

It may depend on the wood and quality I think.

We have teak furniture that is left outside (The cushions are not left out overnight). If you want it to stay golden brown, I think you are supposed to clean it every year and then apply with a special treatment/ cleaner - it's sort of like wiping a fine layer of polish over it.

You can get away with doing it every 2 - 3 years though.

It's a bit of a faff but it's not too bad. The more furniture you'd have the longer it would take.

If you don't mind it weathering to going to a grey colour you wouldn't need to do anything https://cotswoldteak.com/blogs/news/teak-garden-furniture-dos-and-don-ts

Thank you - so you just leave it outside? And then I can treat it each year. That sounds perfect for me. Do you have somewhere to store the cushions?

We have had both teak and softwood in the past and while it looks lovely, it does have a lifespan and needs cleaning & treating to prolong it's life.
A good fitting cover will really help.

Cushions are usually showerproof but to prevent damp, dirt, fading etc it is always advisable to keep them indoors (loft, garage, shed, storage box etc).

We have now gone for synthetic ratan over an aluminium frame, not cheap but does look great and is super comfortable.
Is kept under cover (veranda) but during the winter it will also be covered and the cushions stored inside.

Thank you

We have a teak set - it’s been outside now for nearly 20 years. The cushions stay outside unless it rains and then they are stored in a big box in the garden. Lost its lovely honey colour very quickly, looked quite unloved. It’s a lot of work to clean and oil 6 chairs and a table. I ended up painting it with coloured osmo oil over lockdown but it needs doing again and I am dreading it. I recently had to buy a second set for another part of the garden, this time I chose powder coated aluminium - not going back to wood.

We have a “teak” set from Ikea. I found that keeping it covered over winter did absolutely nothing to help with the colour/finish flaking off - if anything it made it worse. However, you can sand it and restain it with Cuprinol/Ronseal/Ikea’s own brand, and it will look like new. It is quite a big job though - took me a few days with a palm sander and lots of paper, then a few coats of stain.

Now I have an oilcloth type tablecloth on the table. It’s a waterproof, neutral hessian colour. I keep it on all the time so no more faffing with ugly covers. And I can use the table in spring for propagators/hardening off etc, without worrying about leaks.

Thank you - so you just leave it outside? And then I can treat it each year. That sounds perfect for me. Do you have somewhere to store the cushions?

Yes it's left outside. Looking at your post again - bear in mind 6 chairs, a table and a sun lounger is a lot of wood to re-coat even if you are doing it once every two years (like lazy me). If you have teenagers, I'd pay them to do it! I don't think I could bothered to do all that myself.

During the summer the cushions are just stuffed behind the back door in a utility type room. In the winter they go upstairs into the wardrobe.

You can buy special cushion storage bin things for outside if you have a lot. you probably will have seen them at hotels or restaurants that have outside seating areas. This type of thing:

https://www.bramblecrest.com/accessories/cushion-storage/

We have wood and I much prefer it to metal which rusted.
Until recently I used the paint it with a coloured varnish but got sick of it peeling so now I have sanded it back to bare wood, stained it and then teak or Danish oiled it. I need to do a few more coats of oil and then buff it up to give a sheen but it is looking so nice now.
Ours is left out all year round but the cushions I take in if rain is due as they are just cotton covered, and the parasol I take in when summer ends

Thanks so much for replying everyone. I had a vision of me trying to carry a table into the shed every night and also having to clear out 10 years of rubbish from the shed before I buy the blooming table. I going to go for it! Thanks again for replying