Outdoor garden furniture - cushion question

[Shiloh139]

We bought a new garden furniture set online that has now been delivered - of the wicker/rattan corner type. It's come with loads of thick cushions, for back rest and sitting on. Would it be safe to leave those cushions on the sofa year round, which will in turn be covering with a waterproof tarpaulin, secured with bungee cords when not in use/overnight? I'm worried about condensation and also creatures nesting in the cushions but we've not got anywhere to store these cushions. There's honestly loads of them, they currently fill our whole kitchen sofa and come to about my neck height on there!

No I wouldn't. Get an outside storage box for them which is water tight, ours are going to live in the garage.

We bought one of those big storage trunks/stores with a lift up lid, and all the cushions go in there. We might leave them out overnight if we know it's going to be dry, but not otherwise. Those tarpaulins often leak or blow off.

Over winter, maybe shove them in the loft?

You should be able to get a cover for it, that would be the best option and leave the cushions on and cover it.

One of my neighbours tried this - the foxes ripped the tarpaulin cover and peed all over them - she now needs to buy new cushions

If you don't have room inside then definitely get one of the outdoor storage boxes.

I wouldn't leave them out... ours are in a large storage bag in the garage, taking up tons of space but at least we won't have to replace them for the summer.

Ours stay in the loft over the winter. Then get chucked in the shed over summer when we get them out daily. Get a storage box or you will be spending a fortune on new cushions.

Ours stay on the sofas between April and early October, covered with tarpaulin type cover at night and wet days. Bring them in and store them in a huge box in the garage early October through to April.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. Looks like we'll have to get a storage box in the garden. I really wish I'd realised how much space the cushions would need before buying this corner unit! Our attic is tiny and already full with Christmas decorations and a few boxes of books so that's not even an option for winter.

IKEA dimpa bags are perfect for outdoor cushions ours neatly stack into 3 of them for storage in our shed Oct- Apr time then they get washed and stay outside for the summer.

No. Don’t leave them out. You can put them into bags and then store them. We have a garden storage unit for them. And the outdoor cushions.

The cushions do take up a lot of room. Ours are under all the beds and have been since about November. At night in the summer, they go in the shed (all 13 of them). Its been worth it though as they have stayed in brilliant condition.
We have a waterproof cover for the sofa in winter but I think it does get some condensation. On a windy, dry day we sometimes air it, and check the sofa is ok.
A lot of hassle at times but worth it as they are so expensive.

You need an outdoor storage box. Read reviews carefully to work out which ones are actually waterproof.

Hate to say it but most outdoor boxes won’t take all the cushions if they are thick so you might need to keep some in the box and some in the house.

We left our cushions on ours with a proper tarpaulin cover all very tightly tied up and some still got a little damp. We have now invested in a large storage box for them for winter. In the summer I would leave them out though unless we were forecast really really heavy rain.