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Original poster

Garden Furniture, What have you got?

24 replies

lilibet · 30/03/2005 11:43

We need new garden furniture and were going to buy wooden. Someone now has pointed out to us that wooden furniture requires a lot of maintenance. Does it?

I'm not that keen on metal/glass - I have visions of things getting smashed!

OP posts:
fastasleep · 30/03/2005 11:45

Just don't get plastic chairs with cushions that look like someone's eaten too many smarties and vomited on them - what a house warming present that was! I'm sure you could varnish them to protect the wood or something...lol

CountessDracula · 30/03/2005 11:54

No, we have teak like (some other hardwood can't remember what) stuff that just needs a quick sand each year.

HJ · 30/03/2005 11:54

Hi,
I've got a teak table and chairs....its such a pain in the bum to maintain. Every autumn you have to balance it on bricks and then tie a cover over it otherwise it begins to rot in the rain! And then when you take it out for summer you have to sand it all and then apply teak oil..........dont get wood unless you want to punish your dh!

Tinker · 30/03/2005 11:57

We've got broken green plastic, 11 years old. Great fun to be had each spring playing "Find teh 4th leg of the table" which was blown off some winters ago.

CountessDracula · 30/03/2005 11:58

yes hj but all that takes about an hour!

Not a lot of maintenance in my book (and I am laziest old vampire on earth)

CountessDracula · 30/03/2005 11:59

(btw I was told that teak oil is a no no and you should just sand, can't remember why)

cupcakes · 30/03/2005 12:04

We have wood (very cheap Homebase / B&G type) which has (over six years) been stained, varnished and painted. We now have a pale blue bench, a heather purpley bench, a smallish pale blue round table and two chairs, one pink and one the heather colour. I think they look lovely however the paint has chipped in a few places (I last painted them last spring) but I don't think it's too bad seeing as they have been out all winter. They've been very versatile and I think metal would be looking worse by now - even if I had never stained them or painted them I think they would look nice in an old weathered way. But I suppose it all depends on what style of garden you have.

BethAndHerBrood · 30/03/2005 12:29

I appear to be the odd one out here!! I've got metal and glass!! And i love them!!

I have a round metal framed table with a glass top, and metal chairs with a bright turquoiseseat and back! The turquoise bit isn't metal, it's some sort of thick canvassy stuff(??)

Mmmmmmm...........looks better than it sounds, trust me!!!

NomDePlume · 30/03/2005 12:39

I have teak, which was pretty expensive but looked lovely. I say 'looked' because DH decided he wanted to varnish/creosote it (the stuff that does exactly what it says on the tin - can't remember the trade name), unfortunately he did it whilst pretty pissed sat on the back lawn !

This means that we have a half painted table, 3 painted chairs and 3 unpainted chairs. The varnish is blobby and looks like that god awful cheapo 'mahogany' furniture from Argos circa 1989. He has really wrecked the set , but trying to get him to admit that is like trying to get blood from a stone [frustrated emoticon]

JanH · 30/03/2005 12:40

Defo get hardwood, lil. We have a teak set (well, teak-ish, it's different colours and grains) and originally I teak-oiled it and then covered it up for the winter; this year it's been left out and is looking v weathered so I was intending to sand and oil it, glad to hear I don't need to, CD!

No sign of rot though, I thought that was the whole point of hardwood. We have French windows which are 18 years old and have never been treated, they look rough as old boots but the wood is fine.

JanH · 30/03/2005 12:41

NDP, the nasty varnish will weather away and then you can sand it back to nice colour. (Or sand it anyway but you'll have flying varnish then.)

hermykne · 30/03/2005 12:44

metal is alot lighter lilibet than wood, my dh gives out all the time about moving the teak stuff for lawn cutting wheras the table + chairs are from b & q and so light but on the patio area.

folding chairs in wood can be danderous

hermykne · 30/03/2005 12:44

for kids that is - fingers

NomDePlume · 30/03/2005 12:46

that's good to hear Jan.

Original poster
lilibet · 30/03/2005 13:02

hmmm - it will be put away every winter and will be on flags so moving it for lawn mowing isn't a problem - it's just that we don't really do maintenance - things just tend to die chez lili!!

OP posts:
Bagpuss30 · 30/03/2005 13:18

We have a set from B&Q which we got 3 years ago for about £100. It is wood but not the best quality although dh has tended to put it away every year and teak oil it in the summer. We have left it out this winter and although it went slightly grey, dh bought a kit (think it was cuprinol or ronseal) which stripped the wood back to remove the weathering and then put an oil based coating on it which should keep it looking nice for the rest of the year. We figure that if we can get another couple of years use out of it then it has served us well and would probably do the same again next time.

Metrobaby · 30/03/2005 13:29

I was told that metal/glass furniture couldn't be used on decks. However am put off by the thought of having to varnish or sand every year. Could you get away with it if you covered up the furniture?

Sponge · 30/03/2005 13:35

We've got teak and I love it. We cover it up with a tarpaulin in winter but otherwise just leave it out. It goes a bit grey in the sun but we just rub a bit of teak oil on and the colour comes back. We've got some spray on stuff and it takes about 20 minutes altogether. I've never sanded it.

BethAndHerBrood · 30/03/2005 13:49

LOL lili - "we dont do maintenance"!!!!!

Neither do we, one of the main reasons we've got metal!!!

hub2dee · 01/04/2005 09:09

Countess and JanH : you should definitely oil after a sand to remove the grey. It will bring back the magic rich colour and grain, and also cause rain to bead up / run off rather than soaking into the wood.

I understand Danish oil is preferable to Teak oil (less shiny).

NDP: If you've got lots of flaking varnish to contend with, you'd need to sand that off first, and then only apply oil. (Lovers of exterior yacht grade varnish might disagree though !)

HJ: teak is a very dense hardwood and it shouldn't rot quickly at all. The wood can bleach quite fast to a dull grey, but that is weathering, not rot. If you're feeling energetic, you can stand each leg in a pot of wood preservative / Danish oil for a few hours and let it soak up some juice !

HJ · 01/04/2005 09:14

Thanks hub2dee, I'll let my dh know.....almost time to uncover the set......not my job

JanH · 01/04/2005 12:31

My italics. Think I'll stick with the lazy way

Original poster
lilibet · 01/04/2005 12:34

Silver grey could look quite elegant!

OP posts:
hub2dee · 01/04/2005 12:43

Silver grey does look very nice. Many people aspire to that aged, relaxed look (in their garden furniture, that is)

But well-oiled, high quality teak does look unbelievable.

I disagree about the italicised teak oil phrase though. Danish (and I imagine Teak) oil act as a water repellent. Water literally beeds up on a feshly-oiled piece of wood and that has surely got to prolong life ?

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