Our motto at Falling Water Designs is “Balance in your life, through beauty in your garden”. Our goal is to provide our customers a space to recharge and re-energize, or to relax and reflect. Getting back to nature doesn’t require a trip to the mountains or the beach, it can happen in your own garden. We don’t want you to just have a beautiful garden that you enjoy from the kitchen window, but an outdoor space that calls you out into it to spend time there. One way to get you to spend time in your garden is to ensure that you purchase comfortable outdoor furniture. When you choose bargain furniture like those pre-formed plastic stacking chairs or other uncomfortable furniture you’re likely to sit in it for only a few minutes until you decide you’d be more comfortable on the sofa inside the house. So choose furniture that is both comfortable and made for the outdoor environment. Some outdoor furniture is made to be under-cover in a protected space. Other furniture can stay out in the rain and still be fine. Choose first on comfort, then style. You should sit in the furniture before you buy it and really see if it is as comfortable as it looks. Sometimes the backs of the chairs are too reclined or the seat of the sofa is too deep to be comfortable, so try them out before you purchase.

Choose padded furniture that has UV protected cloth like “Sunbrella” fabric. Frames can be powder coated aluminum or hardwood such as teak. When possible choose hardwoods from managed forests. Sometimes it’s called plantation grown hardwood. This ensures that your teak furniture is not part of the de-forestation of the rain forests. It’s tempting to purchase those bold beautiful stripes or a bright print fabric, but it may be more sensible to choose a neutral colored fabric for long life, and spice up the furniture with inexpensive throw pillows that can be replaced or recovered when you tire of them. If you do choose a bright fabric or print, make sure that the covers are removable so when you tire of the fabric you can keep the frame and recover the cushions. You can spend a little or a lot on outdoor furniture, and I’ve noticed an increasingly wide variety of outdoor furniture in many of the “big box” retail chains.