WOOD, WICKER, METAL OR STONE? YOUR GARDEN FURNITURE MATERIALS GUIDE


Choosing furniture for your home, whether it’ll live inside or out, is a balance between what looks the part and what fits in with your lifestyle. So, to help you decide which design is the one, furniture experts at Neptune have written a guide to the materials you’ll find in outdoor furniture – their characteristics, their qualities and how much maintenance each one asks for.


TIMBER


There are lots of types of wood you can use outside, but teak’s by far our favourite. Tried and tested, that’s why it’s the timber you’ll find in our wooden tables, sunloungers and seating.


Strength: teak is tough. It’s a hardwood, which means it grows slowly but surely, creating a dense timber that can stand up to a few everyday knocks and bumps. And not only is it robust, it’s weather-resistant too: it has lots of naturally occurring oils that repel water, stopping it from warping or cracking.


Graceful ageing: teak is a natural material and it’ll continue to live and respond to its environment even when felled. Part of its response mechanism is to oxidise and form a protective layer – that’s what you’re seeing when it develops its iconic silvery grey patina. Silvering is the best type of protection you can give your teak, and you don’t have to lift a finger. We do treat all ours with our IsoGuard® oil before it gets to you, just to help it along, but after that, you don’t need to do anything else if you don’t want to.


Natural character: like timber inside your home, using it outside lets your garden benefit from all its texture too. And it’ll tie in with trees and stems, willow trellises and timber pergolas, helping your piece quietly and subtly slip into the fabric of your outdoor space.


COVER WITH CARE


No matter how hardy, all outdoor furniture will fare better if you cover it or, even better, move it somewhere sheltered over the winter. If you do decide to cover it, it’s important you use a breathable material so your efforts don’t go to waste. Sometimes you can accidentally create a microclimate beneath tarpaulin where condensation is kept inside and rust and rot are encouraged – the exact opposite of what you set out to do.


STONE


Like timber, there are lots of types of stone you could use in your garden. Dappled or plain, honed or polished, natural or man-made composite. For our tabletops, we settled on three natural stones – granite, marble and bluestone – and one composite.


Durability: granite and bluestone are especially difficult to damage. And the good news is that, if you do, they’re easy to repair and, because of their dappled looks, chips and cracks are hard to notice. Neither are quick to fade in the sun either.


Practicality: behind strength, stone’s most obvious plus point is that you can simply just wipe it down. An occasional deep clean with a stone care kit is the only other thing it asks for. Marble is more delicate than the others when it comes to spills, so this is something to bear in mind. Looking after it is quite simple though: mop up quickly, particularly if the spill is acidic (like lemon juice) or staining (like red wine), and bring it indoors over winter. Stone is, of course, heavy, so if that’s a practical concern for you possibly not the best choice.


Natural character: just like teak, granite, marble and bluestone bring such a lot of character to your space. Full of colour variations and the patterns that are created as the rock is formed, each piece is entirely unique.


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