If you spend a lot of time relaxing in your garden, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got some comfortable outdoor furniture.
If you like the natural look, it’s hard to beat wooden furniture. It’s beautiful, long-lasting and, as long as you choose wood that’s FSC certified and sustainable, it’s an eco-friendly option too.
Wooden garden furniture ideas – our top picks
As wood is a natural material, it will blend into your space, whatever your style. Wood is comfortable to sit on, weather resistant and requires minimal maintenance to keep it looking great year after year.
When choosing wooden garden furniture, it’s important to make sure that you choose a hardwood like acacia or sustainably sourced teak, or a softwood like pine that has been pressure treated, to help it last. You can expect good quality wooden garden furniture to last for 10 years or longer if you treat it well.
Here are our recommended wooden garden furniture picks to spruce up your space and help make your choice easier:
1. Zambra Garden Accent Lounge Chair, Made
Zambra Garden Lounge Chair, Made
If you’re thinking of adding some comfortable new seating to your patio area, this beautiful accent lounge chair from Made ticks all the style boxes.
Made from solid acacia, it’s extremely deep seated and finished with thickly padded cushions and white strapping to seriously up the glamour stakes. There’s also a matching sofa if you have more space to fill.
2. Companion Love Set, BillyOh
Companion Love Set, BillyOh
This traditional companion set is perfect for sitting and relaxing with a loved one. If you’ve got a smaller garden or patio, this set is a great solution. The table features a handy parasol hole so you can have shade on the sunniest days.
Crafted from solid acacia, this set is durable and can be left outdoors all year round. If you don’t varnish the wood, it will eventually fade to a beautiful silvery, grey colour.
3. Lilly 1.5m Bench, Garden Furniture Centre
Lilly Bench, Garden Furniture Centre
This comfortable-looking bench is made from FSC certified pine and features a beautiful, sinuously curved seat. The pine has been kiln-dried and pre-treated so has a 10-year lifespan. You can prolong the life of the bench by painting or varnishing it.
The Lilly bench can comfortably seat 3 people and, although it requires assembly, is very easy to put together.
4. Camiri Wooden Corner Group, Harbour Lifestyle
Camiri Wooden Corner Group, Harbour Lifestyle
If you spend a lot of time outside with your friends, then a corner sofa might be a great fit for you. The design brings people together and will create the illusion of space on small patios.
This elegant set is made from durable, sustainable acacia. It comes with 2 corner chairs and 2 chairs and you can configure the set with the corner on the left or the right. The set includes a handy high side table and a coffee table. The wood is treated so you can choose to continue treating the wood to maintain its appearance or let it weather to a natural silver-grey colour.
5. Luxury Garden Mini Bar, Original Organics
Luxury Garden Mini Bar, Original Organics
If you’re fond of hosting a garden party or two, then you’ll love this ingenious wooden outdoor bar from Original Organics. Complete with a zinc worktop and hooks for hanging bar towels, the bar will also double up as useful shelving for those summer barbecues. Although it doesn’t come with the bar accessories pictured, it gives you the chance to personalise your bar and make it your own.
The bar is made from pressure-treated wood to help it withstand the elements.
6. Elma Folding Garden Bistro Set, Made
Elma Folding Garden Bistro Set, Made
Love spending time outdoors but don’t have a lot of room? You might want to consider this space-saving bistro set. Ideal for a courtyard garden or balcony, the set can easily be moved around to where you want it. Made from attractive and hardwearing acacia with a woven backrest, this set will easily withstand the summer showers.
The whole set is foldable, making it easy to pack away and store in the cooler months. It also comes fully assembled so you don’t need to worry about which parts go where.
7. Rowlinson Jaipur Arbour, Water Butts Direct
Rowlinson Jaipur Arbour, Water Butts Direct
If you have a secluded part of your garden where you can place an arbour, then this beautiful, Eastern-inspired Jaipur arbour won’t disappoint. Crafted from pressure-treated, FSC certified softwood, it features a comfortable seat and trellised sides, ideal for growing your favourite climbers up.
It needs assembling but once done, you can sit back, relax with a cuppa (or glass of wine) and admire your hard work.
8. Alexander Rose FSC Acacia Live Edge Table Bench Set, Harbour Lifestyle
Alexander Rose Acacia Table Bench Set, Harbour Lifestyle
If you’re looking for a traditional and striking outdoor table and bench, this set from Harbour Lifestyle won’t disappoint. The dining set is made from acacia wood and the edges of the table and bench are ‘live’ meaning the natural edge of the wood is left, instead of being cut straight.
Acacia is a fast-growing hardwood with a typical lifespan of 20 years, it’s a good choice for outdoor furniture and is considered to be a sustainable, eco-friendy wood.
For a longer lifespan, store or cover your outdoor table during the winter months or when it’s not in use. This will preserve the wood and protect it from harsh weather conditions. Make sure it’s completely dry before covering to prevent problems with rot and mould under the cover.
9. Topsham Adirondack Teak Garden Chair and Footstool, BillyOh
Topsham Adirondack Garden Chair and Footstool, BilyOh
After a hard day at work, or a marathon weeding session, there’s nothing better than kicking back and relaxing in your favourite garden chair. This attractive Adirondack chair is crafted from solid teak with a footstool that can be attached to the chair when you want to put your feet up, or removed and used as a regular seat.
Teak is extremely tough and water resistant and its natural oils help to repel insects, a bonus when pesky mosquitoes abound.
10. Traditional Pergola, Original Organics
Traditional Pergola, Original Organics
The simplicity and elegance of a wooden pergola is hard to beat. This beautiful structure is made from pressure-treated wood to help protect against rot. The posts can be sunk into the ground or cut and used with metal post anchors.
You could train a grapevine or wisteria up and over the pergola for added interest, both are fast climbers and will reward you with either an abundance of fruit or beautiful, fragrant flowers.
How to choose the best wooden garden furniture
When choosing your outdoor furniture, there are a few things you need to consider. Wooden furniture needs a bit more TLC than other materials as it will rot and naturally degrade if not cared for properly. Here’s what you need to know:
Choose a location
Before you buy, you need to decide where you’ll be placing your new outdoor furniture. It’s best to choose a slightly sheltered area if you can, with an option to sit either in the shade or sun.
Another reason to choose a sheltered area comes down to maintenance. Wooden furniture lasts much longer when protected from harsh weather. If there’s a roof to shelter it from rain, you won’t need to deal with any rot or water damage problems. If there’s shade, you don’t need to worry about UV light damaging and discolouring the wood.
There are of course options such as furniture covers to protect your furniture, so don’t worry too much if you don’t have access to a sheltered area.
Take into account the space you have
There’s nothing more disappointing than buying your favourite sofa set just to realise it doesn’t fit into the space you have. To save yourself the disappointment, make sure you measure the area and plan ahead.
This is especially important if you have a very small garden. In larger areas, you can get away with more. You’ll also need to think about storage. It’s best to put your outdoor furniture under cover during the winter months to help it last longer.
Consider your comfort
You might think that comfort is a given, but this isn’t necessarily true. Some garden furniture might look great, but in reality, it’s terribly uncomfortable to sit on. This can be due to the seat either being too narrow or too wide, too low or too high or even too sharp if the edges aren’t smoothed down nicely.
You may need to add cushions for comfort if your furniture doesn’t come with any.
Set a budget
Before you start looking for your furniture, it’s a good idea to set a budget. It wouldn’t be wise to buy something you can’t afford. It will come back to haunt you when you least expect it. By setting a budget you’ll also avoid disappointment. You’ll most likely only look at the furniture you can afford instead of dreaming about the ones you can’t.
Keep in mind that your budget will influence the quality of the product. More expensive generally means better quality. This isn’t always true, however. Top-quality products can be cheaper if they come in smaller sets.
Do you need storage?
It’s important to know if you need to store your furniture or not. Some furniture can endure the weather, but it will last much longer when stored and cared for properly when not in use. If you don’t have much space, it’s better to get something that can fold up or be disassembled to store it. If you don’t want to move the furniture, consider getting or making garden furniture covers.
Credit: Scottsofstow
Consider the maintenance required
Wooden furniture will need a bit more maintenance than aluminium furniture. The wood needs to be resealed or oiled at least once a year, a cover is necessary to keep the wood dry during winter if you won’t be storing the furniture and you’ll need to check for rot regularly.
FAQs
Can you leave wooden furniture outside in the rain?
Yes, outdoor wooden furniture is made to be able to endure rainstorms. The wood would either be treated or naturally water-resistant so you don’t need to worry about water damage.
How do I protect wood outside?
Outdoor wooden furniture is usually made from naturally rot-resistant and weatherproof wood. To give the wood a bit of extra protection, you can either oil it, seal it with water-resistant varnish or cover it with waterproof furniture covers.
What type of wood is waterproof?
Very oily woods like teak, eucalyptus, cedar, and redwood are naturally waterproof. They contain a lot of natural oils that stop water from penetrating the wood. These woods are usually rot and mould resistant for the same reason.
More on this: What Is The Best Wood For Garden Furniture?
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