Metal Garden Furniture – The Buying Guide

There are several choices when it comes to garden furniture and it really comes down to personal taste. The most commonly used metals for making garden furniture include steel, aluminium, cast aluminium and the more expensive wrought iron.

All of these types of metal garden furniture will serve you well and hold up for years without much effort on your part. Designing a beautiful and functional outdoor space is getting easier and easier with the vast array of accessories and options available with any set of garden furniture.

Important Factors to Consider

Rust

If you decide to go with inexpensive steel and wire furniture you may see quite a bit of rusting. Otherwise, your furniture will be treated with an anti-rust paint and will require little of you other than the odd touch up here and there. You can ensure your furniture stays in good condition by storing it inside or covering it up during the cold months.

Temperature

Metal furniture will take on the temperature outside, which means it may be hot or cold to sit on. This can be uncomfortable, especially if you are wearing shorts. The easiest way to remedy this is to simply buy some nice cushions or a big parasol to keep your furniture in the shade.

Cost

There are quite a few sites on the internet that offer some great bargains and free delivery on a wide range of metal garden furniture, as long as you spend £45 or more. Check out Greenfingers and John Lewis to find some decent prices on outdoor furniture.

Type

There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a metal patio furniture set, such as where it will be placed, how the rest of your space is decorated and what purpose it will serve. Patio furniture sets range from small sets, with only two chairs and a smaller table, to a full size dining table with six chairs.

Before the design of metal outdoor furniture, you could pretty much only furnish your outdoor garden with wooden rocking chairs or perhaps a folding chair with a canvas back. It was actually the posh and formal Victorian living room sets from the 1950’s that are given credit for the inspiration behind modern metal garden furniture.  The first metal furniture mimicked the elegance of living room furniture with its intricate curvy designs. Now, outdoor furniture is much more comfortable and functional.

Another advancement of today’s outdoor furniture is how the finishing is done. The same type of paint that is used on cars is now used on outdoor furniture, making it more durable and rust resistant.

Metal outdoor furniture is much more comfortable now too, as the designers have started making the chairs more form-fitting and have added in ventilation spaces in the form of holes or slats. These spaces allow for more comfort while sitting, as well as allowing rain water to easily drain.

Metal patio furniture can be purchased in a wide variety of sizes and may include some great additional features such as removable table leafs, glass tops or Lazy Suzans.

It is easy to add protection in the form of a large parasol to your patio table, as almost all of them come with a hole in the middle for just that purpose. A word of caution about metal garden furniture though, it gets extremely hot on sunny days. Ensure you have a cushion to sit on or cool the metal down with a spray of water before sitting.

You can find metal patio furniture in several different styles from decorative and ornate to plain and simple. There are also several metals to choose from including steel, iron, aluminium and wrought iron. The wrought iron styles are often the most intricate and are usually found only in black. Other styles may be painted in any colour, but can most often be found in silver, brown, white, and black. These tend to be more modern looking with their sleek, straight lines. You can find pretty much any type of outdoor furniture made from metal including patio sets, pergolas, arches, loungers and benches.