What does it mean when an outdoor piece of furniture states that it is ‘maintenance free’? Contrary to how it sounds, it does not mean that you don’t have to look after what might be an expensive piece of furniture (just as you would for any indoor piece of furniture).
Just as mud and sand build up and encourage rust on your car, your outdoor furniture is exposed to the result of rain showers, sunshine and windy weather (and all the debris that lands on it as a result). In fact, many of us are able to house our vehicles indoors or under cover, offering them much more protection than our furniture, yet we clean them more often!
To explain the use of ‘Maintenance Free’ or ‘Minimal Maintenance and Cleaning’ when describing outdoor furniture, its necessary to understand the evolution of furniture design over the years.
Maintenance free outdoor furniture evolved as a more easy-care solution to the previously popular teak and metal styles of outdoor furniture. Teak requires constant care to protect it from the environment, and metal furniture soon rusts, often staining the clothing of the user, not to mention the decks or stone outdoor flooring.
Modern technology saw the development of robust and recyclable materials in outdoor furniture, providing a longevity to the outdoor furniture category. More excitedly, these technologies offered new colours and styles to the outdoor room.
Unlike previously, quality outdoor dining room furniture can now be left outdoors all year round, with little to do to preserve the materials. In our search for liveable and attractive furniture, HG Furniture Solutions offers a range of outdoor furniture lounges, sofas, modular, dining room tables and chairs, as well as outdoor stools and storage, and poolside furniture such as sunbeds and sun lounges.
All of these ranges offer a variety of colours and styles suitable for both home and hospitality, with our clients including those that want a small patio setting, to golf clubs and restaurants wanting long lasting, durable and comfortable outdoor furniture.
These include brands such as Cane-line. Cane-line introduced the Cane-line Weave, which moulds itself to body contours and movements to create extremely comfortable furniture. This flexibility and strength of the materials meant that furniture was no longer splitting and cracking, despite being left out in the elements all year round.
Cane-line also uses its own range of outdoor fabrics, that provide strength and durability over multiple and frequent usage. Items like the Horizon daybed comes with the signature Cane-line QuickDry & AirFlow system cushions that provide excellent comfort and dry quickly after a downpour.
HG Furniture Solutions can also assist on any custom fabrics you may want for the outdoors, using UV Pro Outdoor Fabrics. From one of our preferred suppliers, ., UV Pro fabrics have a 5 year warranty against fading and a Green Conscious rating, which means the fabric has met strict European standards for discouraging use of any dangerous processes, chemicals or substances, including the use of less water, thus less waste.
Another user of UV Pro fabrics is Cane-line. They have also invested in the use of durable powder-coated aluminium coated with Cane-line Tex, a product developed to withstand daily wear and both UV rays and rain. Their sunbeds and sunchairs can therefore be used worldwide in any climate and for either domestic or commercial applications. Caneline products with this feature include the Siesta Sunbed, which is easily stacked, taking up less space when the need for storage occurs. As with all their upholstery, the cushions for Siesta enhance comfort, and is made of the extremely durable and resistant Cane-line Virtue fabric.
Additionally, existing manufacturing materials were finding new uses in the furniture world, that suited the tough Australian landscape. Fast Spa Outdoor mastered Aluminium molding and die-casting, creating a comfortable, rust resistant, recyclable and weather resistant range of outdoor seating, dining and lounging products.
Their manufacturing and design techniques also created a range of colours not previously seen in outdoor furniture. Traditionally, white outdoor furniture was the limit for outdoor table and chairs, but the technology by this Italian furniture company, permitted a rainbow of colours, from the primary to soft muted tones, and in the most appealing and thoughtful designs.
HG Furniture Solutions currently has the Radice Quadra Outdoor Table as part of its outdoor furniture clearance sale. A clever design that features a leg design inspired by the radical symbol or sign– a mathematical symbol also known as the root symbol, radix or surd, representing the square root or higher-order root of a number. No doubt, designers Robby and Francesca Cantarutti had radical ideals (a little math humour there ?).
Similarly, new technology continues to offer more and more wonderful outdoor dining options, with the development of the Slim Outdoor Dining Tables by Matthias Demacker for Sovet Italia. This range includes outdoor dining tables, include square, rectangular and outdoor tables of a console size. Recently, this range has expanded to include the outdoor extension tables, offering limitless possibilities when it comes to outdoor entertaining.
The outdoor ceramic tops offer extreme strength and attractiveness, as well as colours covering the marble style finishes to the contrasting and soft muted tones of natural stone. This material allows an elegant offering to the outdoor space, allowing the user to introduce a variety of seating styles, including outdoor benches.
Sovet Italia has combined their experience, technology and strict quality control with the use of steel, alumium and ceramic when designing its outdoor range. Entirely made in Italy, HG Furniture Solutions remains the first and preferred supplier of this range to Australia. Their use of robust materials has proven popular with the Australian public, offering multiple options for both indoor and outdoor furniture.
So, are all these products maintenance free or require minimal maintenance and cleaning? Yes, and yes! Maintenance free refers to all of these remarkable designs offering classic and timeless designs that can be outdoors all year round. They offer a long lifespan due to their robust and fade resistant materials. Due to their resistance to splitting and fading, they therefore require minimal maintenance and cleaning when products are properly used (no dancing on the tables, please!).
However, just as you may wash your car of dust, so too, should you occasionally give your outdoor furniture sets some love.
Day-to-day cleaning should be carried out by dusting and cleaning with lukewarm water and a neutral detergent, using a soft cloth. Your Outdoor furniture will preserve well over time if you also periodically wash the products with fresh water in order to eliminate all traces of corrosive agents that may settle on the product whilst outdoors. Locations by the sea may require this a little more as salt settles on the leg frames. Similarly, plant debris such as eucalyptus leaves may stain if left on stone tabletops or cushion fabrics. Once cleaned, be sure to allow the products to dry before using again or covering up.
If you are looking to clean your upholstered cushions for your outdoor dining chairs or outdoor lounge, be sure to check the labels first. If you can’t find this information, don’t second guess! Just call us at HG Furniture Solutions in Rosebery, and we will advise you on the best care.
If you’re not keen on the cleaning, choose the warmer months so that your furniture dries quickly and effectively. If you keep a simple seasonal cleaning schedule for your outdoor furniture, you’ll be in good stead to enjoying a quality made outdoor lounge setting for many years to come.
With all this in mind, don’t forget to enjoy your outdoor setting! Make it more appealing with the introduction of outdoor lighting, possibly on a timer to remind you that it’s there. HG Furniture Solutions offers outdoor lights in the form of furniture (such as the Gumball Armchair Light), pots (such as the Humphrey Light) and poolside lighting such as the Kube Light Stool, all of which help create an evocative atmosphere by spreading a soft light.
Beautifully designed outdoor furniture combined with outdoor lighting means that you can both illuminate and use the exterior of your home, and enhance your overall living experience, indoors and out.
The consumer expects more from our textiles and products in this part of the market. Our homes are open, we transition between spaces so we need more robust constructions. Mokum works with mills that offer a sophisticated colour line that allows us to meet the needs of our harsh conditions.
Mokum works with specific types of yarn: either solution dyed (SD) polyolefin or acrylic so it can withstand the environment. SD means the solution is dyed before the yarn is extracted from the dye, there is colour all the way through. You get an incredible UV resistance as the colour is fully resolved through the yarn.
And Caneline uses the SD polyfin.
