Tips on caring for your outdoor patio furniture

You’ve just spent a fortune on designing the perfect backyard oasis at home and want to figure out how to protect your modern outdoor furniture. The new outdoor chairs around the outdoor table on the patio may be glistening in their newness now but if you don’t take care of the outdoor furniture, you will find that it isn’t as durable as well-maintained and cared-for furniture.

Just like your indoor furniture, you need to care for your outdoor sofas in order to keep them functional and looking nice. There are a variety of ways to care for your outdoor furniture. Here are a few tips to keep them clean.

1) If you are going to be out of town and not using your designer outdoor furniture for a while, consider getting an outdoor shed to store them when not in use. Despite most modern furniture being water resistant, sun resistant and bug resistant, taking the opportunity to put your outdoor furniture indoors for an extended time is the best way to care for them. One example is the snowbirds that leave New York for the winter and travel to Miami. They tend to be gone for six months at a time from either location, so this would be an optimal time to store your outdoor tables and chairs as well as the cushions.

2) If you store them, make sure they are dried out before you put them away otherwise you will return to find your outdoor furniture with mold and mildew and you will have to replace it completely after that.

3) After every major use, you will definitely want to wipe your modern tables and chairs down. Your outdoor sofa should have the cushions taken off and wiped down carefully with a non-bleach cleanser and preferably a soft soap that is non-abrasive. Hose down the rest of the wood furniture, metal deck chairs or your resin wicker or synthetic rattan furniture. Using a strong pressured hose can help get dirt off especially after a major party or event outside, or even a storm that has gotten debris everywhere.

4) Before you even buy the furniture, look for furniture material and cushions that are resistant to the elements. This will go a long way towards durability.

5) Try to at least pull your furniture out of the shade in between uses to help keep the sun from cracking it over time. No matter how weather resistant your furniture might be, eventually the sun will begin drying it out. This will help lengthen the life span of your outdoor sofa and modern furniture.