Outdoor Spaces - Choosing Practical and Beautiful Furniture

You may have read my blog about our front courtyard renovation back in October. We have finally completely finished it! It needed some furniture and outdoor cushions, and it took a while to find the perfect combination of looks, practicality and comfort (not to forget price too, of course!).


We went for both a dining setting and comfy sofa. It's not our main dining area, but a nice place to have a cup of coffee and read the paper, leaving the gate open to say hi to passing neighbours (we live on a very friendly street).

We chose a round Tolix dining table, as it's a small area, and matching Tolix stools for the kids. They're in galvanised steel so won't rust. Then we found some vibrant orange Fermob chairs on sale for the adults (aluminium, so again, won't rust).



The Elan sofa was a bit of a deal from Wintons Teak, as we got a second one for our back garden, and practically got them half price. They're in super practical black woven synthetic cane and outdoor fabric, but needed brightening up with some Yellow Front Door outdoor cushions.

For the cushions we chose a Trina Turk design "Jax" as felt the colours and the graphic, checkered pattern would go with the encaustic cement tiles (and our yellow front door!).

Once the front garden was complete, we felt we had to jazz up the back garden too as it was lacking functionality and a comfortable spot to sit and read or relax. So, I'm sorry trampoline, but you had to go! This opened up an area for lounging, so we put the second Elan sofa here, plus a couple of Ikea outdoor chairs.

For the cushions in the back garden we went for colourful Trina Turk ones again (I love her style) in "Arches in Bamboo" and "Peacock in Pool". We mixed them up with a few plain taupe ones to counter-balance the vibrancy of the others.

We also have a gazebo for dining, but always found it to be dark, dirty and oppressive. So we removed the ugly dark bamboo walls, and replaced them with vertical joint boards in fresh white, with a strip of perspex at the top which allows in the light also seals the area so it's now water-tight.

 

The problem with tarting up one thing is it makes the other areas look so shabby! So now we need to paint the dining table and buy new chairs and a stunning central pendant light to complete the look.

















To add some sparkle to your outdoor space, shop our Yellow Front Door outdoor cushions here yellowfrontdoor.com.au/outdoorcushionsonline/