Here at The Range, we’re pretty much famous for our wide variety of super stylish and affordable Garden Furniture, so we know how important it is to care for them, whether they be made from wood, rattan, or metal. Read our guide below on how to fully look after and store your garden furniture during the colder months so you can make the most of your summers.
Before you store away your patio furniture, you should always clean it down, so that when you pull it out again the next summer, you won’t need to be washing all of last year’s grime off of it. For any upholstery that can be removed, such as cushion covers, simply pop it in the washing machine. For metal, wood, and rattan furniture, use warm, soapy water and gently scrub away at your furniture with a sponge. Use the light setting on a garden spray, or another round of warm, pure water, and rinse off the soap suds. Try to clean down your furniture on a windy, sunny day, as this will speed up the drying process.
Wherever you store your furniture, you should always lay a cover over it. We sell a wide array of covers for various kinds of patio furniture, from large circular covers to smaller square covers, covers specifically for stacking chairs, for swing benches, for parasols, and more. A cover will repel damp, dust, and grime from building up across your furniture throughout the winter. Covers can usually be tightened with cords to ensure a snug, secure fit. If you plan on leaving anything outside, you can weigh the cover down with rocks (place them over the table top or chair seats, for example) to stop the cover getting blown up and carried off by the wind.
The most effective way to protect your patio furniture is to store it away in a shed. This is much easier than it might seem if you look at all your chairs, tables, and loungers right now. Most chairs will either fold up or stack to help you save space. There’s a high chance loungers and tables will also be foldable for the same reason. Keeping your furniture in a shed is a sure way to protect it from damp and dirt, especially with a cover as an extra layer.
Decent sheds should be made from either wood or metal to ensure they are weather-resistant and rain-proof. Sheds are available in a variety of sizes, sop make sure you get one with a large, spacious inside in order to keep your patio furniture safe over the winter; if it's big enough, it may even leave room for some more garden tools afterwards.
Storing your patio furniture effectively really can help improve its lifespan by years, so it's definitely worth it.
