Luxury garden furniture – you get what you pay for!

Some people can drop a few grand on luxury garden furniture without batting an eyelid. Most of us have to think before we buy. Whoever you are, it’s good to know the inside story behind the money bit. Here’s our take on whether buying luxurious outdoor furniture is worth it or an unnecessary expense. Is cheap actually better – or does good quality patio furniture like the models we’ve pictured here take the biccy?

The boots theory

The Sam Vimes theory of socioeconomic unfairness comes in handy here. An economic theory created by writer Sir Terry Pratchett in his Discworld book Men at Arms, it goes like this: poor people buy cheap boots, which wear out fast and have to be replaced frequently. Rich people buy good quality boots that last for years. In the long run, cheap things are actually more expensive: poor people ultimately pay more for their footwear than the rich.

The theory works beautifully for garden furniture. Buy as well as you can afford in the first place instead of being seduced by a teeny-weeny price tag for an investment that’ll last for many years. Choose something worth having, that you won’t have to replace time after time, ending up spending more than you would if you’d bought a fabulous set in the first place.

If it looks like a duck…

When it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck. If you’ve ever taken a good look at bargain garden furniture you’ll know the score. The weave sometimes isn’t woven at all. Just a weave pattern printed on a thin sheet of poor quality resin before being stretched around the frame, easily coming loose from its moorings, splitting with worrying ease and going baggy in no time.

It feels nasty too, and a nasty look and feel probably means the build isn’t very good either. It won’t be as comfortable as a quality set. The cushions will be thinner, made of materials without the right UV protection or decent weather resistance. The frames might feel a bit rickety. Add a few lively children to the recipe and a nice enough-looking new set soon starts to look as cheap as it was.

High quality materials mean less maintenance, too. You’ll have to work harder to keep a poorer quality set looking good, even if you buy a fitted cover – assuming there’s one available. We sell fitted protective covers for our Norfolk Leisure furniture sets because they’re worth it.

Yawn… what a boring weave

While resin weave is one of the most popular modern materials for outdoor furnishing, all weave is not equal. Flimsy stuff never works as well. You want a strong, rugged weave, ideally dyed in several toning shades to give you a look so natural you’d be forgiven for thinking it was real rattan vine, harvested by muscular chaps in exotic jungles far, far away.

Beautiful design, ergonomically sound, cool gadgetry

Good quality furniture is designed with care and attention to detail, as pleasurable to relax in as it is good to look at. Super-comfy outdoor sofas and chairs. Garden dining chairs you can sit in for ages without getting the fidgets or going stiff. Tables at the perfect height for fine dining or enjoying a cuppa. That’s what you want.

Then there are the extras that transform ordinary into special. Garden parasols with smooth-running mechanisms that make adjustments easy – no more collapsing canopies, trapped fingers or spending more time fighting your umbrella than actually sitting under it. Clever rise-up garden dining tables with a gas mechanism that sends the top up and down like magic without leaving you all sweary and sweaty. Big footstools with lovely firm cushions that double as low tables. The more thought goes into a design, the better it works and the more fun it is to use.

Low cost, not cheap

Some of our models might be relatively low cost but that’s a different animal from ‘cheap’. It’s more of a good value thing. Our thrilling sale events make luxury even more affordable. And you can always pay in instalments to spread the load.