Outdoor furniture for the Southwest!

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My top 5 tips for choosing outdoor furniture for the Southwest:

  1. Timeless: Outdoor furniture can be an investment, think of it just as you would your indoor furniture and get pieces that work with your style or a style that is timeless. Don’t rush into buying this furniture; take your time to explore all the options.
  2. Durability: For the Southwest climate I recommend metal furniture. Period. Wood furniture tends to have a difficult time without yearly maintenance in our climate. Plastic furniture can also be a good choice, just beware that our intense sun can sometimes discolor or cause it to crack. When shopping around keep in mind the type of sun exposure your furniture will have on a daily basis.
  3. Maintenance: Nothing is maintenance free, how much time you need to spend on your outdoor furniture will depend on what you buy. Metal typically lasts a lifetime. I especially like the perforated metal because it doesn’t collect dust as easily as glass top or wood topped tables. It’s important to check your outdoor furniture yearly to make sure it’s in tip top shape. Wood furniture should be re-sealed yearly, pillows
  4. Take chances with color: I know this seems exactly opposite of tip #5 but hear me out. Since these pieces are outside you can go a little crazy with color because you will most likely be surrounded by a green palette of plants. A little color never hurt no one, just stay within a complimentary color range.
  5. Pillows make it pop: Outdoor pillows are by far the simplest ways to enhance your outdoor living area. There are endless options and they can be found at almost any store. I’ve even seen them at my grocery store. Try to stay within a color range, but go wild with textures, patterns and sizes. It’s best to get pillows especially noted as outdoor pillows because these are made with specially treated fabrics. However, over time these pillows will fade so you can protect them yearly by spraying them with a fabric protection spray such as 303 High Tech Fabric Guard.
MLCoutdoorstores1
The At Home store located near Eubank in Albuquerque, NM is a great store for pillows, metal furniture and lightweight large pots. They have just about all the basis covered when it comes to outdoor living. But the variety of pillows shapes , designs and sizes is the best in the city.
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IKEA, known for stylish modern furniture at a great price, this holds true for their outdoor living items. But you must be quick their decor sells out fairly quickly. I like the Denver Ikea store called Centennial.
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Target has consistent stylish affordable furniture. It will do in a pinch, I was not thrilled with this years collections but you will find some cool items if you look around. I do enjoy their lanterns.
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A favorite in New Mexico, World Market has so many colorful eclectic items it’s no wonder they are able to keep things in stock. I love their Adirondack chairs, easy to clean outdoor rugs and small profile furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. says

    With summer almost here, I’ve been looking for some outdoor furniture. After reading your tips, I’ll make sure that I choose furniture that can handle being outside. I’ll also make sure to choose furniture that is easy to maintain. That way I’ll be able to enjoy the furniture and not worry about it breaking easily, or having to repair it.

  2. says

    I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog.
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  3. says

    I also really like the outdoor lanterns in the above pictures. They look like they all have candles in them, are they actually candles or are they electrical? The furniture itself doesn’t look too bad, could just use a bit of paint.

    • Jill Brown says

      Hi Sarah, yes the outdoor lanterns are pretty fun. Most of them are solar powered so yes electrical with batteries to aid in the solar powering of them. Most of the laterns are either from Target, At Home or Cost plus. Thank you so much for stopping by, great to see you on the blog.

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