Outdoor Furniture That Can Stay Outside

At Design Warehouse we pride ourselves on the fact that when you buy from our outdoor collection, you are buying for all four seasons. We have carefully sourced some of the world’s most incredible, next generation weather resistant materials, and combined them with impeccable design for all-weather furniture that you will love for a lifetime.

Read on for a little education about why we have chosen some of our key materials, and why we love them so much…

Why we love Grade-A Teak

Grade-A Teak is a dream wood to work with when you’re looking to create beautiful all weather furniture, for so many reasons. Grade-A Teak is a perfect material for this type of furniture (sunbeds and loungers included), and is famous for the weather resistance and good looks it has shown over the last several centuries in use. Teak offers sun and UV resistance, weathers evenly and comes with a proud and handsome patina that takes on a beautiful silvery sheen. Rot and moisture resistance are another couple of attributes that have made teak wood such a constant presence in the marine environment, like on the boats of luxury yachts. In your own outdoor space, teak wood offers low maintenance relative to other hardwoods and represents a lifetime purchase, that shouldn’t ever need replacement.  

Why we love 316 Stainless Steel

Not just any stainless, 316 Stainless Steel is another perfect material for all weather furniture thanks to its good looks and long lasting resistance to corrosion. We feature 316 Stainless Steel heavily in our range of furniture, due largely to the fact that it is marine quality and thus deters rust, and other damage. It also looks absolutely incredible, and is easy to maintain.

Marine Grade stainless steel, as many in the industry know 316, is the top echelon of grading within the category of stainless steels that are used for the outdoor furniture industry. It is an alloy that employs higher content of nickel and molybdenum: components that give a higher level of resistance to oxidation and offer a bit of extra toughness to the alloy. 316 Stainless Steel is more resistant to pitting, scratching and rusting, and its surface finish capabilities also allow a beautiful micro polished or micro-brushed finish to be applied to the stainless for long-term good looks.

Treated properly and cleaned when necessary, 316 Stainless Steel is capable of providing you with a lifetime of enjoyment, whether it’s used for a dining set, sun lounger, relaxing chair or more. Cleaned and maintained regularly, this hardy material will also continue to provide the same attractive qualities you saw when you originally purchased your outdoor furniture.  

Why we love Batyline®

Batyline® is a fabric made with polyester fibre and finished with an outer layer of PVC, and you’ll find it everywhere in our offering including the beautiful Cannes Teak Directors Chair (right), Summer Relaxing Chair and more. Its unique combination of fabrics creates extreme durability with special characteristics including a low total stretch, no instance of cracking and very good resistance to natural environmental elements.  

Because Batyline® only stretches to a maximum of three per cent across all surfaces, the fabric doesn’t experience the normal pocketing and deformation of lesser sling type fabrics. This makes Batyline® ideal for lounge furniture or those pieces which must retain showroom quality good looks while also staying outdoors year round. The bit of stretch it does allow creates a comfortable and resilient seating surface, and eliminates the need for cushions. In addition, saltwater, chlorine, and most normal household chemicals won’t negatively affect Batyline® material, which makes it a perfect poolside lounging fabric or for chairs that will consistently be exposed to relatively harsh conditions. This, plus the inherent elasticity and “memory” of Batyline® fabric ensures that your outdoor furniture looks the same as when you bought it after many sunny outdoor days.  

Why we love Viro®, Ecolene® and Rehau®

Viro®, Ecolene® and Rehau® are the globally renowned manufacturers of the outdoor wicker options that we work with for a plethora of reasons. We have chosen these makers because the materials they create have an amazing ability to hold shape, colour and stability over many years of use in a variety of extreme conditions. Design Warehouse sources these resin wicker fibres and then manufactures high quality wicker outdoor furniture in Indonesia, where it is well known that the finest quality craftsmen in wicker produce furniture. This results in the finest possible wicker outdoor furniture for our clients.

These fantastic fibres are among the most resilient in the outdoor furniture industry and have the added benefits of being cool to the touch, even in the hottest sun. Our outdoor wicker is also resistant to oils, solvents and chlorine, making it perfect for poolside furniture that will last through any weather. You can rest assured that our wicker patio chairs and wicker outdoor lounge furniture  won’t rot, crack, warp or mildew, making them true all weather heroes.

Why we love Sunbrella®

We can’t rave enough about the unique makeup of Sunbrella® fibres, which come saturated with highly UV stable pigments. Traditional dyeing methods only add colour to the fibre’s exterior, but Sunbrella®’s performance characteristics are an integral part of the fabric. This means they are not an applied finish that would wash off over time, and will maintain their signature hue for many years to come.

We use Sunbrella® to produce our premium quality outdoor umbrella options, and we use their high performance fabric on our deep seating furniture too, as well any relaxing and dining chairs that have cushions. It is important that we use the best, and of particular note is the fact that the Sunbrella® family is worldwide. If our furniture is sourced from Italy, it comes with Sunbrella® Italy fabric. If it is from Belgium or France or Holland? It is from Sunbrella® Europe. And lastly, for our New Zealand and Australian Design Warehouse clients, it comes from New Zealand.

We are forever thankful that Sunbrella® is part of our beautiful outdoor furniture family, and we can’t place enough emphasis on what an honour that is.

If you have more questions about any of the above weather resistant materials and the furniture that we use it on, don’t hesitate to call us or drop into our Parnell showroom today. Our pieces come fully assembled and can be picked up, ready to go from our distribution centre. Alternatively, we can ship your new pieces to anywhere, you might be using our astute delivery service.

Design Warehouse has been manufacturing and supplying luxury outdoor furniture to architects, designers, landscapers, hotels, resorts and private residences for over 25 years, so when we say we know what’s best for outdoor style… you can rest assured that we have the knowledge to back it up.