Adding some furniture to your garden comes with a couple of enjoyable benefits. The aesthetics, comfort, and the relaxing opportunity to enjoy the beautiful landscape are undefeated. However, harsh weather conditions can ruin the appeal of our garden furniture, and only protective covers can keep them safe. Just like your indoor furniture with protective covers like the L-shaped sofa cover, your outdoor furniture needs some protection too.
You are probably reading this article because you got the memo on covering your garden furniture late. Well, not to worry, you can get them to look as good as new again.
Here are a few tips on restoring your garden furniture:
How to Restore Wooden Garden Furniture
Wooden garden furniture comes in different forms. They all require special maintenance and preservation methods. Unlike other wood types, the quality of softwood may decline faster unless a wood preserver has been used to pretreat them. Either way, your wooden furniture can be left in your garden all year round, but be expecting a silvery gray finish that makes it look dull and unattractive. So, here’s how to restore their appeal for summer:
- Brush off dust and cobwebs off of your furniture
- Sand off rough surfaces using light or medium-grade sandpaper. Be sure to sand in the same direction as the wood grain while applying little pressure.
- Clean your furniture with soap and water and then leave it to dry.
- Apply a furniture restorer, wood stain, or wood paint to get its color and glow back. Use an abrasive pad to work it into the wood.
- Apply teak oil for hardwood. Since most pieces of hardwood garden furniture are made of teak, you’ll need to apply teak oil to them after sanding. Apply generously using a large brush and work it into the wood using a rag.
- Clean off excess oil using a microfiber rag.
- Keep furniture in a shed until next use.
How to Restore Plastic Garden Furniture
Plastic garden furniture cannot deteriorate easily. However, leaving them outside can get them all gray. Follow these steps to get their groove back on.
- Dissolve a pack of soda crystals in a bowl of hot water.
- Apply using a sponge. Using an abrasive will leave marks on them.
- Leave the soda to clean your plastic furniture extensively.
- Rinse off with water and dry with a microfiber rag.
Extra tip: Use soap and bleach in situations when you have some spots unreachable for soda crystals.
How to Restore Metal Garden Furniture
If you prefer low-maintenance furniture, metal garden furniture is the right choice. You may not experience any gray finish but rust patches. To contain the rust from spreading, you’d need to do the following;
- Brush the rusts off with wire wool.
- Paint over rust using Rust-Metal paint.
- Leave your freshly painted furniture to dry.
Conclusion
Restoring your garden furniture is an easy and satisfying process. You don’t need to hire a professional to get the job done. As easy as it may seem, it can get pretty annoying doing it repeatedly. Hence, the need to protect your furniture should be of major concern. To protect your garden furniture and save you the energy of having to clean them too frequently, getting an outdoor furniture cover is just the right thing to do. This way, you don’t have to miss out on the cool summer breeze and all the fun activities you can have on your garden furniture.