Time for new outdoor furniture? San Diego design experts share their must

Now that the sun is finally breaking out and San Diego is ready to return to outdoor living after a chilly wet winter and gray spring, that furniture of yours may be ready for a reset. If your Adirondack chairs are splitting, your lounge chairs are rusting and that dining set is cracking, it’s probably time to invest in new outdoor furnishings.

You aren’t alone. Research firm IBISWorld measured the U.S. market for outdoor furniture by revenue, at $9.2 billion in 2022, and expects it to continue to grow.

But unless you like “fast furniture,” which has a short life span and is usually made of cheap plastic that’s not environmentally sound, you are probably going to want to look for pieces made of quality materials, some of which could require some maintenance to keep them in good condition, instead of rusting, fading, cracking or otherwise falling apart within a season or two.

The first question to ask yourself is, what do you need, and do you have space for it? It essentially comes down to how you use your space.

“How do you entertain? Is it just two of you? Is it just the family? Do you have parties? What would you love to do when you’re outside?”

These are some of the questions interior designer Rebecca Soechtig of REDinterior, based in La Jolla, asks her clients when the project extends to their outdoor spaces.

Just because you host the annual Fourth of July party for friends and family doesn’t mean you need a table that seats 20 if the rest of the year, it’s mostly your immediately family of four having dinner outside or your teenagers hanging out by the pool. Perhaps you can find a pingpong table that converts to a dining table for a multiuse piece of furniture. Or buy benches to squeeze in a few more people, as Soechtig suggested.

“A bench is also wonderful because you can move it from the table to a fire pit,” she pointed out. “If most of the time you use the space with four to six people, but once a month you entertain between 10 and 12 people, having benches means you don’t have to have six extra chairs sitting around when it’s just the six of you.”

Depending on the size of your space — especially if you’re outfitting a small- to medium-size balcony, patio or terrace — be sure to measure the space and take the measurements, a tape measure and photos with you to stores. That way, a sales assistant can help you determine what size pieces will work, based on how you want to organize the space. You need enough room to maneuver between lounge chairs, a grill and a dining set — and, yes, plants — without feeling cramped. And don’t forget that you may want to include a coffee table or side table or two, so keep that in mind.

And if you’re going to be installing a new grilling space, landscape architect Ari Tenenbaum of Revolution Landscape — owned by Tenenbaum and partner Jeffrey Robbins and with three San Diego County locations — suggested bar seating. It is narrower than a table, so it doesn’t take up a lot of space yet adds some casual seating.

Once you have a sense of the pieces you need, their size and placement, it’s time to think about materials — both hard and soft. When it comes to the hard materials for chairs and tables, Tenenbaum is a fan of teak.

“Teak is a very durable material,” he explained. “I think it performs best if it’s seasoned on a semi-regular basis. But, if you do nothing it’s not going to rot. Yes, it will gray, though, and potentially be more prone to splinters, but it will last a long time.”

Steve Elton, chief brand curator of brand Brown Jordan, believes that aluminum is the best outdoor material.

“Aluminum will hold up over the course of time,” he said. “Aluminum is very light so it’s easy to work with, it’s easy to move around. And it conducts paint extremely well. It’s especially great for climates in San Diego.

“If the frame is prepared correctly, it will hold a powder-coated finish very well — and you can find it in different styles and colors.”

He also acknowledged that furniture made from high-density polyethene (HDPE), which is partially made from recycled plastics, is durable and can be found in wicker and rattan designs as well as flat surfaces. Such outdoor furniture is sold by retailers from Wayfair and Lowe’s to Room & Board and Hauser’s Patio, in San Diego’s Morena neighborhood.

Stay away from cheap synthetics using low-quality PVC, which breaks down fast and is toxic, and cheap frames made of thin steel. If you go with soft wood, like pine, be prepared for maintenance, like waterproof sealing or staining, using products that provide UV protection and are designed to resist moisture and weathering.

For soft materials, like cushions and pillows, look for solution-dyed acrylics like Sunbrella. They are mold- and mildew-resistant — and depending on how well you take care of them, they can last up to 15 years. Also important: They won’t fade or degrade because the colors are part of the yarn, not printed onto the fabric.

“It’s the most durable and colorfast of all the fabrics,” said Soechtig. She also advised buyers that, if it’s in the budget, to seek pillows and cushions with zippers so they can be laundered.

According to Elton, “You can wash the cover on a gentle cycle with detergent and then air them dry.”

Soechtig also pointed out that indoor and outdoor cushions are made differently.

“Exterior cushions are made so that water drains through them,” she explained. “They don’t hold water, so they dry out faster.”

The best insert material is quick-drying foam, known as reticulated or open-cell foam.

If you aren’t going to use the furniture much in fall and winter — consider our very rainy recent winter — a good cover can go a long way in protecting it. Elton suggested, again, solution-dyed acrylic with a coating on it that will just create beading of the water.

“But they can’t be too heavy because you don’t want them to be cumbersome,” he noted. “And make sure that the covers’ backing won’t stick to the frame or melt on the frame and break the frame’s structural integrity. Feel it and touch it. If you buy one from one of the better brands, you should be OK.”

Finally, don’t forget about umbrellas. Tenenbaum is big on cantilever umbrellas.

“Some people gravitate to pergolas to create shade, but sometimes an umbrella is a way better call, because when you build a pergola, it provides you shade in a fixed space,” he noted. “Whereas, when you have an umbrella, you can move it around, you can change the angle, you can get shade where you actually want it, when you want it.”

Of course, Tenenbaum is talking about pricey premium umbrellas that he said are huge but durable and easy to operate. Retailers like Hauser’s Patio, where he often buys furniture for clients, has umbrellas, including cantilever umbrellas, in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, materials and features, some of which have a rotation feature to swivel and follow the sun.

Soechtig joked that you can’t pay too much for a good umbrella stand so that your umbrella doesn’t tip over.

“I’ve had clients in the past that have had umbrella stands and they’ve gone through five or six different ones because they just don’t hold the umbrella,” she said. “So, your stand has to be the right size and weight for the size and weight of your umbrella.”

Golden is a San Diego freelance writer and blogger.