If you live in a warm climate, chances are your house or apartment will have an outdoor setting where you love to sit during the warmer months.
In Australia for example, many families spend a great deal of their time on the verandah or deck, enjoying the cool breeze rather than being holed up inside a stuffy room.
So for people who must endure hot sticky months, these outdoor areas often become just as important to decorate as an indoor living room.
Choosing the right fabric for your outdoor cushions Outdoor cushions, by virtue of their very name, must be a lot more hardy and durable than their indoor counterparts.
Even if your cushions will be left in a covered area, they will still endure much harsher conditions than if they were indoors as there will be things like dust and moisture from the air to contend with.
For this reason it is important to choose the fabric of your outdoor cushions wisely.
While it can be tempting to buy cushions made from linen or cotton to create a relaxed and comfortable area, unless you are willing to put these cushions out each time you want to use them and take them back indoors when you are done, this might not be the best choice.
Similarly, silk and leather cushions will require a lot of care to keep them protected from the elements.
An excellent alternative to indoor fabrics is cotton canvas and duck canvas.
These materials are plain woven fabrics and they are a lot more durable and hard-wearing that any of the materials mentioned above.
If you are worried about the comfort factor then go for duck canvas as it is more tightly woven and therefore smoother than cotton canvas.
These materials also dye easily so they come in lots of wonderful colours and patterns which is exactly what you want for an outdoor setting.
Choosing the right cushions for your outdoor setting Outdoor furniture is often bought first for its ability to weather the elements and then for its looks.
It's important to get an outdoor setting that will last rather get something that looks fabulous in the shop but will fade quickly after a month of sitting outside.
Because of this, it is often necessary to use other methods to bring some colour and style to your outdoor space and cushions are an excellent way to do this.
Adding some well-selected outdoor cushions allows you to splash some colour around your outdoor area.
Often you are starting on a clean slate as most colours in outdoor areas are neutral.
This means that you can have the most fun with outdoor cushions because you are not trying to match your cushions to other elements in your room like you would be doing when purchasing indoor cushions.
For this reason we recommend choosing some bright bold colours for your outdoor area.
We also suggest not sticking to the one colour or pattern but mixing it up a bit.
Stripes are an excellent choice for outdoor cushions, especially if you get a range of different colours.
Sticking to primary colours can be a good way to add some bright bold colours to your outdoor space while safe in the knowledge that your colours will match.
Alternatively, choose two or three different types of cushions that have a few central colours running through them and buy a pair of each.
Also, don't be afraid to mix up the size and shape of your cushions.
Adding a few rectangles or different sized square cushions can be an excellent way to improve the look of your outdoor area.