Outdoor with style: best inspirations for your open-air spaces

Even if weather has not been being so good these days, making us quite forgetting it is springtime, we should not underestimate how summer is near! With those so hot months approaching, it is time to dedicate ourselves to all those spaces we just cannot think about winter. Terraces, gardens, solarium and pools are back in town, getting all the attention they deserve.

Every year the problem is: how may I décor them?

An issue might become very hard to solve, because in a moment you can find yourself with a wrong or unsuitable furnishing. Why? If you chose wooden furniture, you should know that not every kind of wood is suitable outside without the right treatment. To be clear, the most outdoor-suitable woods, without treatments, are acacia, chestnut, oak, olive, redwood, iroko and teak whereas, even if with continuous treatment, spruce, ash and pine are ok too. Avoid walnut, maple, beech, cherry, lime, and pear!
Pay attention to plastic too! They do not risk splitting with water for sure, true, but solar beams could make them deform or lose their original colour, fading it in a non-homogeneous way too.
How to understand if they are suitable outside? There are certificates of resistance to UV rays, a series of worldwide certifications that guarantee different degrees of tolerance to solar rays and material resistance. Still there are fabrics for the padded pieces that have the same problems: they could get faded or be not waterproof. Obviously, there are several materials specifically made for such situations, like polypropylene, PVC or acrylic fibre, and UV resistance certifications too. Long story made short: beware!

There’s a way, although, that makes you avoiding all this problems, making you choosing only by your personal taste without any troubles: you should trust only quality design furniture.

It sounds so naïve or trivial, but it is definitely not. The best design brands that start making outdoor furniture have a huge know-how and experience, a real guarantee of professional and quality. Do you like bad surprises? So why risking? At this point, everyone want to know which these brands are. In Italy we do have a very wide choice! However here you’ll find just a few products but that are the best of their category, trust Ciat Design!

Armchair

There are some very nice pieces here and all very interesting too: let’s start from the Inout 701 by Gervasoni, if you’d like a wooden complement (iroko for the outdoor), or you can consider the B&B Crinoline, if you’d rather like a traditional woven effect, even if made of polyethylene. If you want to be out of the box with style, here it is the Float armchair by Paola Lenti, a very cozy and extremely padded seat. If instead you are pointing to a more lively design, you can try with the Magis’ Spun, that everyone saw at the Expo in Milan.
 

Side Table

No seat is complete without the right side table. If you’re looking for originality, you can choose the Zeus by Zanotta, a very exclusive complement, realized in signed pieces, made of Glazed porcelain stoneware. B&B has very interesting ideas too, among which we suggest the Butterfly by Antonio Citterio, made of a complex woven of polypropylene fibre, fixed onto an aluminium frame, made for sustaining a fine marble top. In this selection could not ever miss a brad as Serralunga, which is totally dedicated to the outdoor furniture: here we suggest to have a look at the LouLou side table, equipped with an inner light, to create very suggestive atmospheres.

Sofa

This is the most hard part: there are so many stunning pieces it is a real pity to exclude anyone. We can start from Clea by Coro, an early news, for a cozy little sofa, padded and with an essential frame, to keep a traditional shape and being easily movable. To look for something more eclectic, there’s an ex aequo between B&B and Paola Lenti, who present two very interesting and particular circular sofas: Ease and Canasta ’13.

Chair

  A fundamental outdoor complement: both with armrests or not, with high or wrapping backrest, a chair remains a piece everyone needs and that could make the difference when many guests are there. The timeless B&B Husk by the archistar Patricia Urquiola comes into our top three, with the Cappellini’s Ant Chair and the Teak chair by Alias: aluminium net with big cushions for the former, wooden slats the latter. It’s up to you!

Table

Gervasoni’s Inout Is a true guarantee of quality for the outdoor furnishing, still for tables. Non only you have a wide choice for tops, but you’ll allowed to custom even the feet, choosing among porcelain, wood, teak and….you find out!
Even the Teak line by Alias well comes as a good alternative, if you’re looking for something small and easy to put away.

Sunshades and covers

Get tanning is a real pleasure, but pay attention! To protect yourself from the hottest solar beams during the day here there are the Coro proposals, such as the OBQ sunshade, with a solid side frame made of steel or the Ala cover by Paola Lenti, for a much more relaxing atmosphere, almost an English party one.

Pouf

  There’s nothing more comfortable than a pouf to fully enjoy the open air, taking advantage of a cozy and relaxed seat. The extraordinary success of the Zanotta’s Sacco is a real evidence of that, but Smile and Afra by Paola Lenti are a very interesting alternative, just not to talk about the Trimm Copenaghen and its Moon, Felix and Satellite seats.

A touch of originality!

What would ever be an outdoor party without a nice Barbeque? Coro provided also to that possibility, and proposes the coal and gas BBQ.
Another fundamental complement is a deckchair: very interesting the Loop folding one by Coro, fine and gracious the Croco rattan cots by Gervanosi, or there’s the Wave by Paola Lenti, that looks like a simple waved cushion without an external frame.
If unusual and unexpected is what you are seeking here’s one for you: the Adagio pendant seats by Paola Lenti. Another good idea is to re-discover a real classic piece, reinterpreted in an outdoor way. Which one? Just think about a rocking chair and you’ll have Summer Set by Varaschin.

So many ideas and so little time…hurry up and choose your favourite pieces and… keep an eye on our #PromoOfTheWeek: you’ll never know, maybe what you’re looking for is already on a special sale!

Salva