2014 Season Highlights--What's New?

We talked last week about a few new trends for the upcoming patio season, but we only covered a couple of big ones, like "outdoor kitchens" (which usually involve patio furniture table & chair combos), and "bright colors". There's a lot of different looks and ideas floating around for 2014! We can't possibly cover all of them, but we're sharing the rest of our current favorites. Hopefully, you'll be inspired to get started after you check out the pics and information below!


MIXING IT UP
 
This year, we're seeing a lot of "mix and match" styles, pairing newer types of furniture with older style looks, instead of having everything match precisely--in other words, it's okay to be a little adventuresome. Thing is, to do it tastefully (if not artfully), you may really need to experiment with different looks before you settle on something. One good example we found was pairing cast aluminum or wrought-iron furniture with wicker:

CAST ALUMINUM

Speaking of cast aluminum, this is a material that is producing some amazing patio furniture. The best thing about it is that it doesn't look like the old-fashioned, cheesy aluminum from the last century, it's really updated and fresh and is easy to take care of:

FIREPITS

Firepits may be one of the biggest trends going right now. What's nice about these is that you can build your own, and make it look great (and safe, and useful!), or you can buy a set of outdoor furniture with a firepit styled as a coffee table. SO cozy! Tommy Bahama has a beautiful combo table/firepit this year from their Island Estate line--just gorgeous:

We also found a great link to all things firepit-related, and wanted to share it. Firepits are bound to be very popular for some time to come. Heck, with this spring seeing March coming in like a lion, ours has gotten a workout already!



DEEP SEATING FURNITURE


This is less of a 'trend' than it is just plain popular. But, it seems to really be taking off this year, as consumers are looking more than ever to move their indoors to the outdoors. They're looking for real comfort in their outdoor patio furniture. You never want to have your guests feel like they're sitting on a slab of wood! The deeper the cushion, the richer and more luxuriant the furniture looks. If you consider your patio furniture to be a good, longer-term investment, and plan on spending a lot of time sitting on it, you definitely want it to be as cozy and inviting as possible:

AND--if you've got the furniture, but your cushions are looking a little flat or wilted (or worse), we've got you covered with our collection of patio furniture cushions. We custom make them for a lot of different brands and styles of fine outdoor furniture, and we have some terrific colors this year.

We could do this trend-finding thing all day, and surely wouldn't cover them all. If you know of a trend you think you'd like to see us cover, or you have other suggestions for our blog, don't ever hesitate to drop us a line at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!