Farmhouse Garden Furniture
Farmhouse garden furniture is otherwise called rustic garden
furniture and harkens back to the old days of farms and country
living. It is a style all of its own and is fairly distinctive.
Generally, farmhouse garden furniture is lumpy, massive and
heavy. Occasionally it is roughly hewn, but that is not always
the case although it is hardly ever carved in great detail.
Farmhouse garden furniture is built to last.
Farmhouse garden furniture encompasses the whole assortment
of garden furniture such as tables, chairs, benches, gazebos
and arbours. Farmhouse garden furniture is usually made of
local timber, but can also be made of iron.
To compliment the garden furniture, there is also indoor
furniture in the farmhouse style although this may be a little
finer, a little less heavy so that it can be moved around for
cleaning purposes.
Farmhouse garden furniture is normally manufactured from
local hardwood such as oak, cherry, maple, mahogany, teak or
beech, but in fact anything that is to hand. Softwood, such as
pine, is cheaper, but it does not normally last as long as
hardwood even if it is taken care of regularly and
properly.
Hardwood furniture can be stained, oiled or varnished,
although it is normally best to just rub linseed oil into the
natural wood. A little staining may help bring out the
beautiful natural graining in the timber.
Softwood garden furniture is normally full of knots which
many people find unsightly. If this is how you think, then you
can give the furniture three coats of paint in order to
safeguard it.
If however, the knots do not bother you, you can stain and
varnish it instead. In either case, all farmhouse garden
furniture should be treated every year in the autumn; that is
when the sun is no longer at its hottest and before the rain
and cold weather set in. The problem with anything manufactured
of any timber is rot.
Hardwood contains more natural oils than softwood so it is
better able to protect itself, but all timber stops producing
these oils when you kill it by cutting it down. The oil on the
surface is dried out by the sun and these dry areas then draw
some oil up from deeper inside itself, but the further inside
it needs to suck the oil from the less it can suck, which
means that sooner or later the outside becomes dry and then it
will take in water.
When that occurs, rot has set in. Hardwood can last a few of
years before it gets to this wretched state, but softwood will
probably last less than a year. This is why you have to seal
the oil in and the water out with paint or varnish in the
instance of softwood or restock the oil by rubbing in linseed
oil in the case of hardwood.
You could paint hardwood too if you want to, but most people
buy hardwood farmhouse garden furniture because it has a lovely
grain and paint would only cover up that grain. Decent
farmhouse garden furniture is not cheap, but it is beautiful, a
problem to steal and will last a lifetime if well looked after
by a couple of hours maintenance once a year.
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