You’ve spent the last couple of months digging, pruning, weeding and painting your never-ending fence (or is that just us?) and you’ve spent the equivalent of a week in Malaga on your garden furniture but there’s still something missing, where are your outdoor textiles? You don’t spend any time out there because you’d rather be sat on your sofa with a cuppa watching the morning news and I’ll tell you why that is! You need to cosy up your garden space! 🙂

We recently changed our garden around, inspired by the Mediterranean (see my blog post about it here) and adding cushions, throws, rugs and sheepskins has completed our space.

Gone are the days when the only furniture to grace our patios and decking were Formica plastic chairs and tables, uncomfortable to sit on and sticky and sweaty in the summer.

Garden furniture has taken on a life of its own in recent years and we can now deck out our garden spaces with furniture even our living room would be proud of! So why not bring some soft furnishings outside as well and make your outdoor space home from living room home.

Adding cushions, throws, sheepskins and rugs are all a great addition to your outdoor living space.

What do I do with my outdoor textiles when it rains?

I think the biggest worry for people about adding soft furnishings to your garden is the age-old question “but, what if it rains?” We have shower proof cushions on our garden furniture so if the rain catches you unawares, it’s not a big deal.

There are so many fantastic garden products out there these days that are made for inclement weather, most of them can withstand the odd rain shower or two. And let’s face it, we’re British! We are obsessed with the weather so we know when it is going to rain or not and if we’re due for a massive downpour, our cushions and throws go in the garden shed! The rug stays outside, it’s an outdoor rug after all 🙂

Struggling where to start when it comes to buying some fabulous outdoor textiles for your garden? Here are some of my favourites –

Cushions

The best outdoor textiles to start with are some cushions. You could either bring some of your cushions from inside out into your garden or you could buy some outdoor cushions which will be able to withstand rain showers when they pop out of nowhere! This is the best way to inject some colour into your garden and you can easily mix and match with bench seat cushions, tassel fabrics and cushions for the floor.

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Rugs

One of my favourite additions to our garden recently has to be our Porto reversible blue/cream rug from Wayfair. As our garden space is mainly gravel, it’s easier on little feet when they refuse to wear shoes (is that just my kids?) and helps zone the garden.

If you have paving slabs or concrete flooring in your garden, rugs are brilliant ways to help soften the space and again inject some colour. A rug is a good place to start when choosing your outdoor living space colour scheme. Try to keep the accessories the same colours to give the space some continuity.

There are many outdoor rugs to choose from and yes, a lot of them you can leave outside. Flat weave rugs are very durable, can withstand the odd rain shower and are easy to wash. If you don’t want to keep bringing your rug outside and in, choose a rug made of plastic.

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My favourite pouffes

If you’re going to relax in your garden with your new fancy garden furniture, surely you’re going to need somewhere to put your feet up? Some of my favourite gardens on the ‘gram have wonderful jute and woven style pouffes which are great materials to withstand rain showers. Here are a few of my favourites –

The finishing touches to a cosy garden set up

Outdoor textiles do not just stop at cushions and rugs. If you are lucky enough to have big trees in your garden, hammocks are a great way to unwind in your garden and take you to a place of relaxation with their gentle rocking motion. As long as you can master the knack of getting into one!

Bean bags are also a great addition to the garden to lounge around on, especially if you have kids! They are also easy to bring indoors once it starts to rain.

And finally, throws! If you are like us and have added a lot of festoons and lighting in the garden, you may want to stay out long after the sun sets. But it can get quite nippy once it gets dark, so get some throws out there to keep you warm and snug.

I couldn’t say goodbye for now without adding a little something special! Seeing as I’m ex-military, I can’t resist a bit of camouflage and I love this Havina camouflage sail shade from La Redoute! This provides the perfect shade for your hot patio area and I love the patina and shadows it creates.

That’s it for now, I’m going outside to my garden with a cuppa, magazine and all my favourite outdoor textiles after the downpour we had yesterday! Have a lovely Sunday

Mel x