It was a hot summer. You’d be hard pressed to find someone not looking forward to some relief from the heat. But then you cast a longing glance at your patio furniture. With all the extreme heat, you just haven’t had enough quality time together.
But temperatures will soon be dipping, clouds rolling in with new ideas, and leaves beginning their colorful exit.
Time to head inside, right? Not so fast, friend.
Some of the outdoor season’s best moments lie ahead. Evenings are a bit cooler, dinner outside is all the more appealing, firepits are suddenly fit for snuggling up to, and morning coffee on the porch includes a throw blanket and both hands wrapped around your favorite mug.
Porch and patio season isn’t over. At least not with the right upholstery fabrics to help your outdoor space find its autumn awesomeness. Let’s fall in love with the next porch season.
How Small Shifts Keep The Vibes Going In Your Backyard This Fall
Shifting your outdoor design for autumn is less an either/or and more a both/and process. It’s like traveling on the fringe of a season and packing accordingly.
In other words, don’t shut the backyard down. Shift it slightly. Maybe reduce it a bit. Look at a spot where you naturally gather (fire pit anyone?), and use upholstery to give it a little seasonal staying power.
Like outdoor dining chair cushions in a pear green damask performance basketweave. Or a front porch sofa in earthy saddle brown woven jacquard, with pillows in wine red, muted gold, or dusky sky blue jacquard.
Keeping an autumn outdoor footprint doesn’t mean staying ready to host a sprawling barbeque and slip n’ slide. It’s more a shift in design conversation, honoring that summer’s over, but declaring the serenity it offers and chance to connect outdoors isn’t.
The Simplest Way To Choose Fall Patio Fabrics That Perform
Sunscreen, milk, and fabrics have something in common, namely, a confounding array of choices. SPF what? Whole milk? 2%? Skim?
Take it from us here at the largest online upholstery fabric store, there are a lot of terms making a lot of promises, like water-resistant, weather-resistant, water-repellent, waterproof, etc.
Allow us to simplify things. (Fabric things, not milk).
Start with where fabrics will live in your world. What does the fabric you choose need to be able to handle? That’s all that matters for you.
Yes, you’ll likely want outdoor performance fabrics, perhaps even heavy-duty marine fabrics — depending on your needs. Because furniture under a covered porch has different needs than furniture fully exposed to drizzle, dew, and whatever else the weather blows in.
The point isn’t to be able to withstand the monsoon season. The point is to make a damp day a bit less of a damper on a delightful evening.
How Fall Outdoor Fabrics Bring Indoor Cozy Outside
Here’s the thing about coziness. It isn’t just about weight, it’s a visual thing, too. Like that shirt in your closet that isn’t heavy, but feels wonderful against your skin and your bestie constantly wants to touch it whenever you wear it.
We say it a lot (and it’s true every time), today’s performance fabrics have liberated you to make much different design choices than you used to have to. This is especially true when we’re talking about outdoor fabrics.
Keeping in mind the needs of your actual outdoor situation, now’s a great time to bring in some fabrics that look and feel cozier.
Like an outdoor sofa in a textured flax natural tone tweed-like woven jacquard. Or Adirondack chairs with a seasonal upgrade in forest green denim, pond blue jacquard, or cayenne orange tweed.
Performance fabrics that offer an indoor-softness, like bouclé, linen, tweed, jacquard and others, encourage more hours outdoors before the weather truly turns. Because fabrics that look cozy offer that feeling even before you or your guests sit down.
Choose Outdoor Fabrics By Where Your Furniture Actually Lives
Let’s circle back to the question at the heart of your fall outdoor refresh: Where does your furniture live?
Let’s say your sectional is deep under a covered porch. You’ll do fine with most outdoor performance fabrics and you can play more with texture, like a caramel brown and silver abstract geometric pattern and/or a dune beige nubby textured fabric.
Flipside.
If your furniture lives outside, a fabric better protected from the weather would be helpful. Like patio furniture around a fire pit in burgundy woven heavy-duty polyester, also flame retardant by the way.
And custom pillows are a quick and affordable way to mix things up any season. Like some classic fern green and cream stripes, an indigo blue woven fabric, and a rust orange outdoor velvet.
The season is changing, but where your outdoor furniture lives probably isn’t. Resist the urge to shop performance adjectives alone, focus on shopping for your needs instead. Give us a call, whether you just need someone to bounce ideas off, or help start to finish.
How Layering Outdoor Fabrics Adds Warmth And Style For Fall
Fall means you get to layer up again. For your patio furniture, that likely includes throw blankets, maybe even an outdoor heater if you’re fancy. But there are other ways to snuggle-up your set-up.
Pull your outdoor footprint closer together, or rearrange around a new focal point like a fire pit. And this is a great time for slipcovering, reupholstering, or adding pillows.
No need to go full-on harvest fest, just shift things in a seasonal direction. Like adding richer colors and textures, perhaps pairing chocolate brown and smokey slate blue outdoor velvets.
Or create a subtle fall theme with foundations in truffle brown tweed and accents in shadow beige and taupe abstract geometric print, a nubby flax and green chevron herringbone, and a harvest orange velvet.
Consider covering exposed pieces with outdoor furniture slipcovers in hemp beige, seagull grey, or burgundy red marine polyester.
This isn’t about defeating mother nature. (She has a deeper game than you.) This is about meeting her where she is — and having the experience you want.
Autumn Awaits: Take A Rain Check On Packing Up The Patio
Today’s takeaway is you can take a rain check on taking a rain check on your outdoor adventures this fall.
Yes, summer offers its opportunities for outdoor lounging. But fall holds a new kind of magic with the arrival of the perfect kind of weather for being outside. However, your furniture might want to change clothes a bit.
Thanks to today’s fabrics, this fall you can go ahead and have dinner outside with friends, gather up around the fire, or enjoy your morning coffee on your porch. Just add fabrics made for the conditions where you are and offer the textures, invite, and colors fit for the season — and the way you live.
We’re here with all the fabrics you need to create your cozy outdoor vibe, and we’d love to help you perfect the welcome you offer for your alfresco autumn.
Patio season isn’t ending. It’s hitting the sweet spot.
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