It’s amazing how some people look at the same object with varying perspectives. Sixteen year-old “Susan” sees an old, gold necklace as a means for some fast cash, while her grandma sees it as a relic of their family ancestry. Or maybe nineteen year-old “Johnny” sees a brand new tablet as a cool gaming device, while his dad sees it as the perfect tool to manage his documents outside of the office.

When it comes to your furniture, a similar thing can occur. Although you know that your furniture has a special purpose, your children and your pets may see it as something to play with. Therefore, it is important that you keep your outdoor dining set in the best environment possible so that it doesn’t become a toy. But how do you keep your furniture safe from the hands of your smallest family members? While it can be a challenge, there are ways to do it without having to take drastic measures.

Threats to Your Furniture

Your outdoor furniture is like an animal in the wild with natural predators. As you know, if it is lower on the food chain, it has more enemies to deal with. Likewise, your kids and pets are two natural enemies, which roam your backyard and pose a threat to your furniture. While they won’t try to eat a chair or cushion, they may cause damage due to their activities around the furniture or with direct contact as they play.

Furniture Misery: Child’s Play at Work

Your children are the most precious thing to you, and they’ll remain that way even as they grow up. However, there’s no denying that they can be troublemakers at times, and they aren’t always easy to handle. Aside from things like broken windows and vases, kids are notorious for ruining furniture.

• Spills– You’ve dealt with this before. Kids like to fill their glasses and cups to the rim, and if they’ve mastered the art of holding it properly, the vessel topples. Spills aren’t always a big problem, but for certain types of material and colours (white), things like fruit punch and sodas can leave difficult-to-remove and unsightly blemishes.
• Stains – Kids love their crayons and markers. They’ll focus their attention on their colouring books or the pictures they draw rather than the furniture they are sitting on. As a result, an open marker or gel pen might leak onto the furniture, and it may even scratch it. Trying to clean it up is no fun at all!
• Tears & Scratches – Your kids may even use your outdoor dining set as a playground, so you’ll need to watch out for that. For example, a table might become the new driving lot for toy cars, and you know that this could lead to scratches on the surface.

Making Your Furniture Set Child Proof

If you have children, does this mean that your outdoor furniture is doomed to an existence of ripped fabric and ink stains? Of course not! There are many methods you can use to keep your outdoor dining set safe from your kids’ activities, and they don’t involve huge amounts of time or money.

• Establish Boundaries! – Keeping your outdoor furniture safe starts with you. You need to set clear boundaries, so that your children know what they are allowed and not allowed to do on your furniture. For example, you might tell them to avoid eating and drinking on certain pieces of furniture. Also, you might have to restrict the use of pens and markers to their own bedrooms, and you might have to do the same with toys and objects that scratch.
• Protective Finishing – Kids will break rules sometimes, so it’s good to have a backup plan. Stain-resistant coatings and spray-on finishes can be a great way to minimize the appearance of stains. Furniture sets often come with these finishes, but you can always pick up a stain remover as your plan B in the event of a spill or stain.
• Covers, Coasters, and Mats – A simple and effective way to keep your furniture in good condition, is with protective covering. When your furniture is not in use, you can protect it with a cover, and this works as a deterrent for kids who may get too close. Also, a cover keeps your dining set safe from the elements. While your dining set is in use, make sure that you use mats and coasters to prevent liquids from forming sticky spots on tables.

When Pets Get Too Playful

If you have pets, you most likely view them as precious family members in addition to your kids. They too, however, can be a nuisance around your outdoor dining set, and you should pay close attention to them when they roam nearby.

• Claws & Scratches – Some animals, especially cats, are known to enjoy using their claws when they don’t need to. If you’ve been scratched by a cat before, you know how powerful their claws are. When they scratch a material like leather, they dig deep, and they can easily tear away at the fabric.
• Going to the ‘Bathroom’ – While cats love to use their claws, they’re pretty good at using their litter box as a routine. Dogs, and other animals, however, sometimes forget that furniture is not the place to use the ‘bathroom’. When a pet has an accident on your furniture, it leaves more than just a foul smell. It often leads to deep stains that are difficult to remove.

Put Their Paws on Pause

Yes, pets can be like your kids since they aren’t aware of what you’ll have to go through if they mess it up. However, if you have a feisty feline or canine family member, you can still keep your outdoor dining set safe from their activities.

• Take them to school – One way to keep your pets under control is by putting them in training. A good instructor understands what makes animals tick, and they will use effective methods to make sure that pets learn to avoid making your furniture their playground. Remember that pets are pretty good at understanding you when you scold them for certain behaviours. Therefore, don’t be afraid to let them know when they cross the line.
• Give them a distraction – Pets sometimes attack furniture out of boredom. Therefore, make sure to give your furry friend toys and other objects that occupy their time. A cat post is perfect for your kitty if he or she loves to use their claws, and a chewing ball can be the right distraction for your dog if he or she loves to nibble on fabrics.

Vulnerable Surfaces

There are some types of furniture that have an easier time of sustaining damage. You most likely have at least one or more of these furniture types in your home, so it’s good to know how you can keep them safe.

• Wood – Prone to spots and blemishes (grease, crayons, paint), and gum spots
• Leather – Prone to tears (claws, sharp toys) and blemishes (paint, nail polish, ink)
• Glass – Scratches easily, can break easily if a child or pet accidentally topples glass object (also could lead to serious injury)

Keep Your Furniture in One Piece

It is certainly a challenge to keep furniture safe from the hands of kids and pets. However, it doesn’t have to be an impossible one! With the right mix of planning, boundaries, and protective measures, you can keep your outdoor dining set in tip top shape. You can keep your items safe from damage without having to spend an excess amount of time or money. All it takes are a few simple measures to keep your set free from the damage of meddling kids and pets. Make the effort to safeguard your set, and you will free yourself from the burdens of ruined furniture!

For more information on outdoor dining set maintenance, visit the Beliani website.

Have you ever heard the saying “keeping up with the Joneses”? This cliché refers to the idea of buying things for the sake of having them, not for the purchase itself. The end result of hasty buying and looking for appearance over function can be expensive, wasteful, and frustrating.
When we get a home with a space for outdoor furniture, be it a patio, a backyard, or a balcony, we’re generally very excited for the new possibilities. 

We look at the space and see assorted ideas: pool parties with friends, a barbecue where we can debut our newest masterpiece from the grill, or a place for the kids to run and play. It’s no surprise that we immediately want to decorate our new space and fill it with beautiful pieces of furniture, or assemble exquisite outdoor furniture sets. There are so many options for you to choose from: material, style, size, and price, that it’s easy to get lost in the details. Many shoppers begin to lose vision of the forest for the trees; the big picture is lost for all the small choices. When looking at the many variables, you must always remember to consider the vendor of your purchases. Are they trustworthy? Do they have a good reputation? Will you be struck with a terrible case of buyer’s remorse? Every large purchase comes with an element of risk that must be handled carefully. If you treat picking up your outdoor patio furniture like a military operation, where you focus on getting in and out as quickly as possible, you risk having serious problems with your furniture down the line that can hit you in your wallet and cause chaos. You might be dealing with issues that can plague you for weeks or months: broken furniture, warranties that the vendor refuses to honour, or cheap materials that break under normal use. Before you know it, your dream set has turned into a nightmare. When you visit an outdoor furniture outlet, you may want to take some precautions and do your due diligence in researching the merchant. The alternative can be too expensive, time consuming, and frustrating to take the risk.

What Could Go Wrong?

When you buy your furniture in a hurry, you risk running into problems and suffering many drawbacks. These include, but are not limited to:

• Spending more money than the furniture you purchased warrants.
• Buying from a vendor who will not honour warranties or agreements.
• Buying furniture that is going to break or become uncomfortable within weeks or months.
• Having to deal with a vendor with terrible customer service, leading to long times playing ‘phone tag’ or sending e-mails that go unanswered.

In the face of such aggravating, expensive, and avoidable problems, it’s important to do some research and make sure you don’t become a victim of scams or substandard products. Make sure you go to an outdoor furniture outlet that you can trust. If you’re not sure where to start on your due diligence, here are some crucial steps.

Ask Around

Check and see if your friends or family have dealt with or heard about this outlet before. People remember bad shopping decisions very clearly; many people will hold a grudge against a company that has done them wrong in the past and will share the news in a heartbeat. If you have friends or family who are experienced with buying outdoor furniture, ask them where they purchased their goods and what they thought of the experience. What did they like? What did they dislike? Is there anything they regretted? Have they had any issues? Having these answers will be valuable for understanding the character and reputation of the outlet you plan to visit.

Check the Web

If you don’t have anyone in your social circle who can answer your questions, don’t panic: Just go online. There are multiple ways that the Internet can give you an idea of your vendor and what problems you have a chance of encountering. Start by searching Twitter and Facebook; these are popular social networks where people will air their grievances or show their appreciation to companies they’ve just dealt with. Search for the names of the outdoor patio furniture stores you plan to visit, and see what people have to say. You might be surprised at their online reception and reputation.

If you can’t find much dirt on Facebook or Twitter, it might be time to check a review site. Some sites aggregate reviews together to create a ranking or a grade. Yelp and the Better Business Bureau are two examples of sites that collect complaints about companies. Keep an eye out for patterns: maybe this company has a history of selling defective products or awful customer service. If it’s happened to other consumers, it can happen to you too.  Outdoor furniture is a fairly high end product, so you want to go into the transaction as prepared as possible; the risk of losing money on poor goods is far too high.Trust your gut during the research process. If a complaint seems damning, then avoid the vendor. Don’t throw money at someone who you don’t trust or respect.

For people who plan to visit an outdoor furniture outlet, there are more concerns to deal with than which material lasts the best and what size table to pick out. Many outlets and vendors deal with unsavoury behaviour, and no one wants to fall victim to these schemes and scams. Take the time to do your due diligence first. The stakes are high, and you have a lot to lose. Talk to your friends and family, look online, and do some research on your vendor before you make a large purchase. If you spend time on the research then you’ll likely come out ahead and be much happier with your purchase. You deserve to end up with an outdoor set you love!