The Secret To Successful Garden Furniture Storage Is Cleanliness and Maintenance
Todd Arend is a freelance writer who enjoys peaceful getaways. He writes about customizing garden swing sets and other outdoor furnishings for http://www.cedarwoodfurniture.com.
My outdoor living area is wonderful. It is large, partially covered, contains a swimming pool and outdoor kitchen. It is the outdoor area that I always wanted and dreamed about and now it is mine. I love it! But what I don’t love is the maintenance and clean up involved in making it look nice.
When we remodeled our patio and outdoor area, it didn’t occur to me that what I was really doing was increasing the amount of considerable time that I was already putting into housecleaning inside my house. Now I will be doing the same housecleaning, but I will be doing more of it and I will be doing it on the outside too. Who thinks about such things? But yet those tasks need to be done. With today’s livable outdoor areas, chores include scrubbing down the ancient picnic table, polishing up the flowerpots, pulling weeds in the yard, and sweeping the sidewalks every morning to keep them clean. Most of the time, my outdoor area looks like 20 children live there (when we only have two). Beach towels are floating in the pool. Soda pop is spilled all over the picnic table. The birdbath has been turned into a basketball hoop.
Don’t despair! These simple steps will enable you to get your outdoor items organized and safely stored out of harms way.
Before moving your furniture into storage, gather your cleaning cloths and sprays. It is important that your furniture be clean before storing. The months of storage will already contribute enough filth; you don’t want to add any more by putting it into storage when it is dirty.
If your furniture is made from wood, possibly cedar, cypress or teak, there are unique cleaning products available for these special types of wood. Some are polishers or gentle cleaners, while others are cover-up sprays, designed to hide scratches and make them disappear. Be careful when buying cleaning products for outdoor furniture. You don’t want to buy a cheap spray or polish that starts tearing off the finish when you put it on. If possible, ask the paint store manager if he or she can give you a “testing cup”. A testing cup is a small portion of your favorite color of paint, put into a cup with a lid or in a small paint bucket. Many paint stores don’t charge for this service, but others do, so call and ask before you go.
Consider a way to keep bugs and critters out of the way. If your storage area will be open at times, there is always a chance that a critter will walk in. If you do find a problem with pests, call an exterminator. You don’t want pests to destroy your valuable possessions.
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