Lawn Furniture

It is funny that if you have a lawn, you have to fill it with furniture. Just like your living room, a lawn is a space to sit and lounge and enjoy, but not covered from the elements.

My recollections are the lawn furniture boom started in the 50’s with suburbia. People were proud of their plots of land and covered them in grass to cut every weekend. And to be neighborly, started cookouts and grilling in the backyards. So the neighbors would come over and eat you abundance, but they needed someplace to sit.

So metal was a popular material of the day used for cars and refrigerators, so why not furniture. But if left outside, the metal would rust and had to be constantly painted until it fell apart. And you better buy some cushions because those suckers get hot.

Wood was always available and Adirondack chairs became a fixture for beachfronts and backyards. Unfortunately, wood roots. No matter how many coatings of preservatives, the chairs and benches and tables will splinter and will require constant power washing.

Then plastic comes along. It is easy to move because all the lawn furniture must be moved every time you mow the lawn. Yet plastic gets soft in the sunshine and loses its sterility.

But sitting on grass, wet grass or dry grass, there comes the bugs. Lots of flying and biting bugs attack those who venture out into the yard. Another industry for bug repellent sprays and contraptions is formed and blossoms to this day.

So to keep up with the Jones and keep away from the pest, people build decks to rise above the lawn. Like an extension of the house, the lawn furniture can be sheltered under umbrellas while guest can still enjoy the view of a green lawn and listen to the birds.

If that is not good enough, build a sunroom so you can air-condition the outside world inside behind glass.

It is nature’s way.