We tend to write a garden furniture trends article every year. It’s nice to share what we think the big trends will be in our industry this upcoming summer. At Lazy Susan we know a thing or two about garden furniture, what works, and what doesn’t work on our patios, and as a team, we have to keep our fingers on the pulse.
The outdoor furniture and wider garden accessory industry have come a long way in the last decade. Garden furniture is, and rightly so, being purchased with the same critical eye we would cast over pieces for the inside of our homes. The garden and patio are being viewed as an extension of our homes, as an extra room, and much like any interior space, we are thinking more about how we can maximise both form and function.
No longer is garden furniture something we just drag out when the sun shines. Our outdoor spaces are being given a more permanent feel. Designs reflect what we’d see inside, from outdoor dining sets and kitchens to sofa style seating paired with luxurious outdoor soft furnishings. Pieces need to be functional and comfortable but designed to stand up to the elements.
A recent garden trends article in House Beautiful stated that:
While 2021 was the period of experimental gardening, some of the biggest garden trends to emerge in 2022 will include a return to bolder, colourful planting choices, natural wildlife gardens, mini grow houses, boutique hotel-style features and the concept of all-weather gardening, all of which ties into two common themes this year – wellbeing and sustainability.
This is interesting because much of the trends happing in the wider garden are happening in our industry too. When we first started Lazy Susan that maybe wasn’t the case. Certainly in the landscape design world furniture always felt a little like an afterthought. And to be fair to the designers that’s maybe because the quality of furniture wasn’t as high as it is now?
The House Beautiful trends are all trends we are fully on board with though. Our furniture has a classical and romantic charm, it is designed to not only look good but provide a space to dine and, maybe most importantly, it’s not fast fashion or a fad piece. It is sustainable. Constructed from weatherproof materials and designed to last. Carefully crafted in our factory to sit on your patio in the worst of whatever Mother Nature can throw at it and still look good for many summers to come. All with minimum maintenance we may add!
Here at Lazy Susan we’ve seen record sales over the last few years, fuelled undoubtedly by the lockdowns. As homeowners we’ve been keen to invest in our outdoor spaces, transforming them into little oases we can use to escape, cook, relax with a book, share a few drinks and generally unwind.
While supply across most industries (garden furniture included) has been disrupted by the double whammy of the B and C words, we’ve been lucky in that we didn’t experience too much of that supply chain disruption. Certainly not to the extent that many of our competitors did. Summer 2020 was a tough one though. This year our purchasing and logistics teams are ready, and we’ve also recently opened a new distro hub in the Netherlands to ensure we can offer the great customer service our UK customers receive across the rest of Europe.
Our top 20 garden furniture trends for summer 2022
The team at Lazy Susan are always keen to predict what a new summer season of garden furniture trends has in store for us. Our own offer showcases a more classical style but that doesn’t mean we don’t embrace the modern. It is vital our product design team keep their critical eye on what’s happening, and we have some exciting things happening in 2022.
However, they’re for another day, another article. This piece is about general trends, a sneak peek at what we know is going to be hot on UK patios this summer. One of the biggest shifts brought about by the pandemic is a move away from the furniture expos (although they’re fighting back) to social media. Sites such as Instagram have certainly played a bigger part than ever before on what trends are going to be popular for summer 2022.
So, we set ourselves the target of identifying 20 garden furniture trends for summer 2022. We included a few that would maybe fall more under the umbrella of outdoor accessories than furniture, but one thing they all have in common is they’ll definitely help to make your garden a space you’ll want to spend time in this summer
1. Daybeds
Whilst Daybeds aren’t a new thing, I suppose you could even state the case for them as a classic outdoor design, they’re kicking off our list as they fit perfectly with a lot of the wider garden trends that are happening at the moment. Homeowners are looking for pieces that are multifunctional and allow us to maximise the use of our patios and gardens, and a Daybed hits the sweet spot in terms of the functionality it offers. You can use them as both a sofa and a sunbed, they’re often two-seater and many come fitted with a canopy to provide a little shade and protection from the sun. We are also seeing a lot of geometrically styled pieces hitting the market for this summer, so the team here at Lazy Susan have picked the Kettler Elba Day Bed to best illustrate how you can best achieve the perfect looking Daybed for 2022.
2. Sustainable Garden Furniture
We touched on this one with the House Beautiful reference above but this is a trend that goes much further than the garden. Sustainability is a concern across every aspect of our lives from homes and gardens to clothing and what we eat. Sustainable living has never been more important, and in our gardens biodiversity, natural planting and eco-friendly materials and methods are driving this trend. Looking at plants that will need very little watering once established is a great example of how we can do this in our own gardens. It’s a message we’ve pushed in a number of our recent Gardening Blog articles; select the right plant, plant it at the right time of year and in the right location. From a furniture perspective, you could look at pieces made from eco-friendly/recycled materials but our advice would be to invest in quality furniture that’s constructed to last. Purchase quality, not fast fashion!
3. Upcycled Garden Furniture
This is another trend that has been growing over the last few years but we’re seeing a big spike in demand for vintage or second-hand garden furniture that we can only see getting bigger in 2022. This is a trend that is again popular across all aspects of our daily life but in furniture, it’s being driven by a desire to “make do and mend” and upcycle classic pieces to give them a new lease of life. Customising them to suit our personal style and create a real statement. OK, cards on the table, we would prefer if you purchased a new set from us, but we fully appreciate how taking an old piece and bringing it back to life creates a great sense of joy and achievement. In their article upcycling ideas for the garden, Ideal Home have some great tips for making your own garden furniture.
4. White Garden Furniture
At Lazy Susan our White Garden Furniture collection has been around since day one. It never sells as well as our Antique Bronze pieces but personally, it is my favourite colour. Maybe 2022 is the year it outsells Antique Bronze? If we use social media as a barometer then it has a very good chance as it is one of the most hash-tagged colours on sites such as Instagram. Is that because they’re the epitome of romantic style or just that white garden furniture is exceptionally photogenic? We’ll let you decide on that one. All we know is that gardens with a strong focus on a white design scheme - white furniture, white garden décor and white flowering plants - is a key trend for summer 2022.
5. Earth Tones
The official colour of 2022 as chosen by Pantone, the global authority on colours, saw them select “Very Peri” as their colour of the year. They describe it as “a dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet-red undertone blends the faithfulness and constancy of blue with the energy and excitement of red”. It’s a beautiful colour but maybe one for the containers and borders more than garden furniture? Although, we could see it working as soft furnishing. That said, the popular colours for summer 2022 on the patio are shaping up to be a little less vivid with earth tones such as clay and terracotta forming the biggest buzz. It goes back to picking pieces that won’t go out of style, these natural tones are chic yet subtle, and are perfect for setting off the splashes of colour in your surrounding planting scheme. We were tagged in the photograph above on Instagram, it shows our April Garden Bench with Terracotta Garden Cushion, and we think it captures the on-trend garden furniture colours for 2022 perfectly.
6. Cottagecore
At Lazy Susan we love the term Cottagecore and it is shaping up to be the trend of 2022. Starting life as an interior design trend we’re seeing it filter into the garden and fashion. This trend takes its inspiration from the classic English country cottage style. Think idyllic setting, pastoral colours, rustic furniture. This was a trend that started during the lockdowns with social media influencers using the time at home to improve their homes by upcycling vintage pieces. Think chalk-painted furniture in soft pastel shades and floral prints. To take this trend outside our recent what garden furniture is best for a country garden article is a great starting point. Wild planting and a relaxed romantic charm such as the customer photograph of our Tulip Bistro Set (above) is a perfect example of the Cottagecore look!
7. Soft Curves
Another of the trends on our list is to take style cues from what’s happing in interior design is softer curves. On the patio, we are seeing a big shift away from the boxy looking modular sofa style sets that have been the mainstay of the DIY/Home Improvement stores for the last few years to softer more curved pieces. At Lazy Susan our dining sets have always embraced the ergonomic but we’re starting to see this with other types of outdoor set/seating too. Rolled arms and winged backs are great examples of how much of the sofa-style sets are evolving to create a more cocoon-like seating/relaxing experience. Chairs that not only look inviting but are actually comfortable to sit on, which is something the squared/boxy sets often failed to deliver. The Cove Corner Sofa from Maze Living is the perfect example of soft curves, inviting cushioning, function and guaranteed comfort.
8. Swing Seats
The garden swing chair is most definitely going to have its moment this summer. There are some great products hitting the market and whilst you need a good size patio to accommodate some of the larger double seats, they’re perfect for ticking the relaxation box. From stylish chunky wooden frames to minimal contemporary swings with UV-resistant canopy roofs, there’s a seating style for all tastes and settings. We’ve picked the Lima Deluxe Aluminium Swing Seat in Washed Grey (pictured above) from Harbour Lifestyle to best illustrate this trend. Like our own furniture, it has been specifically engineered from a substantial aluminium frame and powder-coated to provide further resistance from the elements. Traditionally swing seats have been manufactured from wood so it is nice to see more innovative low-maintenance materials like aluminium being utilised.
9. Modern Water Features
More garden décor than furniture but we wanted to include modern water features on our list as they permeate a number of the other trends on our list, plus, when paired with furniture they transform your outdoor space into a haven of tranquillity. The focus for 2022 is primarily on the more contemporary styles with spheres and blade-style water features guaranteed to be on the best sellers list this summer. One of the big buzzwords in gardening at the moment is Xeriscaping, defined by Wikipedia as; “the process of landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation”. Combine this philosophy with an eco-friendly water feature that uses recycled rainwater, native drought-resistant planting and you’re saving water and creating a beautiful garden feature all in one.
10. Small, Balcony & City Gardens
If you live in the city, then there’s a good chance that if you’re lucky to have any outdoor space, it is more than likely on the small side. However, the last two years have also seen a social media-driven influx of small, balconies and city garden designs that really push what is possible. People want to transform whatever outside space they have into a beautiful but functional area they can relax in. Balcony gardens in particular are certain to be one of the most popular garden design trends this summer, with a quick search of the #baclonygarden hashtag on Instagram returning close to one million photos. The key to capturing this trend is to look at how you can make that small space seem bigger, with vertical gardening being one of the critical elements. We covered this subject in detail in our recent what garden furniture is best for a small patio article, so we won’t go into too much detail here, but last year the Chelsea Flower Show was awash with ideas and inspiration on how to maximise space and grow plants on balconies and in small terrace gardens.
11. Outdoor Cooking
Pardon the pun but will there be a trend hotter than the outdoor kitchen in the UK this summer? And no outdoor kitchen is complete without a Cozze Pizza Oven from Lazy Susan, the quick, easy and fun way to cook pizza in your garden, on your patio, terrace or balcony. The oven runs on standard low-pressure propane gas cartridges and bottles and features a wide opening and baking stone. Easy to operate, it provides ample space for large pizzas up to 34 cm and is ready to use in about 20 minutes from lighting.
12. Edible Kitchen Garden
Why not take your outdoor kitchen to the next level and plant up an edible garden? In recent years we’ve seen a growing trend for restaurants offering an edible garden to plate experience. Diners can pick what they want to eat from the garden and the chef will prepare a beautiful plate of food around what you’ve harvested. The sustainability of our food chain is more important than ever before, and the farm-to-table and garden-to-table philosophies are ones the team here at Lazy Susan hope are here to stay. A great example of this is the Moor Hall 2 x Michelin Star restaurant in Lancashire. The produce they grow in their own 5-acre kitchen garden leads the menu at this ultra-modern eatery. Now we’re not saying you should transform your entire garden into a kitchen garden but why not start by potting up a few easy to grow herbs and greens such as spinach and take it from there?!
13. Seamless Indoor/Outdoor Living
This is a trend that has made our list for probably the last 5+ years but it is one that keeps evolving, is made easier by better products/materials, and it, well, just bloomin’ works. The Lazy Susan team are all in agreement that the key to creating a seamless transition is to keep things simple and low maintenance. Think minimal. The idea is to create a space that flows from inside to out and back again but feels as one, Utilise materials and furniture that blurs the lines. One of the best ways to achieve this is to utilise the same flooring on the patio and inside your property as achieved with dramatic effect by Alistair Mackintosh with their Nevis Grey Porcelain Tiles (shown in the photo above).
14. Encourage Wildlife
We're talking a lot about how the garden should be an extension of your home, a multi-purpose space, but it is important that we don't forget it's a garden. At Lazy Susan we think it is important that, yes you should be able to sit in and use your garden, but it should also create a connection with the natural world too. And anything we can do to encourage wildlife into our gardens should be high on our to-do lists. Garden designs that attract birds and insects are definitely on the up, so think native flowering plants, wildflowers, bird feeders and water features.
15. Give Me Shelter
There’s a big buzz around all-weather gardening and this extends to garden furniture too. Being able to use your garden as much as possible, whatever the weather. Of course to do that you need two things; heat and shelter! We are seeing it in many of the photos we receive for our Do Some Good charity initiative, and we only expect the popularity of garden buildings such as summer houses, awnings, canopies, gazebos and pergolas to continue in 2022. In House Beautiful's 2021 Big Gardening Poll, 56% of their readers stated that they intended to use their garden all year round. At Lazy Susan we have seen first-hand how many of our customers are creating living “zones” in their gardens for dining, entertaining and relaxation. An outdoor shelter can ensure that you sit at your Lazy Susan garden table and enjoy an alfresco bite to eat without Mother Nature spoiling the party.
16. Outdoor Living Room
While the outdoor kitchen might be creating the biggest buzz in our industry, the outdoor living and/or dining room is hot on its heels. Again, this trend is all about the multi-functional and multi-seasonal. Creating a garden where the patio can perform different functions no matter what the British weather is doing. A space to eat and relax, rain or shine. The key phrase the Lazy Susan team keep saying is “maximise the space”. You can achieve this trend by incorporating elements such as shelter, shade, heating, lighting. Think about the space just like you would the equivalent rooms inside the home. What would you need to entertain guests at an outdoor dinner party? Garden table, garden chairs, maybe some speakers for music, an outdoor sofa set to retire to after the meal? Add an outdoor kitchen, split the patio into zones for dining, reclining and cooking. How about a garden bar or outdoor home cinema? The garden is a space we should look to use more and that’s best achieved by looking at it like another room.
17. Boho Chic
The boho look is another style that’s fast becoming popular both inside and outside the home. Key design aspects of this look are mixing colour, pattern, layering, different textures, etc. Think soft and feminine, take influence from overseas travel. Incorporate outdoor rugs, pair your garden furniture with soft furnishings, utilise a variety of outdoor accessories and varying heights of lush patio planting. The photograph above captures this look perfectly. It is inviting, blurring the lines between inside and out, but all created with weatherproof materials. Relaxed wicker or rough wooden pieces work perfectly. Drape baldaquin-style canopies to provide shade. Add some Eastern tiles, colourful glass, candles and maybe even a garden chandelier. For us though, the key to a beautiful bohemian space is to bring the comfort of indoors out. The Daisy Studio has created a wonderful Pinterest Board and it is full of photos, inspiration and ideas for how to bring the boho vibe to your patio.
18. Outdoor Office
As with many of the interior design trends that influence outdoor trends, functionality is critical. Many of us are starting to think of our outdoor spaces as more than just a garden, they’ve become much more multi-purpose and we’re looking at innovative ways to maximise their use. Post-pandemic many of us have shifted to hybrid working, and that trend is continuing into 2022. So why can’t we transform part of our gardens into a home office? This could be anything from a garden pod to simply setting up shop on your Lazy Susan Garden Table under a gazebo when the weather permits.
19. The Egg Chair
The Egg Chair is another trend that took flight during the pandemic, inspired by a social media buzz. A quick search will see many an influencer curled up on a comfy hanging egg/cocoon-style garden chair. Everybody from B&Q and Made.com to Aldi - whose Egg Chair is somewhat of a cult favourite - have recently launched products that reflect this trend. The Yeo Valley Organic Garden designed by Tom Massey at 2021’s Chelsea Flower Show also included a wonderful wooden cocoon style egg seat. Trust us when we say, this will be one of the hottest trends for summer 2022. Our pick of the bunch is the cosy Kora Egg Chair from Habitat. Many of the popular styles are hanging, which is great if that’s what you want, but we prefer this egg-shaped pod-style on legs. Crafted with a curved steel frame and handwoven rattan detail it is just as at home inside as it is on the patio.
20. The Wellbeing Garden
Last on our list is the wellbeing garden, and again this is a trend that taps into a number of the trends we’ve already discussed. Creating a spot in the garden where you can just ‘be’ is a great way to boost mindfulness and general wellbeing. Pop a Lazy Susan Garden Bench in a little quiet corner of your garden and you have the perfect spot for a little peace and quiet away from the buzz of home/work life. This was achieved by Alan Titchmarsh with our April Garden Bench when he created a quiet corner in a garden on ITV’s Love Your Garden last year (pictured above). Trust Lazy Susan, it is the best form of stress relief, and we all need a little bit of that at this moment in time!
That’s our 20 garden furniture trends for summer 2022. If you have any questions about any of the Lazy Susan products featured in this article, please don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Service Team.
Help us support Ukraine
All the team at Lazy Susan are very concerned about the conflict which is threatening the lives of millions of people across Ukraine. As part of our Do Some Good campaign we are donating £25 to the British Red Cross for every order placed on our website. This money will directly fund the emergency efforts and help to get Ukrainian people fed, sheltered and protected. You can find out more here.