Exterior Design

Pinpointing Your Garden Furniture Style

By Teri Brown

Choosing garden furniture used to be simple. The once-basic French wrought iron table, wooden or cement benches and a birdbath or two are no longer the norm. Things have changed. Now there are many choices in garden furniture and accessories. For those who wish to give their garden a European flair, the choices are even more tantalizing.

"It's surprisingly simple to bring a European ambiance into your garden," says Darren Schmahl, garden designer and owner of The Copper Leaf Garden Store in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Schmahl has plenty of experience with European gardens; he graduated from the John Brookes School of Garden Design in England and has been helping others design their gardens ever since. While Schmahl himself doesn't favor a certain style of furniture, he suggests people take a cue from the interior of their homes.

"As a designer, I would recommend choosing a style (or combining styles) which best suits the home and the homeowners," Schmahl says. "It is important to establish a connection between the home and garden. Think of it as the 'room outside.'"

Whether you choose garden furniture with clean Scandinavian lines or intricate wrought iron furniture in the French tradition, it's hard to go wrong with classic designs.

The accessories used with the furniture can affect how the style comes across. For instance, wrought iron can lend an austere, formal touch to your garden, or it can be softened into a French romantic style with a bright floral tablecloth and a pitcher of flowers. The spare style of Scandinavian furniture can be used in a purely modern garden or given an oriental flavor with a few Japanese sculptures.

"Many different garden designs can be created with the same type of furniture; it just depends on what accessories you are using," Schmahl says.

Elizabeth Schumacher, owner of Garden Accents in Conshohocken, Pa., believes that furniture styles can be mixed, but cautions against going too far. "Americans live in a melting pot and have become comfortable with mixing styles in our homes and gardens," Schumacher says. "It is possible to become too comfortable and create a ridiculous clash, such as using a Japanese lantern next to an Italian cherub."

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