Indoor, Covered or Full Sun: Choosing Outdoor Chairs That Last an Australian Summer

Almost every chair we sell is described as suitable for indoor and outdoor use. That is true, and it is also the least useful sentence in furniture retail. What it does not tell you is what actually changes over five years of Australian sun, salt and rain — which is the question worth asking before you buy eight of anything.

Here is how we think about it, including the parts that are trade-offs rather than selling points.

The one hard rule: upholstery stays inside

Start here, because it is the only genuinely firm line.

All six of our upholstery collections — Marlo, Strata, Rove, Electra, Rockwell and Orson — are 100% polyester, commercial-grade and OEKO-TEX® certified. Rove and Electra are independently tested to a colour fastness to light of ≥4.0. Marlo runs to a heavyweight 485 gsm, and Electra is rated above 100,000 Martindale rubs.

Every one of them also carries the same care instruction: avoid prolonged direct sunlight. Colour fastness measures how slowly a fabric fades under controlled conditions. It is not a licence to leave a sofa on a deck. Keep Harvey and Calvin and the Rocco and Roy chairs indoors, and out of the path of a west-facing window.

Everything below is about the two materials that can live outside.

Polypropylene: the everyday outdoor answer

Our dining chairs — Alex, Carla, Cleo and Arlo, plus the Theo stools — are moulded from UV-stabilised polypropylene with a matte, easy-care surface. One piece of material: no joints to loosen, no fabric to stain, no finish to flake.

They are fine in completely open outdoor areas. Not just under a pergola — out in it. The one honest caveat is that after a few years of full sun you may see some colour fading. That is the trade, and for most people at this price it is an easy one.

• Rated to 150 kg. Alex, Carla and Arlo all carry a 150 kg maximum load.
• Every model is rated for commercial use — hospitality, offices, breakout spaces, event hire. Not a domestic chair being stretched into a venue.
• They all stack four high. Alex and Carla also ship four to a box. If you host, or you run a venue, that is the difference between owning spare seating and not owning any.
• They arrive assembled. No tools, no fixings, nothing to tighten in twelve months.
• They wipe clean. A soft damp cloth handles almost everything. For stubborn marks, a mild detergent diluted in water, then dry thoroughly. No abrasive cleaners or harsh chemicals — they dull the matte finish. The full routine for every material is in our care guide.

One more thing that only matters in a cold climate, and it matters more than people expect: polypropylene is not cold to sit on. In a Melbourne or Canberra winter that is a real advantage over metal, and if you run a venue with outdoor seating it is the difference between a table being used in July and being walked past.

Powder-coated aluminium: the long-haul option

Our Alfresco range — the Estelle and Alfie tables, the Remy chair and armchair, the Clive bench, the Carmen side table, the Harper coffee table and the Frankie lounge chair — is powder-coated aluminium.

Aluminium does not rust. That is the whole argument and it is a strong one: Carmen is rust- and UV-resistant, Harper holds up in sun, rain and coastal conditions, and the range is built for furniture that lives outside permanently and gets forgotten about. Alfresco arrives as a seasonal drop rather than a year-round line, so email us if you are unsure what is in stock.

Three things nobody mentions when they sell you aluminium outdoor furniture:

• Tree sap will damage the coating. Sap and resin attack a powder coat, and eucalypts are the worst offenders. If your setting lives under trees, rinse or wash it down regularly — that alone prevents it. Left to sit, sap damage often shows up as staining that looks like rust breaking through, even though the aluminium underneath has not corroded at all.
• The coating can chip. Not from weather, but from impact: something dropped on a tabletop, or metal dragged across a seat — belt buckles, jacket zips, dog chains, keys in a back pocket. Worth knowing if the furniture is going somewhere busy.
• Metal gets cold. In a cold-climate winter an aluminium seat can be genuinely unpleasant to sit on, and in a commercial setting patrons will simply choose a different chair. If you are fitting out a venue in Melbourne, polypropylene is often the better call for the seats even where aluminium is right for the tables.

Sizing an outdoor dining setting

The material decision is usually easier than the size decision. Two numbers do most of the work: the length of your table and the width of your chair.

• Alex — 490 W × 530 D × 800 H mm, seat height 460 mm.
• Carla — 580 W × 540 D × 810 H mm, seat height 450 mm, arm height 670 mm.
• Theo bar stool — 550 L × 525 W × 1000 H mm, seat height 750 mm.

Allow roughly 600 mm of table edge per person and you will not end up with elbows touching. In practice that means the 1800 mm Estelle table seats six and the 2200 mm seats eight, which is exactly how we sell those settings. If you are mixing benches in, the 1500 mm Clive bench pairs with the 1800 mm Estelle and the 1800 mm bench suits the 2200 mm.

One thing people miss: Carla has arms at 670 mm. Measure your table's apron height before you order eight of them, or they will not push in.

For stools, aim for 250–300 mm between the seat and the underside of the benchtop. Theo's 750 mm seat height is bar height — right for a raised bar or a tall island, too high for a standard 900 mm kitchen bench, where you want a counter stool instead.

Order a sample before you commit

Colour is the one thing a screen cannot settle. Sage reads differently against limestone than it does against charcoal decking, and it is a genuinely common source of regret.

We send samples free. There are colour samples for Alex, Carla, Arlo and Theo, and fabric swatches for Harvey, Rocco, Roy and Calvin. Hold them against your own walls, flooring and decking in daylight before you decide.

The short version

If the furniture lives…	Choose	The trade-off
Outside, uncovered, and you want it to look new in ten years	Powder-coated aluminium	Seasonal availability · sap and chipping need managing · cold to sit on in winter
Outside, uncovered, everyday use	Polypropylene	Some colour fading after a few years
A cold-climate venue with outdoor seating	Polypropylene seats	None worth mentioning — it is the warmer material to sit on
Indoors, or a sunny room	Upholstery, or any of the dining chairs	Keep upholstery out of direct sun

Still weighing it up? Email us — we would rather talk it through than have you order twice.