Create your Perfect Outdoor Oasis: Stylish Outdoor Furniture Ideas

As summer draws to a close, the welcome drop in temperature tempts us back out to our al fresco spaces. A beautifully styled outdoor oasis extends your home's entertaining space, offering an inviting spot to lounge with friends, feast with family, or spend a quiet moment of contemplation. Discover the key pieces you need to create an enchanting outdoor enclave, whether you're furnishing a small deck or a wrap-around terrace.

Understand your space

What do you want from your outdoor space? It can be helpful to think about zones for relaxing and lounging, and entertaining and dining, then you can decide which items of furniture you need to curate these. 

Before you get carried away buying a beautiful kiln-dried hardwood table or sumptuous outdoor sectional, understand your space and pinpoint your aesthetic. Measure your available area and assess the shape. How much furniture could you place without cluttering, and what shapes would work well?

Cohesion across the zones is also important. For style inspiration, consider browsing Crate & Barrel's outdoor collections, and remember to echo materials, silhouettes, and general themes throughout.

Laid-back lounging and dazzling dining 

From morning coffee dates with friends to post-supper sunsets, a cosy outdoor lounge elevates your home lifestyle. Though you may fall in love with a full lounge set, you must focus on your unique space. Is there room for a sofa and chairs? Would an L or U-shaped sectional work better? Perhaps a chaise lounge or hanging daybed would provide balance in a compact space. 

What style story are you telling? For luxurious lounging, choose decadently deep upholstered seating dressed with rich, textural accents. If you're embracing the biophilic trend, wooden bench-style seating, with nonchalantly styled potted plants and rattan ottomans, nurtures the organic aesthetic. 

An accent table fuses functionality with fashion. A spot to place your drinks and snack platters, a coffee table is also a superb tool for defining your design aspirations. You can go bold with sculptural forms and modish materials like metal and concrete or create a calm vibe with a traditional wooden accent table. 

If you're furnishing a bijou dining nook, a charming bistro-style dining table and a couple of chairs are all you need to host intimate starlit suppers. For fabulous open-air dinner parties, choose a generous rectangular dining table for floor space efficiency. Why not replace some of your dining chairs with a bench? This maximises seating for those bustling family iftars and adds modern beats to your dining area. 

If you adore informal weekend entertaining, enhance your dining zone with a BBQ. Throw in a pizza oven for good measure and you'll have laid-back gatherings catered with ease.

 When you take your entertaining al fresco, it’s all about the ambience. Explore Crate & Barrel’s outdoor tabletop collection for delightful tablescape ideas. You’ll find designs that finesse a breezy aesthetic for lunch with ladies and refined modern colour schemes with granite and antique metal accents for your glittering evening soirees.  

With some careful planning and by picking handcrafted furniture from Crate & Barrel's outdoor range, you can style a contemporary haven ready for blissful moments with family and friends.