Outdoor Furniture and Garden Furniture

Many years ago, before patios, decks and patio furniture became popular, the main outdoor furniture was an old rocker on the front porch or some old kitchen chairs that were left outside.

It was generally accepted practice to move out to the front porch after dinner in the summer time, because the house was already warm from the summer sun, then the wood cook stove had to be fired up to fix the evening meal, making it even warmer.

Although the wood stove warmed the house a lot at meal times during the summer and made it uncomfortably warm, I can remember the advantages of the wood cook stove too, taking baths in a washtub in front of the wood stove during the winter. That was one of the joys of being little back before central heat or individually heated rooms. The big people had to get out of a warm tub and shiver in a cold bathroom, but I got to warm my bare back side at the wood stove while I dried off.

The front porch became an extension of the living room, or parlor as it was more commonly known.

As time went on the furniture comfort on the porch improved and more types of outdoor furniture were used. Wicker was a popular furniture for the front porch and was quite often left out all year round. Porch swings became almost as common as the large porches were and metal furniture moved from the veranda of the wealthy to the front porches of the middle class.

The kitchen chairs were most comfortably sat on when they were leaned back against a wall, because until early in the last century chair backs were totally straight up and down.

The more wealthy generally had a veranda where they would break their fast on a fine sunny, warm morning and other meals throughout the day.

The veranda was, and still is in some areas, treated as an extension of the house. Access from the house was generally through french doors onto the veranda, which generally had nice cushioned cast iron or wicker outdoor furniture and lots of comfort.

Many verandas had honeysuckle, lavender or some other nice smelling flowers planted nearby to add an extra pleasure to their outdoor experience. A natural occurrence ot what we now call aromatherapy.

Many verandas had plant stands with potted plants or pedestals with statuary, which complemented the furniture and added to the enjoyment of the outdoor living area.

The main swingers of the bygone era were on the porch swing.

Before TV became popular the family spent a lot of time in the evenings out on the front porch swinging and rocking and talking and watching the neighbors.

Lots of cuddling was done on the porch swing after the older folk went inside, because the bugs would get too bad. Who cares about bugs when you're cuddling, though.

Although many houses had ample front porches, there were a lot of houses with a small porch or a stoop where there wasn't enough room for one straight chair, let alone a rocker or two or a porch swing, so lawn chairs were a necessity.

Many a male of the family got glared at, because they tried to judiciously place a straight kitchen chair on the edge of the flower bed next to the house so they could lean the chair back against the house and ended up with one leg sinking into the ground and them sliding off the chair and ending up sitting next to, or on, the geraniums.

One of the most popular early lawn chairs was the wood Adirondack style chair with wide arms, which served as a table. Some innovative sorts cut round openings in the arms to hold tapered glasses, so they wouldn't be so easily knocked over.

The Adirondack chair was and still is extremely comfortable with cushions in them.

The back of the Adirondack chair has a comfortable slope with a corresponding slope of the seat, giving a feeling of a straight chair leaned back against a wall.

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