One of the first steps to ordering your luxury garden furniture is deciding which timber you would like us to use

We only use the best sustainably-sourced hardwoods and softwoods available to build our luxury graden products. And, when building your outdoor oasis we always seek materials that combine strength and value with elegance and beauty.

In fact, we put as much thought into selecting the right timber for each job as we do into designing our award-winning pieces. 

Garden joinery is best made with timber that is:

• Strong – to resist warping and take heavy loads and high traffic
• Weatherproof and rot resistant – not be compromised by rain and UV
• Pest proof – withstand pesky woodworm, beetles or rodents
• Beautiful, so that it harmonises with rest of the space

To help make your decision easier, here’s a list of our top five favourite woods for handmade outdoor furniture. 

We guarantee that these classy materials can shrug off even the worst weather – and look amazing while doing it!

Iroko – hardwearing with a beautiful colour

An African hardwood that combines weather, pest and rot-resistance with elegant grain patterns and a beautiful golden-bronze colour that darkens with age.

Iroko is also naturally scratch resistant and perfect for hard wearing outdoor areas because of its strength and high oil content. It’s easy to clean too – a light rub with some soapy water will safely remove any BBQ blips!

Historically Iroko has always been a popular choice in boatbuilding, which gives you a good idea of just how highly regarded it is for its water resistant traits.

These winning qualities make Iroko an excellent alternative to Teak. Not only is it much more affordable than Teak, which has become increasingly hard to source, it is more sustainable and plantation grown.

Because of its unbeatable strength and classy looks, we use Iroko for our incredible ergonomic sun loungers.

Sapele – an African superstar timber

Another African superstar timber that will repel bugs, withstand the British seasons and add a real luxury look to your garden.

Sapele is an attractive red-brown colour and is often referred to as ‘African Mahogany’, though it is not from the same species. It’s a super-stable option for outdoor seating, cabinets and construction because of its natural durability. 

Since true mahoganies from the tropics and South and Central America have been marked as endangered species and are subject to CITES import and export restrictions, Sapele has rocketed in popularity and that’s great –  we love to work with it.

Western Red Cedar – our choice for bespoke bin stores

When building our bespoke bin stores, Western Red Cedar is our first choice. A golden-red-brown softwood grown in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, it’s naturally rot and insect resistant and lightweight – making it perfect for garden furniture and fittings.

Over time the elements will give cedar a beautiful weathered look, but it can literally last a lifetime with very minimal decay.

At the moment, cedar is fashionable with architects and designers. It’s often used as cladding on luxury apartments and architect-designed homes and gives a minimalistic but modern appeal to any space.

We can make bespoke cedar fence panels, trellises and garden dividers to give your outdoor space an instantly cool, sleek look.

Oak – a classic English heritage wood

A classic hardwood that grows closer to home in Western Europe and the UK, Oak has been used to build lasting outdoor pieces for centuries. 

Combining strength, durability and classic looks, Oak is a great choice for a garden bench or table and chairs set. It’s also strong enough for construction – such as greenhouse frames, patio shades and extensions.

Oak is a very dense wood, which again is a factor in giving it supreme resistance to water and rain.

A timber with such a long heritage of use in the UK, Oak is perfect for an elegant English country garden or an older property that needs design sympathetic to its pedigree.

Douglas Fir

Douglas Fir is another softwood that is growing in popularity. It’s commonly used as an alternative to Siberian Larch.

It’s an evergreen tree in the pine family and originally native to North America, though it is now commonly grown in the UK and Europe. 

As well as having great grain patterns, it’s a very resinous timber which gives it amazing resistance to wet weather and rot – and a very pleasant ‘piney’ aroma!

Because it’s easy to source and often homegrown, Douglas Fir often comes in at a great price point compared to the other timbers on our list.

So, now you know our favourite outdoor joinery materials and are ready to live your best outdoors life, get in touch to make it happen!