How To Store Outdoor (Garden) Cushions for the Winter or during Rainy Days

Winter can be an exciting time! There’s the build up to Christmas, the chance of snow days, and the New Year is looming. But, if you’ve got treasured garden furniture, it’s important not to neglect it during the cold winter months.

This is particularly important for your outdoor cushions, as the elements can be taxing on them. It might seem like an unnecessary chore but we promise; the benefits of taking simple care of your outdoor cushions make it worth the effort.

You can choose to store them in a variety of ways, some choose to bring them inside until the warmer weather returns and others take their chances with the harsh winds and rain. If you don’t take care of them against the weather changes though, the life of your cushions will be shortened, when prolonging them is an easy overall task.

We recommend using a suitable deck box if you don’t want to bring the outdoor cushions indoors. You should look over our ultimate best deck box guide as we have covered a variety of styles on offer, at a variety of prices. Large and extra large deck boxes are particularly useful as you can store not only your outdoors cushions inside them, but keep your gardening tools safe all year long without causing clutter in your home.

Tips for keeping you cushions safety

Before protecting your outdoor cushions in the safety of a deck box, we recommend you take some steps of action to keep your cushions at the best level of quality they can be.

These steps are simple so don’t worry, and they’re not too time consuming either.

When winter hits, it’s more than likely your cushions will have been sat outside for the majority of the year, meaning they might be in need of some TLC. In the same way that you wash your clothes, your cushions will also benefit from a good old fashioned clean. You wouldn’t wear clothing that had been sat outside for months on end, and your cushions deserve the same care.
Even though most outdoor cushion covers are designed to be weatherproof, having an annual routine that involves caring for them will keep that weatherproof function intact, and ensure you get the best of out of cushions. If they aren’t waterproof, then it’s ever more important to take care of your cushions!
You’ll find that most cushions have removable covers, which makes the task of washing them quick and easy. Just throw them in the washing machine with some gentle detergent, make sure you read the label first to know what cycle to wash these on and you’re ready to go.
You can give the cushions a scrub if you want to take extra care of them, especially if your covers aren’t removable. Always air dry your cushion covers for the best result, unless the label specifically states you can use a tumble dyer.

How to clean your cushions from mould and mildew?

But what if your cushions have already been subjected to temperamental weather conditions? Mould and mildew are common occurrences on outdoor furniture, and stains are easy to come by if enjoying a glass of wine or some beers after a summer barbecue.

For this, we recommend a home-made mixture containing one cup of bleach, 1/4 cup of a mild soap and up to a gallon of water.

Mix the contents until the soap and bleach dissolve completely into the water, decanter into a spray bottle, and begin spraying those stains!

Allow to sit for approximately ten-fifteen minutes, scrub and rinse. Allow the cushions to air dry.

Once your outdoor cushions are successfully cleaned and dried, they can be placed in storage. Like we said, a deck box is a wonderful solution if you aren’t blessed with spare space indoors. Or if you have a lot of outdoor tools and furniture that also needs protection.

Sheltered areas can work well, such as under a patio or in a tool shed, but these aren’t always completely protected if some really harsh weather hits, which depending on your location, can be more surprising for some than others.

Conclusion

So, think outside the box-or, well, in the box in this case! Deck boxes come in an array of materials, prices, sizes and forms and as long as you choose one that suits your needs, and is weather proof, you can’t go far wrong.

We suggest putting your outdoor cushions in plastic bags or wrapping them in a plastic wrap if there are too large for a bag. Just for that extra bit of protection from the winter elements.

You can rest easy with a hot chocolate in front of the fire, knowing your cushions are safe and secure until next summer’s BBQ party can commence!