It has rained in the UK every single day this year, and the nation faces another ten days of drizzle according to forecasts at the time of writing. But instead of building arks, home-improvers are buying garden furniture. Now is the time to pounce on a new couch, coffee table or parasol — the spring/summer 2026 outdoor collections have landed in the shops, and the best pieces are selling fast.
John Lewis started adding garden furniture to its website in mid-January — the partnership’s earliest outdoor launch to date — and the entire range was available by the end of the month. The result? Record garden furniture sales. It turns out that in 2026 garden furniture sales have uncoupled from the weather. Reflecting that old dictum “dress for the job you want”, gardens are being kitted out for the climate and lifestyle their owners would prefer.
“We’re seeing a significant shift in behaviour where shoppers are no longer waiting for the first heatwave to invest in their outdoor spaces and we have our furniture available earlier than before,” Jason Wilary-Attew, the director of home at John Lewis, says. “While January usually means customers are enjoying their indoor spaces, they are actually already looking ahead.” He suggests an early Easter may be galvanising shoppers this year. Or it may just be a case of deluge denial.
Visits to Habitat’s Java bistro set page jumped over 3,000 per cent in February
Whatever the reason, by the first week of February retailers were seeing a spike in searches for their top-selling products. At Habitat on February 5 (the 37th consecutive day of rain in the UK) visits to the webpage for the Java two-seater metal bistro set (£190, habitat.co.uk), a bestseller last year, leapt by more than 3,000 per cent.
Customers were clearly after value for money and, Andrew Tanner, the head of design at Habitat, observes, many were seeking out bolder designs. “This season colour, texture and bold prints are taking centre stage across outdoor spaces. Habitat’s collaboration with Scion brings lively patterns and personality through updated garden parasols, building on last year’s bestseller style.”
Habitat x Scion Kukkia parasol, £30, habitat.co.uk
▲ He is referring to the Habitat x Scion Kukkia parasol, one of the brand’s bestsellers in 2025, joined this year by the jackfruit print parasol, which looks likely to be another sell-out design, £30, habitat.co.uk
• Best British-made garden furniture brands in 2025
Farmhouse teak wood dining table, £899, johnlewis.com
What else is new? Just as stripes have flourished in our interiors, they are creeping across the garden collections. Weather-resistant woven sofas with neutral cushions are still ubiquitous, but there is a refreshing return to timber tables (my favourite example is the farmhouse dining table, £899, johnlewis.com), and metal outdoor furniture is hot, from powder-coated bistro sets to the latest update of the Palissade outdoor collection (Palissade cord lounge sofa by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Hay, £999, hollowaysofludlow.com).
The new Terra outdoor armchairs, £500, johnlewis.com
Wilary-Attew notes that John Lewis buyers are increasingly investing in their outdoor living spaces, in some cases searching for similar furniture for indoors and out. For instance? The new Terra outdoor sofa (£1,099) and armchairs (£500) in the spring outdoor collection are doppelgängers of the bestselling Blocky indoor sofa (£899, johnlewis.com)
Five hundred pounds, you may say, is pretty pricey for a garden chair, and I would not disagree. So, in the absence of a Met Office forecast for better weather, here is a little good news — a ray of sunshine. This year the value retailers’ outdoor collections are swimming in outstanding garden bargains.
Best on a budget
▲ No need to shell out for spendy garden seating this season. Good-quality affordable outdoor options are plentiful. Let’s start with the Danish brand JYSK, which provides Scandi-style garden furniture on a shoestring. Nabben stacking garden chairs cost £27.50 each, jysk.co.uk.
▲ Dobbies’ new outdoor furniture collections, available in stores and online from March, include the bargainous Esme bench, £79, dobbies.com
▲ B&Q’s Elounda bench with pop up table, £175, diy.com
▲ Acacia wood four-seater picnic table and two benches, B&Q, £399.99, diy.com
For adding pattern and personality
▲ The spring/summer 2026 collections feature an abundance of decorative designs that will add instant personality to an outdoor space. Sophie Robinson’s stellar Dunelm collection now includes designs for the garden. The Harp lantern, £12, dunelm.com, shown with the pink woven garden chair, £69, dunelm.com.
▲ Robinson’s Beldi floral parasol with pink tassels, £89, dunelm.com
▲ Habitat’s collaboration with Scion includes matching garden cushions (£15), and a bench cushion, £18, habitat.co.uk
Stripe society
▲ Stripes have taken root in the outdoor collections. The hottest new garden stripes are from Bemz — the studio that creates loose covers to snazz up Ikea sofas and has started making “universal” (one size fits all) covers to prolong the life of furniture. Bemz Club Sol Collection of outdoor furniture covers will be available to order in the UK on February 18. The sunbed cover in outdoor classic stripe fabric costs £99, cushion covers from £27, bemz.com
▲ Habitat’s Ivy Stripe rattan accent chair, £120, habitat.co.uk with a stripe outdoor rug, £15, habitat.co.uk.
▲ Wait until March for the stripey Dobbies Riva chair, £129, or coffee set, £599, dobbies.com
• Bring back 2016 (in your home) — from blue kitchens to leather sofas
▲ Outdoor fabrics from Colours of Arley in bespoke stripes, available in a palette of 120 colours, start at £85 a metre, coloursofarley.com
▲ Cosy up on metal or park bench-style timber seating with a striped handwoven cotton mattresses from Rowen & Wren, £128, rowenandwren.co.uk
Hot metal
▲ The era of weatherproof woven furniture is far from over, but this season metal designs are increasingly popular. Chic bistro set from Cox & Cox, Versailles in Eau de Nil, £350, coxandcox.co.uk
▲ Scandi six-seater patio dining set, £500, habitat.co.uk
Matthew Hilton’s Eos dining table, £806, heals.com
▲ Dining table from Matthew Hilton’s Eos outdoor collection for Case, £806, heals.com
HAY Palissade Cord Lounge Sofa, £999, and bench, £479, hollowaysofludlow.com
▲ HAY Palissade cord lounge sofa, £999, shown with bench, £479, hollowaysofludlow.com
▲ Mallia metal dining set from B&Q includes armchairs, £40, and an extendable dining table, £240, diy.com
If you buy just one thing…
The truth is, many of us already have basic outdoor furniture and have no intention of buying more until we move house. This season’s shopping spree will be about investing in an extra something that will bring a fresh dimension to the way we use our gardens. This season that means a statement seat …or a mini sauna.
▲ In 2025 egg chairs were garden bestsellers at Dunelm, so from February 16 the brand will be adding the woven Sydney Rope egg chair, a folding seat that can easily be stored, to the Dunelm app, £199, dunelm.com
• Six interior design trends for 2026 and where to shop for them
▲ This is a handwoven lounge chair with wow factor. The Julien Open Arm outdoor chair is from £3,140, arteriorshome.com
▲ Icaria, a cocoon-shaped seat woven from weather-resistant rattan, £495, coxandcox.co.uk
▲ Omalos rattan-effect egg chair, £225, diy.com
▲ Statement on a shoestring: Habitat’s Global accent chair and footstool, £120, habitat.co.uk
▲ New in at John Lewis is the Flowsauna Elite Solo, a FIR (far infrared recovery) chamber engineered for athletes. Built from hemlock wood, it requires no special plumbing or ventilation and can be assembled in less than 75 minutes. The infrared delivers targeted heat to stimulate circulation and reduce inflammation, and the deep heat “helps transition the autonomic nervous system from a high-alert sympathetic state to a parasympathetic ‘rest-and-repair’ mode”, releasing chronic tightness and improving circulation. It’s also somewhere dry to escape the drizzle, £4,999, johnlewis.com
Comments are closed.