Your patio furniture represents an investment in your home, therefore, you want to get as much use out of it as possible for as long as you can. Sometimes that isn’t easy to do when you have kids in the house. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your patio furniture and keep it looking great.

Buy Quality

One of the most important steps you can take to protect your patio furniture is at the very outset. When you go to buy the furniture, focus not so much on price as on quality. Buy the brands that use premium materials that will wear well over time. Such high quality materials are less likely to be damaged due to rough treatment from the kids. Just like everything else, with patio furniture you get what you pay for and cheap furniture is the least likely to be kid proof.

Ease of Maintenance and Repair

Even the best quality patio furniture is not 100% resistant to kids, not to mention sun fading, rust and water exposure. Therefore, you want patio furniture that can be easily updated and repaired. Get the kind of patio cushion for your chairs and other seating furniture that allows you to buy a foam replacement for it if necessary. That way, you won’t have to replace the whole piece of furniture if rough use by the kids causes the cushions to flatten or lose shape.

Fabric Choices

Patio furniture comes in an array of colors and styles. Therefore, you should always bear in mind when shopping for your patio furniture which colors and fabrics are most likely to show stains and wear. The ideal fabrics are ones that you can wash should your children spill food or drinks on it. However, since not all stains and discolorations can be completely washed away, patio furniture consisting of darker colors are better around kids than lighter ones because dark colors will hide stains better.

Getting Maximum Use

No matter what you do, there will always be some wear and tear on your patio furniture. In fact, that is true even if you didn’t have kids. However, if you follow the simple suggestions listed above, you should be able to get the maximum use out of your patio furniture even if you have some rowdy children using it regularly.