If you plan on entertaining on your balcony or garden this summer, then cheap, dated plastic outdoor furniture just won't do. And there's more choice now than ever before.
Everything Under The Sun's managing director, Craig Pallister, says for this summer the trend is towards people blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor furniture. This means sometimes using outdoor furniture indoors, especially items such as sofas that are comfortable enough for lounging, entertaining and relaxing on.
At this year's Milan furniture fair, which highlights international trends in the industry, one of the most noticeable was the popularity of indoor furniture designed with the look of outdoors.
This blurring of the lines between the two has made outdoor spaces equally important as indoor, while influencing the style and direction of indoor furniture pieces.
'People do buy to have outdoor furniture indoors - what mainly attracts them is the product design,' Pallister says. 'We have a series of tables that don't look like traditional outdoor furniture. These can be used indoors or outdoors.'
He says also popular for this purpose are table designs from Tribu and Kettal which are stainless steel and ceramic, or stainless steel and concrete with a fibreglass shell on the inside.