Our edit of the best garden furniture for 2021 will ensure you’re ready to maximize your outdoor space this spring and summer.

Spending time outside has been proven to enhance both our mental and physical wellbeing, so even it's just a few moments in the garden with your morning cup of coffee, sourcing the best garden furniture will make it easier to get some mood-boosting fresh air.

Design-led deckchairs, outdoor sofas built for relaxation, resort-worthy sunloungers, and modern alfresco dining sets; we’ve sourced the best garden furniture to help you soak up the rays as soon as that sunshine hits.

So whether you're hankering after a restful retreat, planning ahead for outdoor entertaining, or looking to extend your living space out into the garden for the summer months, read on to discover the best design-led garden furniture of 2021.

Best garden furniture for 2021

1. Heal's Tanso Outdoor 3 Seater Sofa

Best garden furniture; retreat-worthy Zen relaxation

Designed by David Irwin, a past winner of Homes & Gardens New Designer of the Year, the low-to-the-ground Tanso outdoor sofa and armchairs epitomise relaxed outdoor lounging.

Inspired by the refined simplicity of Japanese furniture, the collection fuses robust and weather-resistant grade A teak wood with a level of craftsmanship that makes the range as suitable for indoor use as outdoor.

Available in a low-slung 3-seater sofa, armchair, table, and contemporary garden bench, this collection will bring Zen-like calm to your outside space.

2. Ferm Living Desert Lounge Chair

Best garden furniture; laidback lounging

The new collection showcases the Nordic brand’s move towards a more sustainable product line; the removable seats are woven from 100% PET yarn, recycled from post-consumer waste plastic with each chair repurposing the equivalent of 53 plastic bottles.

Taking their cue from desert sands, the eco-conscious loungers are available in four muted shades; from neutral cashmere-coloured weave to modern stripe and Ferm Living’s signature abstract geometrics. A great way to bring some contemporary art into the garden.

3. Hay Palissade Rectangular Table

Best garden furniture; smart alfresco dining

Contemporary, yet classic enough to remain timeless, the elegant simplicity of the Hay Palissade collection works effortlessly in a natural or urban setting, creating a modern outdoor dining space.

Designed by French brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the interplay of straight lines and fluid curves are formed from durable and highly weather-resistant powder-coated or hot galvanised steel, enabling the collection to endure the elements gracefully.

The linear ribbon design and curving silhouette make the Palissade a great option for smaller courtyard gardens or outdoor areas where you don’t want to block the vista with a solid form.

4. Fold Outdoor 3-Seater Sofa with Arms

Best garden furniture; outdoor sofa-surfing

Designed for The Conran Shop by award winning British industrial designer Samuel Wilkinson, the Fold outdoor sofa wraps a powder-coated black tubular steel frame in a cocoon of easily-removable fold-over cushioning.

Available in twelve quick-drying upholstery options, including wish-you-were-here Bora Bora woven in Spain and the nautically-striped Strange Loves crafted in Italy, the Fold sofa is the ideal spot to get comfortable outdoors.

5. Geradis Campos Dining Table

Best garden furniture; contemporary outdoor dining

Pay homage to Brutalist architecture whilst you dine alfresco on the squared-concrete Geradis Campos table.

Available from Barker and Stonehouse in four sizes of concrete dining and coffee table, plus two concrete-formed bench seats, these weighty propositions will ground a contemporary garden planting scheme, contrasting rigid form against an organic backdrop.

We particularly like the hard-edged minimalism of the Geradis table juxtaposed against frothy ferns or ever-shifting grasses.

Complete industrial outdoor dining look with Barker and Stonehouse's rope and aluminium-frame Duke dining armchairs.

6. Skagerak Between Lines Deckchair

Best garden furniture; design-led deckchair

Add some cushions and this clean-lined Scandinavian lounge chair is the perfect spot a morning cup of coffee.

Designed to be passed from generation to generation, Skagerak's Between The Lines deckchair is crafted from FSC-certified teak sourced from sustainably-managed forestry plantations.

Protected from the elements by the high natural oil content of teak wood, you can let this contemporary outdoor chair weather to a beautiful silvery-grey over time or apply furniture oil to maintain the golden-honeyed colouring.

7. Ames Caribe & Maraca Armchair

Best garden furniture; eco-friendly colour-clash

Travel to more tropical climes in your imagination, if not in body, with Sebastian Herkner’s Spring Summer 2021 collection for Ames.

Inspired by the creative exuberance of South America, the high-backed Caribe armchair is woven by hand in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast using the traditional ‘momposino’ technique to braid threads of brightly-coloured recycled plastic.

The similarly happiness-inducing Maraca lounge chair benefits from the traditional skills of the indigenous Zenús women from Columbian Bolivar. Hand-dyed with seeds, leaves, nuts and roots that are fixed with salt and natural starch to create the vibrant colours, the chair's cotton sling-back seats are adapted from the women's traditionally woven hammocks.

Bright, beautiful and breathing new life into traditional craftsmanship, the collection will uplift even the dullest of days.

8. Monique Consentino Fuori Serving Trolley

Best garden furniture; outdoor mixology

Alfresco cocktail hour can now quite literally roll around quicker with the Fuori outdoor drinks trolley.

Influenced by her Danish upbringing and Italian roots, designer Monique Consentino believes in aesthetics that combine core product functionality with sculptural sensibilities.

Her easily maneuverable outdoor drinks trolley showcases teak wood shelves and a powder-coated aluminium frame for enhanced weather-resistance, whilst smooth-running roller wheels ensure a zippy drinks service.

9. Cane-line Conic Sun-lounger

Best garden furniture; resort-worthy recliner

We’re all craving a good dose of poolside relaxation, but if international travel remains off the cards this year, we’ll be aiming to bring the resort to us with Cane-line’s luxury Conic sunlounger.

Quick-dry upholstered cushions and a simple gas spring reclining mechanism will allow us to lay back in comfort the minute the sun peeps out from behind the British clouds, whilst a lightweight powder-coated aluminium frame and rear wheels make for easy manoeuvring. Perfect for following the rays.

10. MDF Italia Rock Outdoor Round Table

Best garden furniture; colourful centrepiece

Terracotta stone chips are used to colour the new outdoor version of Jean-Marie Massaud’s iconic Rock table.

The mottled terrazzo-effect surface adds further subtlety to this carefully balanced design that plays with all kinds of juxtapositions; contrasting delicacy and solidity, heavy and light, raw materials and refined finishes.

Pairing with the Massaud-designed Neil Twist outdoor chairs offers a further interplay of contrasting surfaces. High tensile strength, UV-resistant coloured cord is woven in geometric pattern around tubular metal chair frames that themselves appear entangled like steel thread.

For wow-factor outdoor dining and entertaining, we don't think it gets better than this.