Outdoor Furniture

Another of our crazy friends, wanted an odd number of chairs for their high table alongside the pool. I was a bit curious, and asked, “why the odd number?”.
I should have known.
“Well, you know Jed, the dog. He gets a bit upset when we are having drinkies on the high chairs, and wants to be up on the same level as us. So, the 5th chair is for Jed.”

Some form-ply chairs have become available, and with stainless steel legs. Very attractive, comfortable and best of all, comes in boxes of 4 for self-assembly. This means that we can get some really nice chairs to anywhere in Australia, economically, Stainless Steel legs for now, and soon available with (cheaper) chromed legs.

Last week we received some of the Rattan range into stock, and some friends (Derek & Sue) decided to have some for their home as well.
I called Derek to tell him it was ready for delivery, but he had other ideas. He didn’t tell his wife when it arrived (she was working further up the coast that day) but snuck home during the day to strategically place some items around the house. He had it so that when she first arrived home, she wouldn’t see a thing. He knew her habits , so placed a few barstools where they would be hidden by the hotplate, and a couple of chairs in the laundry, and some bedroom furniture in unobtrusive spots.
Well, he doesn’t want to be quoted that he anticipated her movements (that would backfire badly), but it worked out beautifully.
She came home (saw nothing), went straight to the sink and saw the breakfast barstools, and thought “that’s nice, why didn’t he bring the rest?”, then out to the laundry where she saw the chairs, and all of a sudden, it was like an Easter egg hunt. Into every room, looking for boxes, a breathless phone call to her daughter, and then to Derek. He said it was nice to hear her joy (and the brownie points will last for quite a while).
It’s amazing how new furniture makes a difference.

The Adirondack chair above is one of those extremely comfortable chairs that you end up loving. This one is made from a hardwood Eucalypt, natural or painted

A sample of a really nice range of Teak furniture is shown above. It uses a top quality Teak combined with pure anodised aluminium frames. There is a lot of aluminium around these days, and it is often an aluminium of dubious quality with a really thin wall-thickness, and powdercoated to look pretty good in the showroom. Once the powdercoating gets scratched, the atmosphere gets in and the oxidising process begins, pushing the powdercoat off.
This range uses a pure aluminium treated with an excellent anodising process. Anodising becomes part of the aluminium surface and is almost self-healing with light abrasions. It’s longer-lasting in corrosive conditions, and even better than most of the stainless steel being used in a lot of furniture.
The settting shown has an extendable table and folding chairs.

We have had some demand for some Cane Furniture, too.
A nice range is now available, and it is a good commercial quality that will suit some Resort apartment owners, as well as the domestic market

We’ve got a heap of new products coming in the lead in to Christmas. This line of flat-packed kwila outdoor products are high in quality and convenience. Easy to put under the Christmas tree because they are in space-saving cartons. There are some new products that extend our range too.
But that’s not all……………..
Have a look around the furniture website to see some other goodies we are getting in. I’ll post more as I get time, over the next couple of weeks.

We have just put a table together combining GRC & an iron base that we have had powdercoated.
It looks really good, but we haven’t had a chance to photograph it yet. This is a sneak peek.

My last post, and my involvement with John Hurd’s campaign against Daylight savings resulted in the local paper (Tweed Daily News) interviewing me and inserting a huge photo of Leah & myself looking concerned and under pressure from the looming DST change.
It starts tonight, and already we had some momentary cunfusion over appointment times for next week.

I don’t hate daylight savings, but I do have a hard time living in Tweed Heads (NSW) and having a different time zone splitting my customers during the annual Daylight Savings adjustment.
The areas from the Sunshine Coast (QLD) right down through Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Tweed Heads (NSW) to Byron Bay or Ballina, or even Coffs Harbour all have strong ties business-wise.
Queensland is the only state that does not have daylight savings, and that causes all sorts of problems with businesses in this part of the world.
Register your thoughts in an online poll at Hohn Hurd’s Networking site
It is not going to change unless pressure is brought to bear on Qld politicicians.

The church that I go to has taken on a project of establishing an orphanage in Kafue, Zambia recently. The New Beginnings Church, based in Tugun, SE Qld is behind the project, led by Ken Legg, Rob Stuttle & Roger Wilson.
The whole project is expected to cost about $100,000, and although an extremely generous gesture of underwriting the whole project was made by one of the congregation, funds still have to be raised. The offer was to provide certainty for the project, rather than “owning” it altogether.
One way of raising money was to receive another generous donation of (5,000) brand new, sewn handbags to sell, and keep all the proceeds for the orphanage. I’ve got a “few” here in the shopfront, so any locals who would like to provide a little hope to some Zambian orphan kids should pop in and get a few. Excellent pacifiers for daughters & grand-daughters, or even good for carrying a few beers when having a BBQ with your mates - if you’re game…………
$3.50 each, or $10 for 3.
Visit Ken Legg’s site, or at his training institute, or email Ken at setfreemin@ozemail.com.au if you want to be more involved.

My contact is nearly always the manager of a resort, or building, and they are the ones tasked with maintenance and repairs etc., and they usually know what works and what doesn’t.
You would think that b/c committees would listen to that experience when choosing new poolside furniture, and choose products that make sense over the long term.
Sadly, no.
I’ve just had a manager ring one day to place an order for some sunlounges that the b/c had agreed to purchase, and then he’s been placed in the embarassing position of having to ring me again to say that one of the b/c members found a cheaper lounge at some store in another area, and they are going to purchase them. It wasn’t even in the same league of suitability, but it was cheaper, so it must be a better choice…………..
I can get them too, aaand I have a cheaper price on them, so I sent off another email detailing some of the cheaper styles I can supply. It would be nice to recover the transaction, because ‘
I had spent some time on it.
I don’t like doing it though. They’re going to end up buying furniture that doesn’t meet the standard of their building, and it will cheapen the experience of guests.
But that’s not my problem…………..and that’s the end of my bitching.
I will always present what I think will be best suited, and will present the case honestly, but, in the end, the person holding the chequebook controls the decision.

I delivered a few more Resort Sunlounges to the Mantra Coolangatta Resort yesterday. They are very pleased with the strength and the look of them. The patrons soon jumped on them, too. They said they were high & comfortable.

We still have this Teak/Stainless setting in the showroom.
It includes a 7 pce dining suite, Serving trolley, long bench seat, Sunlounge and 2 planter boxes.
Superb quality - it just needs the right balcony.

In contrast to the last post, I also sold the table pictured above this morning.
80cm x 63 cm is a good balcony size, and coupled with the resin base, it becomes a very stable, strong and rust-free table for seaside balconies.
It will look out over the beach at Coolangatta.