Outdoor Furniture

Outdoor furniture from a Sarchí workshop or from a container:

that split matters more than style. Pieces made by hand in Sarchí are solid guanacaste, Spanish cedar or monkeypod, and the classic rocking chair often has a leather seat and back and comes apart for moving. They are heavy, repairable and meant for a roof over them. Imported sets are built for volume, most often synthetic rattan woven over an aluminium or steel frame, or powder-coated aluminium for dining, with stackable resin chairs at the cheap end. Teak is the one wood that can stand in open sun and rain. Loungers belong beside one of the swimming pools, and a dining set rarely sits far from one of the barbecues.

The roof over the veranda decides the material:

under cover, almost anything works, including natural wicker and leather, which you would never leave in the rain. In open sun beside a pool in Tamarindo, the weave and the cushions are what fail. Good synthetic rattan is polyethylene with UV protection and stays supple; the cheap kind is PVC, which turns chalky, then brittle, and snaps at the corners. Aluminium does not rust, while a steel frame hidden under the weave rusts from the welds outward. On an apartment balcony, weight and wind matter more: a light resin chair blows over and a sofa has to fit in the lift. With cushions, solution-dyed acrylic covers such as Sunbrella hold their colour in the sun and quick-dry foam drains after a downpour, while ordinary polyester fades and its foam stays soaked.

Why a solid-wood rocker keeps its price:

a handmade Sarchí rocker in solid wood starts around ₡80,000 new, a rattan-look rocker off a shop floor costs well under half that, and a basic four-piece terrace set starts around ₡230,000. Used, they move in opposite directions. A sound wooden rocker can be sanded, re-oiled and fitted with new leather, so it keeps much of its value as long as the joints are tight. Synthetic rattan cannot be rewoven at any sensible cost, so once the strands start to crack, a set is worth what its frame and cushions are worth.

Turning a terrace set upside down before you pay:

the underside tells the truth. On rattan, look at the welds and the feet, where water sits, and squeeze the weave on the arms: strands that crackle or leave a white powder on your fingers are sun-damaged. On wood, rock each chair on a level floor and push at the joints. A wobble can be reglued; soft wood at the foot of a leg cannot be saved. Small round holes and little heaps of dry pellets under a piece mean drywood termites or borers, and that piece should stay out of your house. Furniture sold as teak is sometimes a lighter plantation timber under a stain: real teak is heavy and feels faintly oily even once it has weathered grey, and that grey is only cosmetic. On a Sarchí rocker, check the leather for cracks and for the white bloom of mould along the stitching. Unzip the cushions and smell them. On a hammock, check the cords where the bed meets the end strings.

Getting a dining set with a glass top to its next terrace:

give the footprint of the set and the size of the largest piece, how many chairs come with the table and whether it lived covered or in the open. Photograph it from above, from underneath and close up on a weld or joint, so a buyer in Nicoya can judge it without the drive. Say whether the sofa or the rocker comes apart, since a sectional that does not will need a pickup or a moving truck. On the day, lift the glass off the frame, wrap it in a blanket, pad the corners and keep the chairs off it on the way to Ciudad Colón: the corners are where a tempered top breaks.