Tag Archives: Wood

5 Winter Ideas For Folding Picnic Tables

Posted on by webadmin
folding picnic table
13 Jun

You might think that folding picnic tables are just for summer, but you would be wrong! Our picnic tables are perfect for the winter season, helping you to make the most out of the cooler weather for a variety of different occasions.

Our picnic tables provide a stable surface that can be quickly folded away and brought out when needed. They provide additional stable surfaces for wine, drinks and snacks, anywhere and at any time. Pop one in your caravan or camper trailer, keep one in the back of your 4WD or Ute for when you go to the beach or store one in the garden shed.  You never know when you will need to use our folding picnic tables!

So, here are our 5 top winter season ideas for using your folding picnic table!

  1. Keep everyone warm with a fire pit

When the cooler winter evenings start to draw in, Aussies look to their fire pits! There is nothing quite like a roaring outdoor fire for making everyone feel warm and friendly. Everything seems perfect when you sit around a fire pit. However, it could get even better when you can keep your food and drinks safe and within arm’s reach of a folding picnic table. Take our picnic tables camping or set them up around the fire pit in the garden – they are perfect for entertaining.

  1. Create your relaxing spa at home

Just imagine a long relaxing soak in your fabulous spa sanctuary at home, allowing the hot water to wash away the day’s stress and worries. Hot spa baths in summer are great, but in winter they seem to be both luxurious and decadent! The problem is – where do you put your wine? Well, our handcrafted picnic tables are perfect for the job because they fit right next to your bath and hold everything you need to create your very own spa sanctuary.

  1. Take the stress out of kid’s sporting events

Winter is the season for an abundance of kid’s sports and parents end up transporting their kids from one activity to another in a never-ending circle! Just imagine how useful a folding picnic table will be at these events! Parents can keep all their kid’s snacks and drinks in one place and not left strewn around the back of the 4WD. Plus, glasses won’t get spilled, and there’s somewhere to keep the car keys, phones and anything else that is needed on the day which often gets lost.

  1. Home entertaining is a breeze

When you have run out of table space for your BBQ or dinner and when friends and family are ready to eat, pull out your handcrafted folding picnic table and look like a professional! Picnic tables are ideal for increasing tablespace, and since they come in different sizes, the smallest models can easily fit on your table and take the place of a lazy Susan.

  1. Add some culture to fishing trips

When everyone wants to head off for a day’s fishing, the one item that is always missing is somewhere to put everything! Whether you need a stable spot for drinks and food or somewhere handy to keep the bait, knives, thermos or beer – our trusty picnic tables are perfect for the job. They take up hardly any room in the Ute or 4WD and can be put up and taken down fast. Just wipe them over to remove any stains, and they are good to go on your next fishing trip.

Why not check out our handcrafted folding picnic tables and add some pizzazz to your winter activities? If you have any further questions or queries on any of the products we stock at Daydream Leisure Furniture, feel free to contact us today!

Bleeding and oiling your Kwila outdoor furniture

Posted on by webadmin
kwila-turniture-care.tips
25 Jul

Your Kwila furniture is ideal for withstanding the rigours of the Australian climate. This timber is more durable than many other timbers used in outdoor furniture and has minimal shrinkage, resistance to splitting and withstands harsh salt water environments.  To keep your Kwila furniture looking its best, here are a few easy to follow tips.

Oiling your Kwila outdoor furniture

Kwila furniture doesn’t require oiling for durability purposes, but if you want to permanently leave your furniture outdoors, it will weather if it is not oiled, turning a silvery grey colour over time. All of our Kwila furniture has already been oiled prior to packaging and you can continue with regular oiling or allow the timber to naturally weather and age.

Unoiled Kwila furniture, might experience minor splitting over time, but this adds rather than detracts from its beauty. If you decide to oil your furniture regularly to maintain its original colour, then use a light decking oil.  An oil with a UV stabiliser and an anti-fungal additive is recommended.   Avoid any products that contain bleach or solvents.

It is important to remember that your Kwila furniture will still maintain its integrity if you decide not to oil your furniture. This timber is very tough and durable and this toughness and durability is not influenced by whether or not you oil your furniture.

Bleeding the tannin from Kwila furniture

As Kwila contains a large amount of tannin (resin or sap), when the timber becomes wet it will bleed the tannin onto the surface it is sitting on. If not cleaned up immediately, the tannin can stain porous ground surfaces, so it is advisable to accelerate this process to attempt to remove the surface tannin from the furniture.

All you need to do in order to bleed-out the Kwila timber is hose the timber down with clean water until the tannin has stopped bleeding out of the wood and then allow to dry. Depending on the amount of tannin in the product, the process may need to be repeated several times. It should be noted that as timber is a natural product, the amount of tannin is not measurable, therefore even by following bleeding instructions, it is still possible to end up with a small amount of residual tannin which could stain a surface.  So be as diligent as you can with this process.

Don’t stop hosing until the runoff water is clear and then use an old rag or towel to sop up any standing water on the timber, roughly going all over all of the furniture with the rag. It will take many hours for the timber to completely dry (depending on the weather), however using the rag helps to prevent water spots marking the timber while it dries.

Once your Kwila furniture is totally dry, and if you want to maintain the rich colour of your furniture, at this point it is recommended that you oil the furniture using a light decking oil, as outlined above.

It is important to note that you are not removing all of the tannin from the wood, just the surface tannin. This is important, because it is the tannin and the moisture within the timber that retains the tannin that helps to preserve your furniture, making it resistant to the elements.

Daydream Leisure Furniture offers customers an in-house bleeding service for a small additional charge. Using our service means that you don’t have to spend your valuable time bleeding the surface tannin out of your Kwila furniture, instead you can start enjoying it as soon as it is delivered.

For more information on any of our outdoor furniture and accessories, visit one of our furniture showrooms, call us on 07 5449 9336 (Noosa) 07 5493 4277 (Warana) or complete our online enquiry form.