Cane Direct has been trading in conservatory furniture for the best part of sixteen years, and we have furnished many  conservatories over the years, we have a very large showroom in a city called Manchester in England. We have been at this showroom with our furniture since the day we opened our doors to the public, and we have seen many changes within our industry over that time. I guess the biggest change we have seen is the birth of the Internet and how it has changed our company and the way we now have to market our furniture products. When we very first started our company, people were just starting to have conservatories built, the problem back then was that people were not spending very much money on them. Thinking back to those days the average price of a conservatory was probably around one thousand, five hundred pounds, and they were a called lean too, funny really because now most of our suites at Cane Direct cost more than that! So when we first started there was no way someone was going to spend more on their furniture then they were going to spend on a new building, and besides that for that money you only got a small build, and most of our furniture that we sell now would have been far to big any way. So we used to sell suites that were not only small in size but also small in price. And of course there was very little choice, i think in those days we had around nine to ten suites on display in the show room for people to come and view, and the most expensive suite on sell was a suite called Havana, which would have set you back a staggering four hundred pounds, i remember if we sold one of those, which wasn’t very offen all the sales staff would get really excited and it would really boost our sales figures for the week! Customers who showed an interest in the Havana furniture were treated like kings.

How times have changed, after two or three years the conservatory market really took off and people rather than moving saw a great opportunity to extended their property by having a conservatory built, which is half the price than having an extension built. Plus the big up side was that you didn’t need to have planning permission, and as more and more people started to have them built they started to come down in price by a lot of money, and it become a snow ball effect, lets say it was a bit like keeping up with the Jones, Your friend would have one built, they woul;d invite you round for diner, and show off their new conservatory, and you would be so impressed, that you would start talking about having one built, or lets say the wife would start talking about having one, and by pure nature yours would have to be bigger and better than your friends, with air con fitted, and the latest tiles on the floors, and so the chain has started and you then invite other friends round and they go and do just what you did in the first instance, which of course was great news for Cane Direct, because we saw this coming and we upped our game, and took the chance by starting to sell a more up market product.

I remember our first expensive range of furniture, i think the retail price for a three piece suite was nine hundred pounds, and i remember the staff saying there is no way customers were going to spend that sort of money on conservatory furniture, and yes it was a bit scary, but after about two weeks we took our first order for the new range, and everybody then had loads of confidence and were not bothered about telling the customer the price when they asked.

After that we our self’s got more confident and started to buy more and more up market suites and within about two years we saw a huge shift in what people were purchasing, nobody wanted the bottom end suites any more, well i say no body wanted them, is not quite true, there were still some customers who didn’t want to spend more than five hundred pounds on  furniture but they were few and far between, and dunning the late nineties the boom was on, and every where you looked some one was having a conservatory built, as your reading this have a look out of your window and i bet you can see a conservatory, you could even be sitting in one as your reading this article.

Our average sale now on furniture is around twelve hundred pounds, and i think the average price of a new conservatory is now maybe around sixteen thousand pounds, so i guess when you look at the costs it is all relevant, to the cost of the building and what people are prepared to spend on new furniture, and the same is now happening with our new range of all weather furniture, this product is very good quality and built to last last for many years and can be left out side all winter, the product is not cheap to buy, but it is just stunning and will never need to be replaced, and this is the future, if you look around you will see just how much money people are now spending on their gardens, this has been slowly happening over the last four or five years, people are treating their gardens like their lounge, i know it may be hard to believe but it is true, go down to your garden centre, and have a look at the vast range of products that you can now buy for your garden, but don’t be tempted to purchase your conservatory furniture, from your local garden centre, they don’t have the choice or the after sales service that you should receive when you are spending your hard ernt money, always go to a specialise who will give you the correct advise and what and how much furniture you need, and will spend the time with you going through what your requirements are. It is worth the time to look around.

This is what England has been waiting for, our new collection of all weather furniture.  Forget teak garden furniture with its high maintainence sanding down and varnishing or the very cheap and old fashioned looking white plastic chairs which are the blight of this country.  Take a look at our website and peruse out brand new for 2009 All Weather Furniture Collection. 

This piece of luxury is the newest thing to hit garden and outdoor living.  Our All Weather Furniture is designed to be totally maintenance free and that’s a guarantee!  The furniture is made from a special resin that can withstand all the elements of the English weather without rusting, fading, or splitting.  The elegant lines of our collection would enhance any garden to make it look extremely special and the envy of all your friends and neighbours.

The dining tables in out All Weather Furniture Collection come in various sizes, with or without toughened glass, and all chairs are interchangeable.  For those of our customers with more compact gardens, the Bali Range of tables is sure to have a size that would suit.  From the neat and compact four seater dining table to the impressive 10 seater.  The dining chairs are available with or without arms or a combination of the two!  Seating pads are optional, but on average probably 98% of our customers always purchase the seating pads for that extra finishing touch and wow factor.  The pads are made from a specially treated extra strong fabric, which is also able to withstand the outdoor elements, though we do recommend that the pads are brought inside for storage during the winter months.  The fabric is so durable that it is possible to spill undiluted bleach on them without a mark being left! 

For those customers who take outdoor living very seriously, our website contains features on our All Weather Rattan Living Sets.  These consist of various luxury sofas, armchairs and footstools etc.  Various corner units or U shaped units are available, all with the most sumptuous cushions to relax into.  This a a luxury product with real WOW factor.  Two seater and three seater sofas are available in this particular All Weather Furntiure Collection.  Smaller sofas with a more compact shape are available, for those customers who prefer not to fill all their space with seating arrangements!  Many customers purchase these particular items for indoor use because of their style and versatility.

Making up a large part of our All Weather Furniture Collection are our sun loungers, bar accessories, parasols and gazebos.  Not just ordinary gazebos, but these gazebos are something special.  With their heavily draped sides and ornate panels, they look stunning with  a dining table beneath them, or an outdoor living set being shielded from the sun.

There are at the moment, a number of very cheap  copies on the market.  Beware, as these copies do not claim to all weather furniture and are sold as just garden furniture - which rather defeats the object, and no guarantees are given with them.  The beauty of all our products is that they can be left outside year after year, and still look as stunning as the day they were purchased with absolutely no maintainance what so ever.

This is question we get asked a lot about leaving your all weather furniture outside, the answer is quite simply yes. The whole concept of this type of furniture is that most people have enough space in their gardens for dining sets or even what we call living sets, (sofas and chairs) but we always come back to the same old problem, what do we do with our new furniture during the winter months? Remember the days when people would buy wooden garden furniture to create outdoor living. The first year the product looks great but after two years of being left out during the winter all the varnish peels off and its quickly starts to look tiered no matter how much money you paid for it you always end up with this problem, i don’t know anyone who actually puts there garden furniture way in the winter.

This is the beauty of our new all weather furniture, you do not have to worry about putting it during the winter months you can just leave it out with piece of mind that the snow or ice will have any effect on the product in any shape or form what so ever. We at Cane Direct give a full five year guarantee on our furniture products, that the elements of wonderful English weather will not get the better of our products. The reason we can only guarantee the products for five years at the moment is that the product has only been on the market for five years and thus we have only been able to test it for five years, but we are fully aware of just how good a quality our furniture is, that with every year that goes buy we will increase the guarantee example by August this year the product will have been tested for six years and in turn we will then increase the guarantee to six years and the same next year and so on.

Its OK to go on about how the furniture will be fine in a cold climate, but what if i have a nice villa in Spain or France and i want to leave the furniture out in hot temperatures? Again this is not a problem the quality of our polyethylene it will fine to leave out in the direct sun for long periods of time, i don’t know if you have been abroad recently. especially to Dubai where believe me it doesn’t get any hotter pretty much all year round, if you have been you will have noticed that all of the up market hotels,restaurants and bars have our furniture and have been using it for a number of years, and you can still see after five years the quality, it looks as though it were purchased yesterday, so any concerns you have about the heat here or in Spain forget.

Are there different types of polyethylene? Yes there are many different types and many different qualities as well, like most things in life or in business you create a really good quality product and someone is going to come along and copy it in a cheaper material to mass market it. You can spot the cheaper by products by two main reasons, firstly they will not be able to offer you a guarantee and the second tell tale sign is the weave, on the cheaper copies they don’t bind the strands of polyethylene snug so you can see gaps in the weave, you will not see this happen with our product, the weave is so tight there is no way you will be able to push your finger through the weave. How tight the weave is, is so important to the durability of the furniture, this tight weave is what gives the furniture its strength. The other problem is when they use a cheaper material they cannot guarantee it against the elements, if the products are left out in the winter they will crack and split, and in hot weather they crack and flake, so the bottom line is, your wasting your time and money by replacing your old wooden furniture with cheap copies, you would be better sticking with what you have got until you have the investment to get the real deal.

So if i buy my all weather from Cane Direct, Your telling me (the consumer) that your products will not be effected by ice and frost, that’s right from the day of delivery you will receive your guarantee for five years, What about if your not in business in five years? Well no one can predict the future, but we have been trading for sixteen years now and it would very unlikely that we wont be here in five years. So you are also saying that your furniture can sit out in direct sunlight year after year no matter how hot it gets and the sun will not effect it? Yep we sure are, the same deal applies upon delivery you will receive your guarantee against our furniture not fading, cracking or drying out, no matter what the heat is like. Do i have maintain it, like you do with wooden garden furniture? No this is the beauty of our furniture there is absolutely no maintenance required what so ever, you buy it and that’s it all you have to do is sit relax and enjoy your new purchase for years to come. What about cleaning it? Sorry we haven’t come up with any self cleaning furniture yet! but because of the product we use to make our furniture it is very simple to clean, just wipe down with a damp cloth and bingo like new again. I don’t like to use polyethylene products because i care about the planet. Our all weather furniture is totally recyclable even when burnt it will produce no toxic substances, if fact because it is man made, you will be help the planet more by using our products than wooden products, just think how many trees have to be cut down to make one table and a set of chairs! If we have your furniture by our pool will suntan creams effect the product? The answer to that question is no, what about suntan oil? No this will not effect our furniture.

We get many phone enquiries from customers wanting to know what is all weather furniture?  What does it do ? Can i use it as garden furniture? does it come in different colours? and so on. In this article we will explain what the product is and most importantlythe quality differences between the products that are now available with in the furniture market. First of all, all weather furniture is made from a polyethylene product, this is a plastic type of product to make furniture. It is quite new on the market and has only been around for approximately five years. There are big differences between a good quality polyethylene product and poor quality. The whole concept for the production of this by product is that you can create outdoor furniture, that needs no maintenance at all and can be left out all summer long and even during the winter months, this has some very unique selling points, because a lot of people may well the space for the furniture in the garden but come the winter they have no where to store the products. With our products this is not a problem, the quality is so good that we offer all our customers a five year guarantee against any type of weather. Unlike wooden type furniture that needs maintenance every year, our product doesnt. The problem we face now is that cheaper copies are being brought on to the market, which will not be able to with stand the winter months or high levels of sunshine, this really defeats the object, your still left with the same problem as you had with the old type of wooden furniture, so if you are going to invest in your garden with all weather furniture, make sure you read our next article which will explain what to look for and the questions to ask.

O yes spring has arrived, and so has our all weather furniture now in our brand new colours, we have have been very excited at Cane Direct for the arrival not only of spring but our new furniture collection. I don’t know about any one else out there but this winter seems to have dragged on and on. Still the late nights are just around the corner as we all look forward to those early evenings sitting in the garden at the end of a long hard day at work with a glass of nice wine in your hand watching the sun go down feeling the warmth of the day fade away, what better way to do it then sitting in Cane Directs new range of all weather furniture. Not only would you be enjoying the start of spring but you would also be enjoy furniture at its best.

GARDEN FURNITURE

Over the past number of years garden furniture has gone through a huge transformation in the style and quality.  A number of years ago, all that was available was the wooden park bench type of outdoor furniture, or the wooden picnic style table with bench attached.  For the sun worshippers, I am sure we can all remember the plastic woven sun loungers, which left indentations on your skin if it was sat on for more than a total of ten minutes, and how many little fingers were caught in the mechanisms when it collapsed without notice!

For those people lucky enough to own a country or cottage style garden the only garden furniture to have was a …. Usually covered in a large floral design fabric,  this was used to while away those sunny Sunday afternoons with a Pimms and watching Grandma prune the roses.  It is not until recently that these type of fabrics have been manufactured whereby they can be left out in all weather instead of having to rush in with them as soon as a summer shower loomed on the horizon.  Having to store these cushions for outdoor furniture was a  problem too as they were very large and bulky.

Then came the white plastic garden furniture.  I would imagine hundreds of thousands must have been manufactured and still are.  Looking back,  this sort of garden furniture was so uncomfortable, unsafe, and looked grimey after a couple of weeks left out in the English Summer.  I’m sure we all had a huge laugh when the chair legs buckled and snapped at someone else’s expense.  This sort of outdoor garden furniture became so cheap after a while, that it was everywhere!  After one season of being left out in the garden, no matter how much it was scrubbed with detergent and bleach, it still looked filthy and unsightly.

Good old teak garden furniture is still very popular today.  Providing this type of furniture is properly maintained, and it does need a high level of maintenance, it can look very classy.  It is essential that this type of garden furniture is revarnished each season and if possible it is always wise to try and house it away for the winter months.  This is just not possible for the majority of us who do not own a spare barn or have a garage with nothing else in it.  When buying teak garden furniture it is always advisable to buy the best you can afford, as there are some very cheap imitations available which will not last no matter how much they are revarnished and looked after. 

The latest innovation in garden furniture is the new outdoor rattan ranges.  This outdoor furniture is a new concept in outdoor living and looks so stylish.  It is available with or without sumptuous soft cushions which can be left out in all weather without fading or sagging.  The best advantage of this outdoor furniture is that it can be left  outdoors in all types of weather without requiring any type of maintenance of any sort.  It will not fade, split or tear.  A selection of this fantastic new garden furniture can be found on the Cane Direct website.  Take a look and I’m sure you will be impressed!

Spring is coming at last, its not to far away now, and so is our outdoor furniture collection, here at Cane Direct we are very excited about our new range of furniture, it has taken us many long months of hard work and expense to put together our new range. Not only do we have to decide what styles of furniture we want create for our new collection but we also have decide on what colours each piece of furniture should be run in, which is very difficult to do because each piece of furniture looks so different when you make it it in a different colour, this decision has to be the right one because once you have made the samples and you have chosen the colour, the factories will not make just one item of furniture they have to put the product into production, which means you will end up with many hundreds of products of the same style and the same colour and if it has been your decision you are then committed to having the furniture shipped. So what could happen is you end up with a pile of stock that is the wrong colour and you cannot sell it.

This why what we call product selection is so important, the next part of the process is to determine what styles to purchase, some products you will sell a lot of, for example you will always be safe with round dining tables and four chairs in outdoor furniture  because that is what most customers want, however you also have to stock some larger tables for the needs of customers with larger patio areas.

THE 2009  RANGE OF ALL WEATHER FURNITURE

The brand new range of the Cane Direct All Weather Furniture is finally available to view on our website.  This year the range is even more exciting than ever before. 

Take a look at our All Weather Furniture Gazebos for example.  The gazebos are the epitome of luxury, and good taste and would make any garden the envy of all your neighbors.  These are a brand new addition to our fabulous collection.  As the name suggests, these gazebos can be left outside in all weather, and don’t need to be brought in and out, as dictated by the weather.  A truly stunning addition to our existing range of all weather cane chairs and sofas, and dining furniture.

This years collection also includes new styles of dining furniture.  All weather furniture dining tables come in a selection of different styles and sizes, ranging from an intimate two seater to a huge family or party style table seating up to twelve people.  This years collection of dining chairs to compliment the tables are elegant  but robust.  Some of the all weather cane dining chairs have contempory lower backs whilst other have a higher back for extra support.  Whatever your choice, all the dining tables  are all stunning.  Most of the ranges available from Cane Direct, are all interchangeable giving a greater choice for the customer. 

Other new additions to this years range include an outdoor bar unit with matching outdoor bar stools, available as a set or sold separately, an absolute must have for those summer barbeques.  For the sun worshipper, take a look at our new style of sun lounger.  Just imagine sinking down into your own all weather sun lounger with deep soft cushion.  All our cushions are made from a special fabric which is treated against the weather.  They can withstand wind, rain and all the elements, although we do not recommend that the cushions are left out in adverse weather conditions.    All our All Weather furniture  is built to last and is so low maintain.  No need for any varnishing, or storing in the garage.  The furniture will not fade in bright sunlight, and will always look fantastic.

Sale.

Have you taken a moment to check out the latest deals offered in the Cane Direct Sale.  Every single item of our  conservatory furniture has a massive 20% discount right up until the end of February.

This fantastic offer includes all can dining suites.  Take a look at the Havana Dining Suite for example.  Available as a four, six or eight seater, with a beautiful woven top underneath toughened glass, and matching dining chairs with the fabric of your choice.  With 20% discount, this gives a real saving on a quality piece of furniture with which to compliment your home.

One of our best selling ranges here at Cane Direct is the Prague Collection.  This modern yet elegant suite has sold extremely well in the past year. So much so that we are continuing with production to once again offer this suite to our customers.  The Prague is a compact cane three piece suite when required, but is also available a corner unit module for those customers who have a slightly larger space to fill.  Its modern boxed shape and different colored tones weaved together  gives this suite the winning edge and would make any conservatory look like it had jumped from the pages of Homes and Gardens. Take a look at the Cane Direct website and see for yourself this stunning suite.

The Nevada Suite is one of our larger suites, many of our customers comment on the comfort of this cane furniture, with its sumptuous thick cushions.  With the 20% discount this is a fantastic offer that cannot be missed.

When it comes to cane furniture, Cane Direct have one of the finest collections of conservatory furniture available on the Internet.  Quality is most important to us, and all our cane furniture is of top quality standard, even though our prices are far more competitive than those of our competitors many of whom are selling far lesser quality pieces of cane furniture.

The spring is fast approaching, thought it doesnt feel like it today with all the snow we had last night, and it feels a bit strange talking about garden furniture, when we have two foot of snow, we have to be prepared it takes us about Severn months to put our 2009 furniture range together, and this years range is just fantastic, i can say with my hand on my heart it is the best furniture collection we have ever had.

All the hard work of creating new designs is finally coming together, as the first shipments start to arrive it is a very exciting time, it can also be a daunting time as well, wondering if you have made all the right decisions on the designs of the furniture and hoping your new collection is going to get the reaction you have been working so hard to achieve.

This year we have added more pieces to our collection with a total of sixty two items, we have also put some very different products in to the range. We have buddha heads,huge soldiers and some really amazing sun beds that are just stunning, and the quality of the garden furniture is just out standing At Cane Direct we have also been proud of the quality of our products, but this year we have gone all out to offer something really special. Our furniture can be purchased on line or calling into our large showroom. All the ranges of garden furniture come with option of our designer cushions for that extra comfort.

Our new collection will go on line on february 5th.