Living room furniture, carried out onto the terrace

An outdoor living room borrows the rules of the room inside: a wall at your back, a floor that ends somewhere, seats that face each other and a table in the middle. Dedon, the German maker of hand-woven outdoor furniture, has two collections built around that idea. Tibbo carries the living room out through the doors, and Mbarq builds the walls on an open deck.

A wall at your back

People sit longer when something stands behind them. Indoors that job goes to a wall. Outside you can use the house, a hedge or the sofa itself.

Put the main sofa against the house wall or a planted edge, facing the view. If the terrace has no wall, choose a sofa with a tall back. Herkner drew Mbarq for that case.

Tibbo: the living room, continued

Dedon Tibbo by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby suits homes where the living room and the terrace run into each other. The London designers noticed how soft teak feels to the touch and built the collection to bring that out. The frames follow strict, architectural proportions, and the cushions and a woven fiber in Vulcano matte soften that rigor.

Look at the back of a Tibbo seat and you see a formed curve shaped like a sail. For a living room group, start with the 2-Seater or the 3-Seater, add a Lounge chair and a Lounge chair XL, then a coffee table in S, M or L. The teak comes from sustainable plantations and turns from gold to silver-gray outside unless you treat it. See the Tibbo collection.

Mbarq: walls you can move

Dedon Mbarq by Sebastian Herkner starts from the indoor alcove, the nook where you retreat to read or talk. The backs rise high and curve around the seat, which gives you privacy on an open roof or lawn. Herkner meant the modules to mark out zones: a corner for work, one for a nap, one for talk.

Dedon lists a 3-seater, a 3-seater with a high backrest, left and right modules, and daybeds that open to the left or right. The backs come in more than one height, so one group can mix low and tall sections. The weave is a semi-transparent triaxial pattern in three fiber colors on a powder-coated aluminum frame in terracotta, nori or lipari. See the Mbarq collection.

A floor that ends

A room has edges. On a terrace, an outdoor rug or a change of paving shows where the living room stops and the path begins. Keep the sofa, the chairs and the coffee table inside that area.

Leave about three feet for people to walk around the group, and set the coffee table 14 to 18 inches from the seat edge so each guest can reach a glass without standing. Chairs work best when they face the sofa across the table.

Seats for talking

Two sofas facing each other make a strong room. So does an L: a Tibbo 3-Seater along the wall and two lounge chairs at a right angle. With Mbarq, a right module and a daybed can turn a corner and give one guest room to stretch out.

Light and weather

Plan the cushions for the wet months. Dedon Fiber resists chlorine, salt water and sun, and the woven frames can stay out, but cushions last longer on a dry shelf or in a storage box. Clean the weave with a soft brush, warm water and a mild cleanser. For Tibbo's golden tone, clean the teak once or twice a year and apply Dedon Teak Color Protector at least twice a year.

Send us a photo of the terrace and the wall you want to sit against. We reply within one business day with a layout in Tibbo or Mbarq and a price for each piece.