What outdoor living ideas is our Product Designer excited about this season?

There's something about the first warm days of spring that makes the whole house feel different. The kettle goes on and somehow you end up outside with it. That corner of the deck you'd almost forgotten about becomes the best seat in the house again. So what is Early Settler Product Designer Monica excited about for the season ahead? We sat down with her to talk colour, curves, timber with a bit of history to it, and the small decisions that actually change how a space gets used. If you're building out your outdoor living ideas for the year ahead, this is where she'd start.

Something's shifting outside

Ask Monica what's different about outdoor furniture this year and she doesn't talk about trends first. She talks about confidence.

"People used to buy outdoor furniture like they were buying something practical and forgettable," she says. "Now they're treating it the way they'd treat a living room. They want it to say something."

That shift shows up everywhere in the new Outdoor Collection. More colour. Softer shapes. Timber with actual character in it. Outdoor doesn't have to be the sensible, beige cousin of the rest of the house anymore. It can have a point of view.

Where the ideas actually come from

Monica's ideas often begin with something she's noticed, an interesting shape, a beautiful material, a clever use of colour, or simply the way people gather around a table outdoors.

"I'm always looking at what's happening in design, architecture and interiors, but also at how people actually live," she says. "The interesting part is taking those ideas and translating them into pieces that feel fresh and exciting, but still make sense for a home here, whether that's in Australia or New Zealand, and the way we live outside."

That's the tension she likes best. Staying creative and a little daring, while never losing sight of how a piece actually needs to perform. A chair that photographs beautifully but falls apart after one summer isn't a win. Neither is a chair so sensible it says nothing at all. The pieces she gets most excited about manage both, designed to stand out and designed to unwind in the same breath.

A little more colour, please

Indoors, colour can feel like a commitment. Get the sofa wrong and you're living with it for a decade. Outside, Monica believes people loosen up.

"Outdoor is the one place you can have a little more fun with colour."

And you don't need to commit to a whole setting in colour. Sometimes one piece is all it takes, a Bonnie chair around a timber table, a colourful Kace setting, or a Jesi stool tucked up at the outdoor bar.

"Colour works best when it feels a little unexpected," Monica says. "You can keep the foundations quite timeless, then introduce one or two pieces that bring personality and make the whole space feel more interesting."

It's an easy way to make an outdoor space feel considered without making everything match. Choose a colour you love, give it room to stand out, and let the rest of the setting sit comfortably around it.

Curves are having a moment

The lines around most outdoor spaces are already straight. Decking, fence lines, pergola posts. Monica's not talking about curves as just decoration. She's talking about relief from all that straightness.

"We're seeing softer shapes outside. Curves make furniture feel instantly more relaxed."

Look at Pavia's rounded form, or the fluted detail running through Ravello, and you can see what she means. Fasanna leans into a more elevated, sculptural shape, while Arc and Ferni bring that same idea into individual seating rather than whole settings. None of it reads as fussy. It just softens everything around it.

"A curved chair against a straight-edged deck does more work than people realise," Monica adds. "It breaks up all those hard lines without you really noticing why the space suddenly feels better."

Mix, don't match

Not every outdoor room needs to match, and that's just as valid a choice as one that does. What matters more, in Monica's view, is whether it feels intentional either way.

"A beautiful outdoor space shouldn't feel like you bought everything in one go."

Her approach: start with one hero piece and build out from there. Timber against colour. Stone against woven chairs. A bench at one end of the table and dining chairs at the other. Different textures doing different jobs instead of one setting trying to do everything at once.

"You get to decide how much you mix in," she says. "Some people want a full matching setting and that's a great look too. Others bring in one colourful chair, or a different material, or a shape that stands out. Either way, it should feel like your call."

It's also, practically, a more forgiving way to buy. You're not locked into replacing an entire setting because one chair breaks or a range moves on. You add to what you already have.

The beauty of a little imperfection

Ask Monica what she'd put in her own backyard and reclaimed teak comes up almost immediately.

"I love that it doesn't try to look perfect," she says. "Every knot, every colour change in the grain, it's telling you something about where that timber has been."

It's a deliberate contrast to the colour and the powder-coated finishes elsewhere in the collection. Where a coloured chair says look at me, reclaimed timber says settle in. Monica sees the two working together in the same space rather than competing for attention.

"Weathering isn't a flaw outdoors," she says. "It's part of what makes a piece feel like it belongs to your place, and nobody else's."

Let the table do less work

Most outdoor tables get asked to do the impossible. Seat two for a Tuesday night dinner and twelve for Christmas, without either occasion looking like a compromise.

Monica's answer isn't a bigger table. It's a smarter one.

"Extension tables have come a long way," she says. "You're not looking at some clunky mechanism anymore. Santana can sit at a comfortable everyday size and open right out when the occasion calls for it, and it still looks like one considered piece either way."

The larger Santana, known around the studio as the Crowd Pleaser, extends to 370cm. Bench seating adds another layer of flexibility, letting you squeeze in an extra guest without the table itself needing to change shape.

"A table that only works at full capacity is a table that looks empty most of the year," Monica says. "That's the bit people forget when they're buying for the party they might host twice a summer."

Then there's the opposite brief entirely, the table you buy because you want people to notice it. Plenty of retailers keep their long tables modest, because a big run of solid timber is exactly where a flaw shows itself, a slight bow, a touch of warping, if the quality underneath isn't there. Early Settler doesn't back away from that. Some tables in the range run close to four metres, and that's only possible because there's enough confidence in the construction to let a table be that big and still hold its line.

Built for staying outside longer

Comfort outside used to mean a cushion on a hard chair. Monica thinks that bar has moved.

"The pieces we love most are the ones that make you want to stay outside longer."

"Deeper seats, proper cushioning, shapes you can actually curl up in," she says. "Lounging outside can feel as good as it does on your own sofa now."

That's the thinking behind the deeper lounge silhouettes coming through the collection this season. Furniture built less for looking good in a photo and more for the second coffee, the book you meant to finish, the drinks that turn into dinner.

"You know a piece is working when nobody wants to be the one who goes inside first," she laughs.

Small space, big personality

Not everyone has a deck the size of a tennis court, and Monica's clear that a small outdoor space isn't a smaller version of the brief. It's a different one.

"A balcony or a courtyard is actually a great place to be bold," she says. "You've only got room for a few pieces, so make every one of them count."

That might mean bar-height furniture that opens the space up rather than filling it. A compact dining setting for two. One statement chair instead of a whole seating arrangement. An umbrella in a colour you'd never risk at a bigger scale, because here it's the whole story rather than one part of it.

"Small doesn't mean neutral," she says. "If anything, it's easier to commit when there's less square footage around to argue with you."

The finishing layer

Furniture gets a space most of the way there. The last stretch, Monica says, is everything else.

Outdoor rugs, cushions, lighting, planters, whatever ends up on the table itself. It's the same layering most people already do indoors without thinking twice about it, just applied outside.

"Nobody plans a living room around only the sofa," she says. "The rug, the lamp, the throw over the arm chair, that's what makes it feel lived in. Outdoor rooms deserve the same attention."

If you're not sure where to start, our guide to choosing a rug for any room works just as well for a covered outdoor area, and the same principles behind a good lighting plan indoors carry outside once you factor in weather-safe fittings.

Her one styling trick: buy the accessories last, once the furniture is in place. "It's much easier to pick a cushion to match a chair than the other way around."

Let's go outside

There isn't one correct way to put an outdoor room together. Start with a piece you actually love, make it comfortable, add the layer that makes it feel like yours, and let the rest evolve over a few seasons rather than one weekend.

"The pieces we love most are the ones that make you want to stay outside longer," Monica says again, because it's the thought she keeps returning to.

The best seat in the house might just be the one outside. Let's go outside. Browse the new Outdoor Collection.

Frequently asked questions

What outdoor furniture trends matter this season?

Colour used as a single hero piece rather than a whole matching setting, softer curved silhouettes, natural reclaimed timber alongside colour and powder-coated finishes, flexible extendable dining, and deeper, more comfort-led lounge seating.

Does outdoor furniture need to match?

No. Mixing timber, colour, stone and texture around one hero piece generally reads as more considered than a matching set, and it's a more forgiving way to buy over time.

How do you style a small outdoor space?

Choose a few pieces and let each one count. Bar-height furniture, a compact dining setting for two, or one statement chair in a bold colour, rather than trying to fit in a full-scale setting.

What's a good outdoor dining table for entertaining?

An extendable table that suits everyday use at a smaller size and opens out for bigger occasions, such as the Santana range, gives more flexibility than a fixed table sized for the busiest day of the year.

How do you add personality to an outdoor space?

Through the finishing layer of outdoor rugs, cushions, lighting and planters, added once the furniture is in place, the same way most people already layer a living room indoors.