Sunbed and chaise lounge cushions for a long season in the sun

What a lounger cushion has to survive

A sunbed cushion spends its life flat on its back in full sun. It gets sunscreen, pool water, wet towels and the odd thunderstorm nobody saw coming. Chaise lounges on a patio, rattan loungers by the pool, a timber lounger on a lake deck: the cushion is the part that wears.

So start with exposure. How many hours of sun does your lounger see on a July afternoon? Is there a roof, or only sky? Write it down. It decides the fabric before you ever look at color.

For benches and sofas outside, see outdoor cushions. For the whole porch and patio picture, see patio and porch cushions.

Edges, curves and the fold

Most lounger cushions are plain rectangles with a box edge and piping in any color from the outdoor range. Piping earns its keep here. It holds a crisp line on a cushion that gets sat on, lain on and dragged across a deck.

Curves need a drawing, not a guess. The workshop will not read a curve from numbers alone: mark where each curve starts and ends and how deep it runs, or trace the seat onto paper and photograph the cut-out. Every cushion gets its own drawing. Measuring a curved cushion walks through it.

With a separate back, the back can be softer or firmer than the seat, and a different fabric. That is where the fun starts.

Outdoor fabric that still feels like cloth

The outdoor range runs close to 200 fabrics on four or five charts. Every one is water-resistant, UV-resistant and fade-resistant, and meant to stay outside all summer. They are woven cloth, not vinyl and not a plastic finish. All come from the same factory at the same quality; the charts differ only in texture, color tone and pattern.

• Outdoor acrylic fabrics for full sun at the pool.
• Water-repellent membrane fabrics where wet swimsuits and spills are the bigger worry.

Outdoor fabrics cost more than the standard indoor charts. Close-up photos are available for any code, so ask before you choose. An indoor chaise, away from rain and direct sun, can go in regular fabric; one lounger went in indigo linen.

Foam, firmness and a flat arrival

The standard is 4 in (10 cm) of high-density foam, medium-firm, which gives a flat, structured top. Backrests come a little softer by default. They can be made as firm as the seat if you like to sit up and read.

Many cushions travel vacuum-compressed and roll-packed. They arrive flat, folded and smaller than the photographs. That is normal. Unwrap every piece. The workshop's numbers for roll-packed foam: most pieces fill out in 24 to 36 hours, reach their photographed shape in about 36 to 48, and are fully firm after 3 to 5 days. A good shake speeds it along. See the first 72 hours.

Styling the lounger, and what to read next

The photographs here keep making the same good choice: pattern on the back, solid on the seat. A mustard kilim back over a plain waffle seat. A chevron band over teal. A leaf print over a quiet sage. The seat takes the wear and the sun, and a solid hides both. The back is what people see from the house.

Stripes belong on loungers. A wide coral cabana stripe on rattan reads like a beach towel you never have to fold. Say which way the stripes run, for every piece.

Bring them in before the first frost and they'll forgive you everything. Read chaise lounge and sunbed sizes, acrylic, olefin or polyester and outdoor cushion care and winter storage. Set thickness and piping in the bench cushion builder, and test the feel in the foam firmness finder. Pool country has its own notes in Florida and Gulf Coast cushions.