Custom cushions for Portuguese terraces, balconies and townhouses

A blue that was built to help with the heat

Walk any old street in Lisbon or Porto and the walls are glazed. Azulejo, Portugal's painted tin-glazed tile, is ornament, but it also had a job: helping to control the temperature inside a home. Blue-and-white tiles from Delft reached Portugal in the late 17th century, and from around 1840 Portuguese houses took up the fashion, brought from Brazil, of covering whole facades in tile. Since 2013 it has been illegal to demolish a building with a tiled facade.

So the palette is already on the wall, my friends: cobalt and white, whitewash, ochre, a little terracotta. A cushion doesn't need to shout over it. Take one blue from the tile for the piping, the ties or a single pillow, and keep the seat quiet in white, stone or sand. The eye sits down first, and here it sits down on blue.

Two coasts, one sun, and the rain in between

Portugal gets roughly 2,300 to 3,200 hours of sunshine a year, and the Algarve's south coast tops 3,100. The IPMA normals, published through the World Meteorological Organization, show how the country splits.

Faro, on the Algarve coast, averages 83.7°F (28.7°C) on July afternoons and 0.06 in (1.4 mm) of July rain. Inland Beja reaches 91.0°F (32.8°C). Lisbon: 81.3°F (27.4°C) in July and 29.6 in (751 mm) of rain a year, about four fifths of it from October to March. Porto: 49.8 in (1,265 mm) on about 147 days, with more than 5.9 in (150 mm) in each month from November to February.

That is two instructions. In the south and inland, the sun does the damage: UV-resistant outdoor fabric under open sky, and cushions put away when the house is closed. In the north, damp does: zip-off covers, dry foam, winter storage for anything outside. The dry-summer, wet-winter rhythm is close to coastal California's.

Iron balconies and townhouse windows

Lisbon's Baixa was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755 in the Pombaline style: buildings of up to four floors, shops under arcades, and balconies on the first and top floors. In the old cities many balconies are narrow, behind iron railings, with room for a folding chair or a small bench.

A narrow balcony wants a light cushion. Chair pads 2 in (5 cm) thick, tied at the back legs, fold away with the chair. A pale stripe on a small bench keeps the corner from turning heavy. For custom cushions in Lisbon or Porto, bring them in when the wet months start.

Inside, a window seat against cold winter glass wants a zip-off cover that washes at 86°F (30°C), and a cushion lifted to air when the glass sweats. The window seat hub shows the edges.

Algarve terraces and quinta courtyards

An Algarve villa lives outdoors from spring to autumn: a terrace sofa, loungers by the pool, a table under a pergola. Terrace cushions for the Algarve sit in full sun. - Terrace sofas: 4 in (10 cm) seats in UV-resistant, water-repellent outdoor fabric, stripes cut front to back so the modules still line up when you move them. - Loungers: split the cushion where the back hinges so it folds cleanly. The sunbed Pattern gives sizes. - Round rattan sofas: measure the depth of each curve, not only its length (see the buyer questions below).

A quinta is a country estate, with a manor house and often vineyards or olive groves. Its seats are long benches in courtyards and gardens. Cushions there are big and few, so decide early between one long piece and two, and between foam and pillow backrests. The bench cushion builder sketches both.