What we let stand outside

Three answers, not two

Asking whether a piece is indoor or outdoor gives a wrong answer for a third of what we make. A cast iron hook is as happy in a porch as in a hallway. A woven deck mat is built for rain but is perfectly good inside a back door. So we sort by three answers: out, in, or either.

Either is the honest answer for thirty pieces. It is not a hedge, it is what the material allows.

What actually kills an outdoor piece

Rain is rarely the problem. Standing water is, and so is the freeze that follows it. Water that sits in the dish under a pot, in the weave of a mat laid on a flat slab, or in the seam of a folded panel will expand when it freezes and open whatever it is sitting in.

• Lay mats where water can run off rather than pool.
• Tip saucers out before a cold night.
• Lift anything plastic off a slab for the winter, even if it stays out.
• Roll panels rather than folding them, so the backing grid has nowhere to crack.

Sun does the slower damage

Ultraviolet light is what fades a green leaf to a pale one and makes a firm plastic rim go brittle. It works across seasons rather than nights, so it is easy to miss until a pot cracks in your hand. A piece that spends half the year in shade lasts noticeably longer than the identical piece on a south wall.

Bringing things in for the winter

Dry before storing, every time. A mat rolled damp grows a smell that never fully leaves, and nursery pots stacked with wet rims lock together hard enough to crack when pulled apart. Wipe, stand, wait a day, then pack.