Which Outdoor Cushions Should You Buy?

Which replacement outdoor cushions should you buy?

The easiest way to give your outdoor space an instant makeover is with new cushions. And if you’ve been using the same standard set that came with your furniture for years, you’ll especially appreciate the upgrade in comfort and color. We take our outdoor lounging seriously, so we’ve spent a lot of time creating and testing different designs in pursuit of the best easy-care cushions. The result is 3 different cushion collections that will look great and feel great, rain or shine, year after year. Once you’ve measured your outdoor furniture for the appropriate cushion size, it’s time to figure out what kind of cushion will function best for your space.


 1. Sunbrella Cushions

These are our highest quality cushions — ultimate comfort, long lasting, and the most options for color and pattern? We’ve partnered with Sunbrella® to offer a wide range of fade-and mildew-resistant, washable colors and patterns—from stripes to solids—so you can create exactly the look you want and the confidence your cushions will stand up to the elements. Serious style and seriously high performance!

42 Sunbrella fabrics in our biggest selection of styles and sizes

Choose from three construction styles, each crafted with fiber-wrapped, high-density foam for maximum comfort.

Knife-Edge Reversible

Our most popular, budget-friendly style has a single welt and tapers into sharp corners. Its narrow profile means it dries relatively quickly, so it’s perfect for outdoor furniture.

Box-Edge Reversible

Our four-sided “box” cushions have a tailored double-welt for double the look. Because they have a longer dry time, they’re ideal for use in a covered area.

Box-Edge Fast-Dry™

Our Fast-Dry™ cushion combines the best of both worlds. You get the look of our double-welt, box-edge cushion and a quicker dry time. The Fast-Dry™ mesh fabric on the bottom allows water to flow through.

Sunbrella cushions on Ballard Designs outdoor furniture with black and white canopy stripe


 2. Sunbrella Contrast Welt

If you want a more refined style for your outdoor decorating, go for our Contrast Welt Cushions. We chose nine of our most popular Sunbrella® solids and added the dressmaker’s detail of a contrasting welt. 

Outdoor cushions with a contrast welt for serious style

The beauty of choosing cushions in a solid is that it’s easier to change your look with pillows season after season. Just like our Sunbrella Cushion Collection, the Contrast Welt Collection comes in three styles—knife edge, box edge, and Fast Dry™.

Contrast welt cushions for Ballard Designs Maison Dining Collection


3. Ballard Basic Outdoor Cushions

We’re excited to introduce our most budget friendly cushion style. Sometimes, you want endless options. Sometimes, you want to keep it easy and affordable. Our Ballard Basic Cushions are covered in an easy-care, polyester outdoor fabric and available in three go-with-anything colors—Khaki, Light Blue or Dark Gray. You can also choose knife-edge or box-edge cushion style.

Ballard Designs super affordable outdoor cushions

While these cushions feature the high quality interior as our Sunbrella® cushions, we recommend bringing them indoors when you aren’t using them or protecting them with a good furniture cover.

Basic outdoor cushions from Ballard Designs with Maison Outdoor Furniture

Now you’ve got the down-low on our outdoor cushions. Everything make sense now?

Visit our how to guide for measuring your outdoor cushions, and browse our huge selection of options online.

Did you like this post and find it helpful? Rate it below and share your thoughts in the comments!

How to Decorate Team

We enjoy spending days interacting with How to Decorate readers. From answering Design Dilemmas to writing How To articles and working with guest designers, our passion is to provide informative and accurate resources to help people solve their design problems.

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  1. Reply

    Gail Copeland

    April 8, 2016

    I NEED TO BUY SOME OUTSIDE REPLACEMENT CUSHIONS, THE BACK CUSHION MEASURES23/24′ in height , 5′ IN DEPTH, AND 24’IN WIDTH, THE BOTTOM CUSHION MEASURES 27′ IN HEIGHT, 24’IN WIDTH, AND 5″ IN DEPTH. I REALLY NEED ONLY THE COVER NOT THE ENTIRE CUSHION,

  2. Reply

    Shelley @ Calypso in the Country

    March 31, 2016

    Thanks for the tips. We have an uncovered deck and I hate having to always bring in our cushions at any sign of rain. I guess the Fast Dry is the way to go for us!
    Shelley

    • Reply

      Caroline @ How to Decorate

      April 1, 2016

      Definitely, Shelley. They’re also great if you live in especially rainy areas where a shower comes out of the blue!
      Thanks for your comment. Happy Decorating!

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