CARDINAL PATIO - Champaign IL Outdoor and Wood Furniture Store
FURNITURE ARTICLES by Cardinal Patio
If you want to transform your home with the Best Furniture, keep reading...
GROWING A PATIO STORE
NOVEMBER 2, 2024
THE LAST 4 YEARS HAVE BEEN CRAZY. Many of our Competitors are Gone. Our Wonderful Customers have Blessed Us and Allowed us to Grow Despite Global Lockdowns, Supply Chain Problems, and Massive Inflation.
We were the fastest growing Berlin Garden's furniture dealer Nationally two years ago, and we sold enough to allow us to Move to a Much Bigger 25,000 square foot Location (with more visibility) stocked with Great Inventory. Cardinal Patio (serving the Champaign area) is now probably the Biggest Poly Furniture Store in the Midwest, and we just started selling the Finest Indoor Wood Furniture as well. If You're a Customer, Thank You.
THE BEST SELLING QUALITY PATIO BRAND
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
I want to talk to you about our Leading Brand... Berlin Gardens. As you look around our Champaign store you'll see a lot of Berlin, that's because we really like it! Berlin is Handcrafted from the Finest Poly Lumber, which is a fancy term for Recycled Milk Jugs! Can you Believe That?
It is the perfect option for needing something Heavy - to handle our Crazy Illinois Winds. It is the perfect option for wanting to have something with Virtually No Maintenance - because cleaning involves simply spraying it off with a garden hose! And it is the perfect option for wanting something to Last. We have 2 display sets that have been outside almost 10 years, year round, and you would not be able to tell.
We have everything from dining sets in regular height, counter height and bar height in every size of table from a small 28" square for 2, to a large 42"x84" rectangle to sit 10. We have conversation seating that do not require cushions, if you are wanting a more casual area of chairs around a coffee table. And we have set ups that use pieces like sofas and custom sectionals that you could put around a beautiful fire table! This brand is very easy to add to, so it is easy to start out small and add on as you go, or after seeing the catalog you might decide you won't be able to wait and you do your whole area at once!
As you walk through the store you will see that Berlin has so many options and so many different types of seating. And would you believe there are 45 different color options?
So here are some thing to look for in Quality Poly Patio Furniture. As far as manufacturing goes, you want all of the Components to be Manufactured Cleanly and Precisely. You want Connecting Hardware to be mostly Hidden and made out of the Highest Quality of Alloy Chrome. You want the actual poly material to be Uniform Without Filler. You want the furniture to be fairly Heavy so that you know its Strong and Durable.
And here are some other things to think about. You want the Correct Height of furniture. You want the Right Amount of Seating. Do you want Motion, No Motion, or a combination of the two? You want the Right Color and Textures to all Match Your Home.
Also something else to think about while considering the color of your furniture - is your furniture going to be mainly out in the direct sun or will you be mainly using the furniture in the evenings when the sun has gone down? The reason I ask is because there are colors that do better for in the sun - that don't take on as much heat. There are also colors that do better at hiding dirt - just something to think about.
We sell a Ton of Berlin, Because it Has All of these things going for it! And another cool fact - Berlin is made from recycled materials and made here in the USA, not too far from here over in Ohio!
But best of all, when You buy from me I'll use my 30 Years of Experience to Help You Pick out what You Actually Want!
So I know this is a lot to digest, so you might ask where to start so that I can help you? Well, start off by Measuring Your Area, next, Take Pictures of the area - of the House, Patio or Decking, even Noting the Color of the Roof, so I can have a Good Vision to Help You make Your Space Look Amazing! Call, Email or Stop In to let me show you around and Help You Start Designing Your Perfect Backyard.
THE WORLDS BEST WOOD FURNITURE
OCTOBER 31, 2024
American Furniture used to be hand built out of trees that grew nearby, but the best furniture was usually made out of American Walnut for Beauty, or American Oak for Durability. Today, most furniture manufacturers use less expensive lower quality materials in an effort to save money. A small group still uses American Walnut & Oak, but one company uses Brazilian Walnut which is vastly superior to both.
Brazilian Walnut is a rare expensive material, but it's properties are almost Magical. It has the beauty of American Walnut, but Almost 3X the Hardness of American Oak. For Building the Very Best Furniture, This is the Material you Want.
Softwoods are used a lot in modern furniture because of their abundance and lower cost, but in general The Harder The Better. For example, American Pine has a Janka Hardness of only 380, American Walnut weighs in at 1010, American Oak is 1290, and Brazilian Walnut is a whopping 3490.
"JENSEN" is the Absolute Best Wood Furniture. Brazilian Walnut Frames. Commercial Grade Sunbrella & Ultraleather Fabrics. Fast Dry Reticulated Foam Cushions. Award Winning Designs. CNC Machining. We probably now have a Better Selection of Jensen Deep Seating and Dining sets than even Chicago, Indianapolis, and Saint Louis! A Big Selection of the Very Best Wood in Little Champaign Illinois is a Big Deal for Discerning Midwestern Homeowners that want to enjoy the Best Wood Furniture on the Planet!
SUSTAINABLE FURNITURE
OCTOBER 31, 2024
Cardinal Patio has been selling High End Furniture for Decades, and we recently noticed our Very Best Brands are actually made more and more from Sustainable Materials. We didn't set out to create a sustainable furniture store, but that's kind of where we're heading mostly by accident.
Our New Indoor Furniture Line uses Brazilian Walnut (from Bulgaria), which is a Simply Incredible Organic Material. A lot of beautiful higher end wood furniture uses American Walnut because it's maybe the prettiest wood in America, but Brazilian Walnut has the same Beauty and is Over 3X Harder and more Durable than it's American counterpart! So for Heirloom Quality Wood Furniture that gets passed on from Generation to Generation, you really can't find a Better Furniture Material.
Luckily, Brazilian Walnut is considered a National Treasure, so the Bulgarian people have been very careful to Harvest Sustainably. As part of the FSC Program, they Replant harvested trees and only yearly take a maximum of 1% of Trees Over 100 Years Old. By thinking Long Term, Locals can not only continue to Enjoy Their Forests, but they can also Benefit Economically, and the Whole World Can Enjoy Their Unique Resource.
As far as patio furniture goes, Cardinal is now maybe the Largest Dealer of "Poly Furniture" in the Midwest. The best poly is Strong, Looks Great, and Lasts Outdoor a Remarkable 20-25 Years! It's Special Material Properties are honestly what got us into selling it in the first place, but it's kind of Incredible that we can Provide People High End Patio Furniture made from mostly Recycled Plastic. Owning a single large 500 pound set of Poly is not only a lot of Backyard Fun, it might also mean the equivalent of 3500 milk jugs of Plastic isn't in a Landfill somewhere.
Cardinal's not planning on calling ourselves a sustainable furniture store just yet, but we think it's very interesting that some of our best furniture brands are becoming more and more sustainable in measurable ways.