outdoor furniture photos
taken for a plan

Four photos and a tape measure tell us more about your terrace than a long email. This guide covers the shots that help us plan a space with Tribù Lucca or Pure.

Most people send us a single photo of the terrace, taken from the kitchen door at noon. It shows the view and hides the problems: the step down, the drain in the middle of the floor, the outlet on the far wall. Tribù is a Belgian house that has built outdoor furniture since 1966, and we plan Tribù terraces for US buyers from a desk in Miami. A good set of outdoor furniture photos lets us plan a space we have not seen in person.

Shoot the four corners

Stand in each corner of the terrace and shoot toward the opposite one. Four photos from four corners give us the shape of the floor, the height of the walls and railings, and the doors that open onto it. Hold the phone at chest height and keep it level. A tilted shot turns a square terrace into a trapezoid.

Then shoot the view you want to face. That photo decides where the sofa goes.

Shoot in daylight, with the terrace as it stands today. Leave the old furniture in place if you still have it. A chair in the frame gives us scale, and it shows us the size you already find comfortable or cramped.

Add the details that move furniture

A few things on a terrace decide the plan more than the floor area does. Shoot them close:

• the doors, open, so we see which way they swing
• steps, drains and changes of level
• outlets on the house wall, if you want lamps nearby
• the railing or parapet, with a hand on it for scale
• the sun, with one photo at the hour you plan to sit out

Measure three numbers

Photos give shape, and numbers give size. Measure the length and the width of the floor, and the clear width of the door the furniture will pass through. Our request page asks for the space in one line, such as "covered terrace, 20 by 14 feet, Miami", and that line alone saves a round of email.

See how the photos shape a plan

Say the photos show a covered porch with a long wall and a door at one end. Lucca suits that room. Studio Segers drew it with the single-stroke line of Japanese calligraphy and wrapped the seats in bands braided the way southern European craftsmen braid them. Rain passes through the bands, so you sit back down twenty minutes after a squall. Lucca has three pieces: an armchair, a lounge chair and a dining table with a shield-shaped base and a rounded ceramic top, offered in a 240 cm length. Red wine and sunscreen wipe off the ceramic. See the Lucca collection.

Say the photos show a long, narrow roof terrace. Pure suits that one. Andrei Munteanu, Studio Segers and Tribù Studio drew it square in plan, and the 1-seat sofa is the sofa cut to one seat. One sofa and two of those armchairs line up as a single piece of design and leave a walking lane along the parapet. See the Pure collection.

Photograph the samples too

Once teak, rope and fabric samples arrive, lay them on your floor and photograph them in morning light and at dusk. A grey that looks warm under a showroom lamp can turn blue under an open sky, and your photos show us which way it went on your terrace.

Describe the space in the form below, with the three measurements. We reply by email, and you can send the photos in return. Then we come back with a plan drawn from Lucca, Pure or another Tribù collection, with finishes and a costed list. Tribù builds to order, and we confirm the lead time in the quote.