Credit: Overstock
A chair for every occasion.
Two lawn chairs and a card table, a patio does not make. If you want your deck to look as nice as it can, you need to pick out furniture that compliments it, as well as properly serves its purpose. Instead of buying whatever random chair jumps out at you, carefully consider a few factors before you commit to a motif.
Function
What do you want your patio to do for you? Are you going to be entertaining there, or is it just a quiet spot for you to put your feet up? You want to buy furniture that suits that purpose, and ideally, a couple of extra purposes along with it. Try making a list detailing every thing you want to use the patio for, then see if you can draw some parallels between particular activities. That way, when you go to buy furniture, you know what you’re looking for.
Comfort
A piece of deck furniture could have the most perfect color in the world, but if it isn’t comfortable to sit on, it’s as good as worthless. As with indoor furniture, as important as it is to match styles, you can’t write off the functionality of your outdoor furniture. If you get a really uncomfortable chair that looks good, everyone will tell you how good it looks, but no one will actually want to use it. Try to find a middle ground between style and comfort you can live with.
Credit: Summer Classics
Storage
In snow, sleet, or rain, your outdoor furniture probably shouldn’t be outdoors. With that in mind, you want furniture that can be easily moved and stored when you don’t need it. Single, solid, lightweight designs are better than overly-elaborate pieces you have to completely disassemble. Remember to also mind your own storage space; you’ll need to buy less furniture if you don’t have a safe place to store all of it.
Quality
There are some things you can compromise on when it comes to outdoor furniture, but material quality shouldn’t be one of them. You want something that’s sturdy and long-lasting that can maintain its luster. Cheap plastic and imitation wood deteriorate rather quickly. No matter how nice it looked when you bought it, if it isn’t built tough, you’ll be buying another soon enough.