Patio Furniture

OMG, patio furniture is a nightmare at the beach! My husband decided that he wanted to build the pool furniture for our new beach house. He took classes at Highland Hardware in Virginia-Highlands (in Atlanta) where they built an Adirondack chair. He had all of the experts there advising him on how to build furniture that would withstand the elements - cypress, hundreds of dollars worth of stainless steel screws, marine varnish, etc. The eight chairs and four chaise longues he built were absolutely beautiful. It took him three months to build them. It took Mother Nature less than a year for them to need refinishing. He did that, and three months later they were already showing deterioration. They were true works of art. So I suggested that we bring the four best chairs back to Georgia so that all of his work would not be in vain. They've survived this climate.

We purchased wooden Adirondacks from a guy on Highway 98 in PCB. He guaranteed that they'd last ten years. After just a month the wood was cracking. We returned them, and he said that we didn't buy them from him. I almost punched him out. We drove back to our house, retrieved the check image online, printed it out, drove back to PCB, and showed him the check. He reluctantly gave us a refund.

As a substitute, we bought plastic Adirondacks from Home Depot for $12.88 each and aluminum chaise longues at Lowe's for $49.99. They're weather-proof and renter-proof. Not as classy, but, heck, we refuse to replace 14 chairs every year. I hear that the weatherproof wicker holds up, but I personally just don't like the wicker look. If I'm gonna go cheap, I'm gonna go Cheap with a capital "C."

OMG! Your experiences sound as bad as ours! We have bought at our gulf front rental units the plastic that is supposed to look like wicker...it always starts coming unraveled after about a year.
Looks like I may just need to go and buy the white plastic stackable stuff! I want it to look nice but I am tired of replacing it! I will let you know if I find a good substitute.

www.westminsterteak.com



Curtis

Thanks Curtis!
Have you had any experience with this? Has it held up for you?
Thanks for any input.

After many tries at various patio furniture we're left with the following that work for us:

Rental house at beach: Cheap plastic adirondack chairs from Walmart/Home Depot. I recommend the tan over the green. The green kind of fades out. These lasted 3 years at our rental. When they break, just replace. The other great feature of these chairs is that they stack and are easy to carry into the garage when a storm comes.

House on bay: Teak Westminster furniture that has not been stained or treated. It weathers to a grey and stays that way. No maintenance. You can get cheaper teak, but the Westminster is very high quality. If you order from Westminster, call it in and try and get a discount. It worked for me.

www.westminsterteak.com



Curtis

We bought an expensive teak dining set for a covered porch. The problem is that people with no manners lean back on the back legs of the chairs and break them. (People pay a lot to stay at our house. You think they'd know better. Another case of too much green, not enough blue.) Anyhow the wood itself does fine. The indoor dining chairs are a little more forgiving because they don't have the brutality of the weather on top of abuse. We've repaired the teak chairs several times. It's just a matter of time before their irreparable.

So I don't think teak is the answer.

Sad to say, but I think plastic is the way to go. It washes up easily and is cheap enough to replace every other year. The sun and mildew in SoWal are brutal on any outdoor items that are out in the air uncovered! May as well resign yourself to chairs and chaises not lasting very long.

Don't do what I did, though. I had four green plastic Adirondacks that were in fine shape, only faded. I bought that new spray paint that adheres to plastic, thinking that I'd save the landfills some space by not adding perfectly good stuff to them. I ought to have thrown my environmental scruples aside. I spent the exact same money in spray paint that I would have for new chairs! I learned the hard way that the paint doesn't go very far at all, and at $5 a pop, it's hardly economical either.

I can't believe what I'm reading here - cheap plastic furniture from Walmart and Home Depot???!

Hasn't anyone heard of all-weather 100% high-density polyethylene furniture?

This has become very popular in harsh beach environments, and it's sold by several patio furniture suppliers. Environmentalists love it b/c it's made entirely from a renewable resource.

We purchased THIS SET from LL Bean 5 yares ago and it's held up just beautifully at our SoWal cottage - we rinse it down once a year and it looks like new. This was a no-brainer purchase, and much classier than lightweight plastic from Walmart :shock:
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I can't believe what I'm reading here - cheap plastic furniture from Walmart and Home Depot???!

Hasn't anyone heard of the all-weather 100% high-density polyethylene furniture? This has become very popular in harsh beach environments. Environmentalists love it also: made entirely from a renewable resource.
We purchased THIS SET from LL Bean 5 yares ago and it's held up just beautifully: a no-brainer, and much classier than lightweight plastic from Walmart :shock:
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We have couple of these chairs on our dock. We've had them about 5 years and do like them, but we now can't get them clean and they are looking pretty worn although they are not falling apart. We did debate whether or not to get these for our rental, but instead opted for the cheap stuff after seeing what some renters and their kids are capable of. (The portability factor also really kicked in after the last few years of lugging those things off the dock a couple of times a year!)

We have couple of these chairs on our dock. We've had them about 5 years and do like them, but we now can't get them clean and they are looking pretty worn although they are not falling apart. We did debate whether or not to get these for our rental, but instead opted for the cheap stuff after seeing what some renters and their kids are capable of. (The portability factor also really kicked in after the last few years of lugging those things off the dock a couple of times a year!)

Heck, kids are the least of our worries with this furniture - the things are virtually indestructible! The heavy weight is great for windy/ stormy beach environments. They stay put in virtually any tropical storm-force wind.

We use the outdoor wicker (plastic) and it has held up fine for 4 summers so far. But we're across the street from the beach. I bought some expensive outdoor wicker and some at home depot. They both still look good.

We bought a bar table and four chairs from Patios Plus in Destin about six years ago - PVC with sunbrella seats that can be replaced. It is still looking good and holding up quite well - spent around 650 for the set. Then I bought two rocking chairs from Walmart - 50 each about two years ago - starting to show wear - but still looking good.

Will definitely go back to Patios Plus in Destin.

I've got a pair of teak directors chairs that are holding up well after 3 years. The canvas lasted about 2 years.

The amazing piece is a "dumpster find" folding porch rocker in some unknown wood. It had a chipping coat of bright red paint on it when I got it. It was repainted with Rustoleum bright red over a year ago. It still looks like new.

If you don't like plastic, maybe paint is the answer. Clear finishes just fail too quickly. I couldn't keep urethane on my porch swing in Memphis, so I know it's not going to work here.

Hasn't anyone heard of all-weather 100% high-density polyethylene furniture?


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Fancy plastic. :roll:

See...I knew I would get some good ideas from you SoWalers! :clap_1:
The LL Bean Furniture looks good. Five years ago we bought some furniture like that (same material) in Panama City but that store no longer carries it. It has held up great at our house on 30-A. I did not know LL Bean sold that product.
The PVC and sunbrellas sounds good too. I will be at the beach this weekend and will go over to Patios Plus and check that out.
I just want something that will last. I am tired of getting the little cards filled out by the renters about the bad furniture...this is only it's third season!
Thanks Y'all!

I bought that new spray paint that adheres to plastic, thinking that I'd save the landfills some space by not adding perfectly good stuff to them. I ought to have thrown my environmental scruples aside.

You did when you used all that spray paint!

You did when you used all that spray paint!

Tell me about it...ten cans later.

Hasn't anyone heard of all-weather 100% high-density polyethylene furniture?

We considered this, but since we need at least 10 chairs, 4 chaise longues (and BTW the L. L. Bean has no matching chaise), plus side tables, it was going to cost us at least $5000 without shipping just for the chairs with no footstools and the chaises.

And it's still "plastic," although granted they do look better than the Home Depot chairs which are actually more comfortable because they're not so hard. So we decided not to invest that kind of money in outdoor furniture after just spending a fortune on beautiful ones.

If you don't like plastic, maybe paint is the answer. Clear finishes just fail too quickly. I couldn't keep urethane on my porch swing in Memphis, so I know it's not going to work here.

Actually the painted ones started rotting way before the ones with the marine varnish. In retrospect, my husband says that since they were cypress, if he had left them unfinished, they would have lasted longer.

We considered this, but since we need at least 10 chairs, 4 chaise longues (and BTW the L. L. Bean has no matching chaise), plus side tables, it was going to cost us at least $5000 without shipping just for the chairs with no footstools and the chaises.

And it's still "plastic," although granted they do look better than the Home Depot chairs which are actually more comfortable because they're not so hard. So we decided not to invest that kind of money in outdoor furniture after just spending a fortune on beautiful ones.

True - the LL Bean product is 'fancy plastic' as Mermaid states, but that's where the comparison ends - normal 'plastic' breaks down (which is called 'planned obsolescence', so you will keep returning for new pieces).

I'm here to tell you this stuff holds up. Walmart or Home Depot's may be 'molded' for a comfortable fit, but what good is it if it doesn't last and the guests complain about how worn out it looks. We also purchased Bean's seat cushions which takes care of the comfort issue (they fit quite nicely in the owner's closet when we leave ;-) ).

When it comes to flimsy plastic, even if they aren't vocal about it - beleive me, guests are certainly thinking it: "...with such a nice beach home, why would they buy such cheap furniture???..."

High-density polyethylene furniture is actually quite inexpensive if you calculate the years of use it provides - even without the matching chaise lounges

BTW: shipping was free when purchased with our LL Bean Visa
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True - the LL Bean product is 'fancy plastic' as Mermaid states, but that's where the comparison ends - normal 'plastic' breaks down (which is called 'planned obsolescence', so you will keep returning for new pieces).

I'm here to tell you this stuff holds up. Walmart or Home Depot's may be 'molded' for a comfortable fit, but what good is it if it doesn't last and the guests complain about how worn out it looks. We also purchased Bean's seat cushions which takes care of the comfort issue (they fit quite nicely in the owner's closet when we leave ;-) ).

When it comes to flimsy plastic, even if they aren't vocal about it - beleive me, guests are certainly thinking it: "...with such a nice beach home, why would they buy such cheap furniture???..."

High-density polyethylene furniture is actually quite inexpensive if you calculate the years of use it provides - even without the matching chaise lounges

BTW: shipping was free when purchased with our LL Bean Visa
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But you could buy 24 cheap chairs for the price of one LLBean! As a renter I wouldn't care but I would like the comfy cushions.

High-density polyethylene furniture is actually quite inexpensive if you calculate the years of use it provides - even without the matching chaise lounges



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So it's hurricane-proof? Won't blow away in high winds?

(Sorry for ribbing ya, UP, but I couldn't resist. ;-) )

I have had good luck with teak furniture. I pressure wash them once a year and they look like new again. I don't put any teak oil or finish on furniture. My teak furniture is from Sam's Club in Panama City and Costco in Atlanta. Costco will be opening a store in Destin in the not-too-distant future.

So it's hurricane-proof? Won't blow away in high winds?

(Sorry for ribbing ya, UP, but I couldn't resist. ;-) )

No problem Mermaid, I enjoy it

From my experience, they are indeed 'tropical storm-proof' and will not blow away. All bets are off when winds hit category 1 and above... :shock:

When it comes to flimsy plastic, even if they aren't vocal about it - beleive me, guests are certainly thinking it: "...with such a nice beach home, why would they buy such cheap furniture???..."



I'm totally with you on this one. If I'm paying $4 or $5k a week just for lodging alone, I don't want to sit on Walmart chairs. It does look chintzy. Seriously, it's the whole package. Now, that's easy for me to say because I don't own anything there. I say buy fewer chairs but have good quality.