<p>yeah I know… Just look through some of the pictures on line or come on over for a beer :)</p>
<p>The glass top table I sold was Tropitone. It is high quality. Kept the lounge chair I bought at the same time even though it’s a lovely shade of green.</p>
<p>NJmom - did you by chance have the crisscross strap chairs? My original set had crisscross straps and the reason I finally got rid of it was it had faded a bit, but more importantly a pine tree came down on our patio during a snow storm and ripped through one of the chairs. I liked the set, but hubby really likes the new (uh, not really new anymore) sling covering. Those straps did stick to sweaty skin :)</p>
<p>My experience is that white in outdoor furniture is impossible to keep clean - go with a color (regardless of the material)</p>
<p>We have Trex and love it. Love the no maintenance. </p>
<p>We bought a well-made sling type chair set, it is now 15 years old and looks almost new. I agree that cushions are more work, but they also are a nice design element. If you can afford teak, you could buy cushions and bring them in when not using them.</p>
<p>The catalogs are now showing a lot of resin wicker as being in style. I don’t know if I would use that outside, as I can see it getting dirty and accumulating stuff in the niches. We have a very inexpensive (Sears) loveseat and chair on a screen porch and it does nicely in there where it is not really exposed to the elements.</p>
<p>being in the north east i must ask, will there be a roof on the deck? My parents deck doesn’t have a roof over it and they take their furniture off it in the winter so it doesn’t get ruined under all of the snow. I have a roof over my patio so I leave it out all winter. If you get an umbrella, make sure you don’t buy the cheapest bare minimim base to hold it down - they’ve had several umbrellas get picked up by the wind and it take the table flying with it - and i mean a heavy glass table. </p>
<p>If it’s at an area that gets a lot of wind, make sure you buy solid furniture - nothing plastic or you will find it in your neighbors yard.</p>
<p>Emerald, we bought these folding adirondack chairs at lowes 2 years ago and have been very happy with them…folding them for winter works great though they are a little awkward to move. We usually oil once or twice a year .</p>
<p>[Lowe’s</a> - Highland Gold Teak Folding Adirondack Chair customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings](<a href=“http://reviews.lowes.com/0534/3151991/reviews.htm]Lowe’s”>http://reviews.lowes.com/0534/3151991/reviews.htm)</p>
<p>My umbrella comes inside at the hint of thunderstorms. In addition, it’s only cranked open when we are sitting out there. Currently it’s sitting on the loveseat near the door to the deck, as we had storms around a few days ago and no one has needed to sit where it is. </p>
<p>My sets always spend the winter outside with a heavy waterproof canvas cover.</p>
<p>I agree with NJ2011 - a heavy waterproof cover is essential. All this talk about patio furniture - think I will head our with our dinner and sip some wine!</p>
<p>So before the furniture…TREX decking looks great and are going with black alum balusters. Thanks, Sax for the idea! But the railings are made of pressure treated lumber and were supposed to be stained using a BEHR wood stain that matches the TREX color. Silly me for misunderstanding the term “solid stain.” We tried a practice piece and it looks like dirty brown paint! Certainly does not compliment the quality of the TREX decking. Now I’m looking into more transparent or semi-solid stains that might do justice do the wood. I know the solids give more protection but gosh it looks ugly. Does anyhone have any experience with these types of stains? Thanks. Sure puts a damper on any progress this labor day weekend :(</p>
<p>They don’t make railings out of Trex material??</p>
<p>Good for you for trying a practice piece. I would have done the whole thing and then decided I didn’t like it!!</p>
<p>We have teak furniture on our deck. It stays on the deck year 'round. It is really heavy so don’t have to worry about it blowing around in inclement weather. By the same token, it’s really heavy so you can’t just slide it around. It’s super durable, can’t hurt it. Easy to clean…just blast it with the pressure washer.</p>
<p>Yes, they do make railings out of TREX. Basically you are putting a “sleeve” of TREX over the pressure treated material. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$</p>
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We have that same table, sylvan. Hamilton Bay, right? Several pieces of tile have fallen from ours, too, and we’ve replaced them using Liquid Nails. It’s a shame because the base is very nice and so are the chairs. When the time comes that we can no longer reapply pieces of tile, I’ll probably cover it with something solid or completely re-tile it myself. </p>
<p>Shortly after DH and I were married 27+ years ago, his parents purchased new patio furniture and gave us their old wrought iron set. It had a glass top but a wind storm took care of that shortly after we got it. DH wanted to get rid of the set after that, but I knew it had good bones. When we purchased this house 10 years ago, I took the furniture to a local iron works place and had them sand blast and paint it. I made new cushions for the chairs. My brother-in-law, the best woodworker I’ve ever seen, made a gorgeous new table top from oak and curly maple and that became our new kitchen dining set. I love it.</p>
<p>I recommend something solid and comfortable. We do have cushions on our chairs but they stay in the house when not in use.</p>
<p>I would never buy a glass top table for my deck again after the last one shattered during a wind storm.</p>
<p>Have you picked out your patio furniture yet, bluejay?</p>
<p>My glass tabletop is still in one piece, after 20 years. The fact that the table is steel may be a factor, as it never blown over. It even spends winters on the deck.</p>
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<p>Sikkens is more expensive than Behr’s but according to our contractor, the paint and hardware stores, and online reviews, it’s supposedly the best product on the market. They have stains that range from sheer to semi-transparent to opaque. We just used the semi-transparent on a new cedar fence area and it came out beautifully. There is some amount of coverage with semi, but if you wipe as you go it comes out more like a stain.</p>
<p>Thanks, Roshke. Two other names mentioned are TWP (?) and Defy. Part of the issue is the availabilty in all states. Manufacturers are toying with recipes/formulas that are not oil based but mostly water to meet environmental guidelines. But oil penetrates better? </p>
<p>Toledo, roadblock with staining of railings so furniture is on hold until we see how the entire color combinations turn out. I did stop in a store and picked up a catalog by Kettler. A line called “Carlo” caught my eye. It’s wrought iron with what looks like a stiff meshsurface for the table, charir backs, and seats.</p>