The Great Patio Furniture Hunt

After living in an apartment for a few years I've gotten used to small scale furniture, but with a whole house to stretch out in we've been finding that many of our pieces are a little small for the new space. Our deck is a massive 12' by 16' (well it's massive by our standards) and our tiny bistro set is totally dwarfed and impractical for all the summer bbqs we have planned.

{please ignore the spraypaint on the table...i got a little impatient with a project one day}

When the sun started shining about a month ago we started researching patio furniture and man is it expensive (again, by our standards). We started looking at conversation sets at local hardware stores like this one from Martha Stewart...

 High quality workmanship and materials, great colour and really comfy - all with a $500 price tag. Ouch.

Then we found this set for $300...

Still comfortable, but not as nice as the Martha set (and who can beat Martha?) plus it was still little too pricey for us. When you think that only 4 people can comfortably use this set and eating bqq might be a little tricky trying to balance a plate on your lap we started considering the traditional table and chair sets.

We also needed to keep in mind that our storage space isn't unlimited and stackable chairs might be a good idea when the winter hits. We want to be able to pack the set up and hide it in the shed to make sure it stays nice looking as long as possible. With  a little more research we found this set...

With a $250 price tag, seating for 8 and an umbrella I think we may have found our winner! I know it's super neutral and boring but that's sort of why I like it. It will be really easy to jazz it up with colourful pillows and accessories and even easier to switch the colour scheme when I get bored of it a couple summers from now.

Hubs is swinging by tonight to check it out and with any luck I will have a patio set to put together tomorrow, just in time for our first bbq of the season this Sunday.

Eventually this is my plan for the patio...

{Bonus Points for anyone who can tell what the heck I'm thinking of with this plan}