patio furniture

[koru]

so....where does one get inexpensive patio furniture? i'm a craigslist fanatic but have had terrible luck lately. (i found the perfect set just posted this morning, emailed at 6:30am & called at 9....trying to be polite....and they already had someone coming & 2 backups!?). anyway, patio furniture is obviously a hot commodity. we really, really want a table & chairs for our back porch because we eat outside all the time in summer but with baby #3 due anyday & house projects that need to be done the money is not overflowing. (but is it ever? )

[shelbell]

Good question!! We've been looking for patio furniture since last summer. I tried to time it right to get furniture as Target and hardware stores clearanced it out for the season, but I somehow missed everything. Was planning on trying again this year, but I'd love some better ideas.

[MommaCrystal]

I've seen some nice inexpensive and NEW sets at places like the Christmas Tree Shops, Ocean State Job Lot, and the like.

Maybe not a good a deal as second hand but better than most other places.

[catholicmama]

Me too!! I'm looking for a picnic table with the benches detached to paint white and put on my front porch. I'd take any cheap porch furniture really. We have this huge front porch with nothing on it. LOL I want to eat outside!!

[fiesta'smom]

I'd stick with checking craigslist.org. I live in a large city though...so we have tons of postings every day. I really lucked out with patio furniture this year. I wanted a sitting area that was genuinely comfortable and old fashioned. I found 3 Lloyd Flanders wicker rockers, 3 side tables, and a swivel chair with ottoman for $300 on craigslist. They would have retailed for over 10 times that amount!

[lisalulu]

Maybe IKEA?

[polyhymnia]

We tried Ikea last year and didn't find anything nice at a reasonable price. We ended up getting a really nice set (wrought iron and patterned tiled table/chair insets) at Target that was an "open box" - someone ordered it online and didn't like it so they returned it to their nearest target. The box had been opened but nothing had been taken out of the original packaging. We got it for 75% off. it was a very lucky find - it wasn't even in the patio furniture section!

[babymakes3]

I'm glad someone asked this. We're looking for some cheap patio furniture as well. Maybe check freecycle? There was some listed on our local freecycle a couple weeks ago but I didn't get it in time.

[kerc]

my experience has been that clearance on patio furniture happens just after July 4.

that said -- I've got six of those cheapie plastic chairs + one table that shall soon go on freecycle....come pick em up.

[2busy2clean]

If you are looking for nice new furniture that is marked down to a lower level than the fancy dancy places try the unfinished furniture places -- since teak doesn't need to be finished and try Overstock.com. It seems like Fred Meyers has nice prices too - but I don't live by one of those anymore.

I'm sure second hand would be cheaper though - just harder to come by.

[momto l&a]

Costco has a nice picnic table. It fold if I recall correctly and it was reasonable.

We have one of the banquet table that I think will put oilcloth over and get some cheapo plastic chair to use.

We have a deck with an incredible view, I so want to enjoy it.

[mamadonna]

All good ideas, and keep checking Craigslist, too. I got lucky on there two weeks ago and found a great patio table and chairs for $25. I had to be obsessive about it, though--I checked it every time I sat down at the computer and finally happened on an ad right after it had been placed (helped that it was at 11:30 at night, too). I was the first person to e-mail him and the first to return his call the next day, and we picked it up right away. I've seen a lot of them on there (at least in my area) recently. It's just a matter of getting a little lucky with your timing.

Before I found that one, the cheapest prices I had found were at Big Lots and Dixieline Lumber.