Sixteen years ago, we bought an outdoor dining set at The Greenhouse in Bellingham, WA and it felt like quite a splurge. It ended up being worth every penny because it still looks brand new all these years later. We’re ready to get something new though because our current set only seats 4 people, which doesn’t leave any room for having people over. We’ve always just sat around in chairs to eat but I’m ready for an actual table that seats 6-8 people.
Because of where we live, a lot of the wood options aren’t on my list. There’s just too much rain here and I don’t want to buy something gorgeous for our patio and have it look 10 years old after a surprise week of rain in June. Am I being too worried about this? I’ve looked at approximately 476 dining table options and this is my short list.
Option 1
My main likes on this are that it seats 8 people and I like that it’s black. The chairs look like they might not hold up for many years but maybe they will. Their shape doesn’t make me swoon either and the table doesn’t have an umbrella hole. I might be talking myself out of this as a contender. But them my husband just said he likes this one.
Option 2
I love the look of this set but I can’t tell if that’s because of the way it’s been styled on the patio. It’s also got the mesh seating again and I’m not sure how that will hold up over time. The table top is not real wood and I wonder what that means in person. Does it look tacky or does it hold up? There’s also no umbrella hole so we’d have to buy a cantilevered umbrella.
Option 3
Don’t look at the benches because I’d just buy the table and get chairs (they have a matching option). I LOVE this table but my husband is hesitant to buy a wood table with all the rain we get. It does have a polyurethane topcoat and the website says to cover it in extreme weather. No mention of never being in the rain. This would be my pick. What do you think of the rain worries??
Option 4
This is the exact same table as the wood version above. I would go for it in a second except it’s not true black. It’s antique bronze and it’s hard to tell by the photos what that means in real life. It looks almost black in this picture but if you click on the photo, it shows another picture that looks more brown-ish. But it would wear very well, it’s a good shape and the matching chair options are a nice.
Option 5
This option is all weather wicker so it would wear very well in the weather here. I do like the gray color and it would look great agains our white house but the chairs are pricey ($350-$400 each) so it would be an expensive choice.
Option 6
Ignore the chairs. I’d just buy the table and buy better (looking & quality) chairs. This is the cheapest option and because it’s from Target, I don’t have high hopes that it would last a long time but it checks the boxes in terms of looks.
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Alright that’s it. If you have a better suggestion from somewhere I haven’t looked yet, please tell me!!! I still want to look around at local stores to see what’s on offer but these are my online choices after too many hours of searching. What would you pick??
xo Bonnie
