Terrace and poolside furniture

Terrace dinners and poolside lunches need furniture that can live in the weather. The 296 pieces here are chairs, bar stools, tables, sets, umbrellas, partitions and heaters, and 258 of them are listed for patio use. Read the usage line first. A few ask for a covered patio, and those belong under the roof or the pergola, not out by the water.

Only patio-listed pieces go outside

A dining room chair carried out to the pool will not last the season. Out in the open, an indoor wood frame swells, an upholstered seat fades, a steel leg rusts, and the warranty excludes all of it. So the rule on a resort terrace is short: patio listing or nothing. Six pieces here ask for a covered patio only. Set those beneath the terrace roof, where they stay out of the rain and the midday sun.

Listed pieces still want looking after: a rinse, a chance to drain, then a cover or a dry storeroom once the season closes, because outdoor furniture left to itself is not covered either. Stacking helps at that point, and 124 pieces here stack.

Chairs, stools and tables for the terrace

Patio chairs are the largest group. Across the department, frames come in metal, aluminum, resin, and aluminum with a bamboo look; seats in metal, resin, faux rattan and plastic teak. For the pool bar, the patio bar stools cover bar height. Of the tops, 61 come square, 45 rectangular and 33 round, and the patio tables carry them in resin, aluminum, synthetic teak and steel.

Would you rather plan the terrace table by table? The outdoor furniture sets group tables and seats into ready combinations.

Shade, warmth and the edges of the space

Shade decides where guests want to sit at noon. Patio umbrellas and tables with an umbrella hole work as a pair, so plan the umbrella positions before the dining rows. Patio heaters let a terrace dinner run on into a cool evening, and patio partitions mark off a private area for an event or a wedding lunch. Count heaters and umbrellas on the plan the way you count chairs, since each takes floor a table would otherwise use.

For a first count, full-service dining plans at about 12 to 15 square feet a seat, so a 1,500 square foot terrace sketches out at about 100 to 125 seats before planters, the bar and the service station take their space. Occupancy limits outrank any rule of thumb, and local code review belongs to your architect or designer.

Pieces start near $58. Sketch the terrace as its own property plan with 36-inch aisles between tables, and the count you order will fit the deck.