A couple years ago, a good friend got married and moved into a nice home with a great view near the golf course, spacious back yard, and a patio to overlook it all. The first couple weeks, they focused mostly on all the indoor furniture, matching colors, figuring out the right sizes, moving them in, etc. Soon enough, they were settled, and I would go over and visit semi-frequently, as my friend and I share a love for the X-Box 360, and live within 10 minutes of one another.

One day, we were sitting in the living room playing Halo when a particularly loud bird landed on the patio. It caught my attention and I soon realized I hadn't checked out their patio yet. I paused the game and went outside and it was instantly confused as to why we had never gone out there before.

You could see the golfers on the golf course, and scenery for miles. I asked why they never went out there and he told me his wife wanted to focus on decorating the inside, and do little things later. Suddenly we heard a loud curse word so we looked in the general direction of the word, which just so happened to be just in time to see a club fly across the green. My friend laughed and said "maybe we should have decorated out here first! This is classic." We grabbed a couple chairs from inside and sat down. We hung out for a little less than an hour when we decided lounging and relaxing on kitchen chairs for prolonged amounts of time was unnecessary due to the lack of comfort.

As I was leaving he said he had fun and we should get together and watch the golf tournament from his patio that upcoming weekend. I agreed. By the time I came back that weekend his patio was furnished. He told me he had convinced his wife to put off the spare bedroom and focus on the patio. At first she wasn't going for it, but after she spent some time out there, decided it was probably a good idea.

As time went on his patio furniture started deteriorating. The wood was expanding. The paint was chipping. The cushions were getting water-stained. They realized they had done no research on the matter. I don't think they even went as far as making sure the furniture was meant for the outdoors. They didn't waterproof the wood or use exterior paint. Not only that, but it wasn't very practical: there were no sun umbrellas, and the table was not very practical for poker, which we loved to play with friends. Needless to say, they didn't do their research.

One day we decided to ditch all of it and start over. This time I went with them and we went to a store, which specifically specified "outdoor furniture". We got someone to help us and went through a variety of different chairs and tables and accessories. My friend and his wife chose a loveseat swing for "watching the sunset" kind of nights. We then chose a perfect poker table with accompanying seats, and a large sun umbrella, easy to open and close. We took down advice about coating wood with exterior paint and how to care for the furniture and it is still hosting our poker/grilling/golf-viewing hang out sessions. It's so comfortable now, we've joked about moving the X-box to the patio.