Café Furniture – Not Just For Bistros Any More!

Warm weather means cleaning up that deck and, even more scary, taking the covers off last year’s patio furniture. It never ceases to amaze me how dull and lackluster good patio furniture looks after two seasons in the sun and a couple more under wraps. I noticed this spring that a neighbor of mine has had great idea. She went out and bought some real café furniture  for her deck this year. Now her back deck looks like a sidewalk in Paris, without the Eiffel Tower, of course.

This made me start thinking and looking. During the spring, a walk down any of the popular streets in the downtown area will show you the sidewalk cafes and coffee shops opening up their business onto the sidewalks. Colorful umbrellas spring up from wrought iron or tile topped tables. The chairs range from simple and somewhat uncomfortable, to elegant and quite comfy. Still, don’t expect you’ll find any of these at your neighborhood home improvement center. Still, if there is a need, some enterprising individual will find a way to fill it.

Fortunately, a quick look on the world-wide-web turned up a number of vendors selling café furniture of varied types and differing qualities. While some only sell in bulk to actual restaurants, many are quite willing to sell to individuals. The prices are a bit steeper than what you’d pay for the stuff you cover up each autumn and hate to unwrap each spring, but the quality could be worth it.

So, the next time you want to turn your backyard cookout into a dinner bistro, you can seat your guests at their table with its jaunty umbrella and serve them their wine. No violinist? Don’t worry. Just download something on your Ipod® and let the good times roll at your own café very far off the square.