Welcome to OUTSIDE Living!

We thought we would wait till next fall/winter of 2021, to purchase a patio conversation set, especially since we only have about 3 weeks left here, but the set we found and the very limited availability of it made us go for it now. I’ve been casually looking at outdoor furniture locally, and researching sets online over the last several months. Barry and I are all about comfort. While a furniture set may look nice, it’s imperative that it is comfortable for both of us to sit on for extended periods of time. Durability is also a high priority.Through our in-person experience we discovered a lot of patio furniture really is not comfortable! As disappointing as this was, it told us that we don’t dare order a set online if we haven’t been able to somewhere check out the exact same set in person.

In October 2020, we browsed throughout the Glendale, AZ American Furniture Warehouse during the time we were ordering furniture for the inside of our home. There we stumbled across an incredibly comfortable patio set. The swivel/gliders were amazing, but boy these pieces were expensive. The swivel rocker/glider chairs were $600 each! The couch was another $1000, and the coffee table $250. Ouch! Bare minimum for just these 4 pieces: $2450 + tax for four pieces. We checked it out again when we went to the Phoenix area again early February. It was still available and the same price. We considered just getting the swivel/gliders now, but the blues of the chairs might not match the couch if we buy them a year a part–if the same set is even available next fall/winter.. No–we will just have to wait and keep looking.

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Ten days later we found a somewhat similar blue set by Member’s Mark at Sam’s Club in Yuma. This set had two swivel glider chairs, a couch and a coffee table. The price was much better at $1500. Sunbrella fabric was a plus. It wasn’t equivalent in comfort to the AFW set we loved, but I think it would work. But it still wasn’t the right time for us. We still had other priorities this month, and need to give our bank account a little rest to let it recover. Our time left in Yuma is winding down fast. Barry felt we should wait till next fall. Sadly, I agreed. We will keep this set in mind since it is local!

New Alert!
We went to Sam’s Club this week to follow up on their patio sets. We heard they might be on sale, but they weren’t. When we sat down today in the swivel/glider, we weren’t all that convinced it was what we wanted, after all. We tried a couple other sets on display, but they weren’t going to cut it at all. Then we walked over to the blue Indio Heritage set that had two “regular” chairs instead of the swivel rocker ones. We really like the look of the set. Feeling like Goldilocks at this point, we tried out both the couch and the chairs. Wow! The level of comfort was so close to the AFW set. What do we do? There are only 2 new sets in the store.

Features that won us over:

• Steel frame construction
• Sunbrella fabric. That was an important feature, especially living down here.
• Coffee table has a stone tile table top making it much sturdier than the one in the $1500 set. No wind was going to blow this table around on the patio! T
• Perfect ottomans for both chairs
• Ottomans tit inside/under the table.. They can also be used as additional seats for smaller people.
• ALL furniture leg/feet shave levelers on them. Seriously!?!? What a bonus feature.
• COVERS. There are covers specific to each piece included!
• Price

The more we looked at the details of this set, the more impressed we became!

We thought we could still wait and get the set mid-fall when we return to Yuma, but we learned that Sam’s Club phases all summer stuff out in August to make way for Christmas trees and decorations, etc. arriving throughout September. With only two sets currently in the store, and unable to order one online, we figured it was best to get this set now. We loved the set and would not find a better price. Now, how to get it home???

Our friends, Bob and Kelly Robinson, have a big truck, but it also has a huge hitch in the middle of the truck bed. Bob was pretty confident it would work with some rope tie downs. The set came in ONE huge box with a net weight of 242 pounds.

The forklift and a couple of Sam’s Club employees helped get it up over the tailgate, and onto the hitch. Bob tied it all down. When we got home, instead of trying to figure how we could safely get the box lowered to the ground to open, Barry and Kelly climbed up on the tailgate and began cutting the box apart. Together, the four of us got everything out of the box and set up in the carport. We were all extremely impressed with how well everything was packed. The only thing that needed to be assembled was the table, and it was super easy!

First night: All set up

We are SO glad we got this set. It is PERFECT! It is so comfy and we think it looks great on our patio. We can easily sit 6 people.

I went back to Sam’s Club the next day to get a new patio rug since the one in the pictures above is the one that goes with Vinny. There were some we liked better online at Lowes.com, and Wayfair, but the price at Sam’s Club was less than half the price of those. Anything larger than 8 x 10 gets quite costly. We felt the one we selected from Sam’s Club, Viceroy by Savifeh, would be fine for a few years. What a difference this makes on the patio! It is so inviting to spend time out here now!

Tonight we sat outside enjoying the evening till about 10 PM. Kelly and Bob came over for “HappyHour” as our first official guests. It feels so good to have our own true outdoor living space. This is why we live here!

The next morning, we started our day out here with our coffee, computers, and conversation. This is the life!! We almost forgot to go for our walk. We will be enjoying peaceful, extended morning time together out here on a regular basis.

Now that we are spending more time in our outdoor living space, Barry has come up with a way to have a TV out there sooner than later. We simply bought an additional TV wall mount. We will use the bedroom TV outside for the next three weeks. Win-WIn.