The wind, the cold and the rain can all conspire to make outdoor furniture look far from its best. As such, many people only buy cheaper furniture or pack nicer furniture away for the whole winter and yet, with the right protection, your patio tables and chairs can look great all year round.
The first thing to do is to choose the right material in the first place. Plastic will easily survive the rain but the wind will very quickly leave it bent out of shape. Likewise, metal may be sturdier and stay put, but the cold and rain will quickly see it looking old and discoloured.
Wooden garden furniture offers the best of both worlds and there are plenty of ways to seal the wood to ensure that the elements very much stay out. It is important to use the right stain and the right sealant for the exact wood you use. Not only this, but sealing each item in clement surroundings (i.e. inside if it is the winter already) is extremely important.
You may also want to use a material cover; however, these can get saturated if you use the wrong material or simply look ugly in many other instances.
Cleaning your outdoor furniture is also likely to help a great deal. If you keep it clean, you are far less likely to see it become discoloured or being attacked by fungus or the like. Cleaning a couple of times a year will be all that is needed.
Finally, with wooden garden furniture, try to avoid placing the legs directly onto the grass. Not only will decking or patios make the garden seem far more complete, but the constant dirt and moisture on the legs of the furniture is likely to end up causing numerous problems for them in the long run.