Outdoor seats weather the season in style and comfort

If you're in the market for backyard furniture, style is on your side.

This year, great design, comfort and durability have made the annual migration from showrooms to living rooms to great outdoor rooms.

Nothing has been left behind to make open-air living as attractive as anything you can find indoors. From casual to formal, to contemporary to traditional English garden, the options are impressive.

Century Furniture's Metropolitan Collection, designed by Richard Frinier with fully upholstered panels in Sunbrella fabrics, is an example of a growing category of dual-purpose furniture. The collection's lounge chair has nickel-plated feet and a marine-grade teak frame, so it can be used inside and outdoors. It's not without a price - the chair will run you about $5,450.

Like many manufacturers today, Century is becoming more eco-friendly in its manufacturing and design, which is why it chose plantation-grown teak for this collection.

Telescope's Windward sling collection is made of recycled plastic and marine-grade polymer (the chaise retails for about $599). Hidden wheels in the back legs make it easy to move whether you are following the sun or finding shade.

Versatility is another key component this year. If you want to include an outdoor fire on your patio, the O.W. Lee dining/fire table might be a choice, again at a price. It includes a stainless-steel burner in the center for a more comfortable round-the-camp fire setting. It can be turned into a Lazy Susan when not in use and goes for about $3,756.

Just like inside, decorating outdoors is about creating a look. Going on safari may be out of the question, but the Animal Kingdom collection from AGIO International and Disney Consumer Products with the ever-popular fire pit can make a wild dream a summer-evening reality.

If the English seaside and the Pavilion at Brighton Beach is more your speed, then Veneman's Bellechase chair from the Roger Thomas Outdoor Elegance collection will take you there - for about $1,260.

Really amping up outdoor design are Calypso lamps from Shady Lady's new Cameleon collection. The base illuminates at night, as does the shade, both made from Sunbrella slipcovers. The floor-lamp version goes for $1,837 and is a great alternative to smoky lanterns.

If your tastes run more toward that old Palm Beach panache, there is Laneventure's Bethesda wicker chair for about $1,054.

And finally, for a contemporary take on teak, Kingsley Bate's Ipanema Teak Collection offers a deep-cushion daybed that will cost you about $2,600, but napping alfresco is priceless.

With more styles than ever before, consumers may be spending as much time researching their deck decor as that trip to the Grand Tetons.