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The Garden Furniture Dilemma

10 May in Brush Cottage | Comments (3)

For quite a long time now I have been looking for some garden furniture … I realise that I might only use this furniture for a couple of weekends in a year, but still, it’s something I would very much like to have. We have a garden that borders on open fields and grass, that if it is left unmown – looks very much like a paddock. I dream of English romantic country gardens – and me, roaming around in my Hush pyjamas, picking scented roses…. yup.

What I really wanted are those pretty little wrought iron tables and chairs – all curly and delicate – but they are all so small! I could barely eat a meal at one of those tables, let alone the 3 of us!

My very, very good friend Jane arrived a couple of weeks ago – with an old set of wooden furniture for me – 6 chairs and a perfect oval table. Exactly the size I was after and the chairs even fold away – which is great as I only have outside storage in a stable. I like “old”, I like “used”and I like “vintage” – so this solution suited me perfectly!

The thing is – they have been stained that really ugly dark, muddy brown – so my plan was to strip off as much of the varnish as I could and paint them – a very washed down cream colour, but you know how those clever, handy people do it – so that you can see the wood through the paint – how hard can that be?

I imagined a lovely warm afternoon – some light sanding, a couple of hours and I’d be done! I gave up waiting for the sunny afternoon and got stuck in on Sunday – bundled up to the hilt in a futile attempt to keep out that arctic wind that was howling it’s way through Upham.

Poppy of course, thought that this was the perfect opportunity to force me to play with her – by making off with my gloves and other paraphernalia as often as she could …. and yes that grass is so long that I am worried she might not find her way to the house……..

So, after lots of horrible chemical stripper and 5 hours of solid labour for both David and myself….one chair has been stripped……..

But now, here’s the thing – It has quite a nice colour, a bit like really old fashioned school furniture – and I do quite like it – so I’m undecided – do I go ahead and paint it or do whatever it is you are suposed to do with wooden garden furniture that is exposed to the English “summer” – I don’t actually know what that is … oil or varnish or something …. If I paint it – what paint do I use…. will the paint just peel off in a couple of weeks? This is a massive , time consuming undertaking – I do really like this furniture … what should I do? Help me out here!

3 Comments »

Hmm – toughie. The washed paint look would look gorgeous – but for how how long?! Varnish I would say is a no no : there will be peeling and it will catch on your clothes and be just gross and make you want to cry.
My opinion – teak oil. That’s what we did with ours and it worked really well and protected it. And you still get the natural wood look – rather than glossy varnish look.
Good luck!

Comment by Colleen Skinner — May 10, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
Wipe it first, then scrub it using sand paper. After that, varnish it. I’m sure that it would be back to it glossy and attractive woody look.

Comment by garden furniture — May 11, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
[...] I came across the perfect colour to paint my garden furniture: [...]

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The Garden Furniture Dilemma

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