Refurbishing the Porch Furniture

 We acquired this furniture 14 years ago from the previous homeowners when we bought the house, and who knows how long they had it. The cushions, in particular were starting to show wear and small stains, and we were tired of the small-check blue gingham. We decided to look for replacement furniture.

Before

I did some shopping, and most of the furniture I found was either plastic (and woven plastic "wicker" which was even worse) or hollow aluminum. The metal furniture that was even somewhat acceptable cost several thousand dollars. I couldn't find anything in wood or a natural material- as the old saying goes, they just don't make stuff like they used to. I looked again at the frames on our furniture, made from bent cane or bamboo, and realized that even though parts of it were sun-faded and dried out, it was well-made and sturdy. I decided to try to treat the wood and see if new cushions could be found. 

Extreme fading in the most sun-exposed areas

Fading, dried out finish

Repairs needed on joint bindings

We carried the furniture into the garage where I could work on it. Everything got a thorough cleaning, and I did a couple minor repairs with glue. While I could have spray painted this without too much effort, I wanted to preserve the wood look. To try to actually refinish or re-stain all of the pieces, with all of their surfaces and joint bindings would have been maddening. I went to a local paint store for advice, and the sales guy recommended I rub on a couple coats of this product to freshen the finish.

It was easy to use with a rag, and I took a couple of hours to go over every surface with two coats. It didn't completely eliminate the sun fading, but it did improve the overall look with minimal effort.

The color and finish look better after the wood treatment

Next, it was time to look into new cushions. I was worried we wouldn't be able to find replacement cushions of the right size, but I found some at Hom furniture made out of Sunbrella fabric intended for exposed areas. We ordered a set of 5, which were not cheap at just over $800. They are 1" wider than perfect- you can see we had to compress them slightly to fit, but they are very comfortable to sit on. I listed the old cushions on Craig's list for free, and someone came to pick them up.

New cushions

Now on to the lamps. They came with the furniture from the former owners, and were shiny blue glass with big lampshades. Good quality, we were just tired of the look. Again, I looked at buying new lamps and was surprised by how much they can cost. I decided it was no risk to try to paint these and see how they came out. Painting glossy glass is tricky, so I had to prime them well. I used a taupe paint I already had on hand, then I sponged a darker glaze on top.

2-3 coats of primer needed on the glass

I found a website to help me estimate shade shape and size, then it took awhile to find lampshades the right size- I found some at Target, but they had long stock outages, so it took a couple months before I could order them. At $20 each, they were a bargain.

Now the porch furniture is updated, and more in line with our style. I'm happy with how it came out, and with the DIY savings.