The woman behind Creative Home Expressions is none other than Kathy Passarette, expert interior designer, home staging, redesigner and color consultant extraordinaire.  Her articles and tips have appeared in Newsday,  Newday’s How To Guide, New York, Resident Magazine, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Denver Post and the Miami Herald.  She has given us a plethora of tips she wanted to share with our customers, and this would be the first in tips we will spotlight.  You can catch up on Kathy at the Creative Home Expressions Blog.

• Lighting – garden lights, candles or a mix of the two can give your yard a warm glow and extend your daytime enjoyment into the night.  With the variety of lighting options from easy to install light kits to solar lighting, you can create ambiance in your own back yard.  Candles can be used from floating tea lights to pillar, there are numerous ways to incorporate them into your décor.  There are many decorative candle holders that fit in with themed décor or blend in with your landscape.
• Outdoor fireplaces – not only extend the hours you can spend outside, but can also extend your season outdoors.  There are many different styles to choose from; you can even build your own fire pit.
• Fabric – outdoor fabrics have come a long way over the years offering a lot more than the usual awning stripe.  You can use these fabrics for pillows, to cover cushions, make tablecloths or even be used as outdoor curtains.
• Furniture – your outdoor rooms are a great place to use found furniture pieces.  They can easily be freshened up with some spray paint.  Metal baker’s racks made great vertical storage and also help break up all the horizontal surfaces.  Don’t be afraid to bring pieces from the inside out for the day – just bring them back in at night.
• Pillows – pillows add softness to your chairs and benches.  How inviting a cushioned chair looks for reading a book or just sitting quietly.
• Outdoor area rugs.  Define the seating areas, just like they do inside your home.

Every year, our customers complain about their old furniture.  They tell us things like:

• My patio furniture just looks bad
• My wrought iron furniture is rusty
• All the aluminum furniture I have is just dated
• I should just get rid of all my patio furniture

Hold on a minute there! Why go through that expense. Nothing beats the charm of vintage metal patio furniture. And with just a little work and some replacement patio cushions, they’ll look good as new and you’ll have yourself a fresh look.

Steps:

• Remove rubber tips and old beat up cushions (if there are any).
• Wash furniture with a mild detergent (you’ll probably need some rags or a scrub brush) and rinse.
• Use a wire brush to scrape off rust and loose paint flakes.
• Look carefully: if paint has bubbled (a sign of rust underneath) use a screwdriver or chisel to break the bubble and chip away the bubbled paint, and then scrape with a wire brush.
• Remove rust with commercial rust remover.
• Paint or spray with rust-resistant paint. If the furniture is very corroded, you may want to prime first with rust-resistant primer.
• Let dry. Plan on 12 to 24 hours for each coat, depending on weather and temperature.
• Replace any rubber tips.
• Go get yourself some cool replacement furniture cushions.

Remember to pick yourself out a new and fresh color.  If your unsure, make a trip to your local patio store and take a look at all the popular finishes.  While your there, take a look at the prices, and you’ll be glad you started this project.  Some finishes that are always popular are:

Black – for Wrought Iron and Cast Iron Furniture.

White – White is a staple of the furniture industry.  You can paint old wood furniture white, or even your metal furniture.  If you garden is colorful, white will always be a good choice.

Polished Pewter – A gunmetal gray that is very elegant and sophisticated.  Best for Cast Iron, and Aluminum Furniture.

Hunter, Palm or Tropical Green – Hunter Green has always been a favorite, but “Greens are the new black.”  Palm and Tropical Green finishes add a touch of life and cheerfulness to your patio.  Great for Wrought Iron Furniture and Aluminum Furniture.

With your new vintage patio furniture colored, take your time to pick the right outdoor fabrics. You can directly match your furniture color for that European Men’s suit look, or pick a complimentary outdoor fabric.

Tips: If you’re a perfectionist, you may want to sand the furniture after removing rust and before painting – but sanding metal is like scratching your fingernails on the blackboard, and these are going to sit outside anyway! (If you do sand, don’t forget to wipe off dust with a cloth before painting.)

Warnings: Be careful with the wire brush: it’s the tool for the job, but it will take off skin if you slip up.  I was wire brushing a cast chaise cushion and not paying attention, and blammo!  Nice raspberry colored scar I have on my thigh.  Still hasn’t faded.

All rust-resistant paints are alkyd- (oil) based, so make sure you’ve got mineral spirits on hand for cleanup.