As warmer weather invites us outside, visions of lazy Sunday mornings with the newspaper and coffee on the deck filter through our minds. We go out to plop down in our favorite lawn chair and, oops! Winter grime coats the furniture surfaces. Another mighty clean-up job? Don’t be discouraged.

Peg Mangieri and Margaret Mills of Marina Pool, Spa, and Patio Company have some good advice. Their business has been operating since 1979 so they have a lot of experience helping people spruce up their Outdoor Living environments.

“Patio furniture isn’t that hard to clean,” said Margaret. “Some nice dishwasher soap and a little rubbing will take away most of the grime easily. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse your furniture when done, or you may end up with soap bubbles every time it rains.”

For metal frames that have rust spots, you can get your item powder coated at several companies around town. This painting process bakes in colors on your furniture and provides a durable new color look for your metal furniture frames.

A much less expensive way to deal with rust is simply to head to your local hardware and buy a can of outdoor spray paint. For less than ten dollars and an afternoon of work, you can not only fix up your metal framed furniture, but can add a splash of color to plastics and flower pots as well. Margaret said that this becomes a task you’ll need to repeat every couple of years, but is a great do-it-yourself kind of spruce up.

Of course, the best mode of protection for your furniture is to bring cushions inside over the winter, and cover your items with outdoor furniture covers.

“You need to protect your investment with chair covers,” said Peg. “The good furniture you buy is too expensive to replace often.”

“You can cover a chair for about fifteen dollars,” added Margaret, “whereas new cushions could be upwards of three hundred dollars for that same chair.”

One last spring spruce-up tip? Add a few throw pillows. They can change the color and look of your outdoor living space. We’ll hear more from Peg and Margaret in our next issue, where we’ll talk about Decorating in Your Great Outdoors.