You can get years of use out of your wicker furniture if you do routine maintenance like cleaning, repair and repainting. Wicker furniture is made from cane or reeds that have been woven together to make chairs, settees or tables. Over time, reeds can be loosed, the structure may become rickety, and accumulated dirt and debris in the crevices of the weave can make your wicker furniture yearn for bygone days. A good program of restoration every couple of years will keep your wicker furniture in tip-top shape for decades to come. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Prep and Repair
1. Clean your wicker furniture with a mixture of 3 gallons of hot water and 1 cup of ammonia. Use a soft rag to remove visible dirt embedded in crevices. If you want to use a brush to clean, be sure the bristles are very soft so you don't break reeds in the process of cleaning. Rinse thoroughly and allow to dry.
2. Examine your wicker furniture once dry to assess its restoration needs. Run your hands all over the surface of wicker furniture to feel for reeds that have become unwoven (they may not be readily visible to the eye but may snag a guest's silk dress). You will need to repair each of these wayward reeds by re-gluing with a waterproof, super-strength, all-purpose glue that can be used outdoors.
3. Improve the stability of wicker furniture that may have become rickety from age by making a few relatively simple restorations. Turn your wicker furniture over and determine if the legs need to be braced. Cut (or have a home-improvement store cut) a small stockpile of 3x3-inch triangle wedges to use as leg braces.
Restore Functionality
4. Use a pneumatic nail gun to attach the 3x3-inch braces to each leg of a chair or settee that feels loose. Hold the brace while driving two to three nails through the loose leg into the sturdy wood brace
5. Drive two to three more nails through the brace into the seat bottom's rim. Be careful as the chair frame might split. Add braces to all the legs of a chair so that the stability and the look is uniform.
6. Cut a piece of plywood to the dimensions of the seat and nail it to the bottom of the seat, if the seat is sagging. The plywood would be visible through the seat lattice but you can add decorative chair or settee cover to hide this fix. You can also paint the plywood to match the wicker, which will help camouflage it.
Prime and Paint
7. Scrape and sand any peeling paint in preparation for painting. Wicker is traditionally painted the color white. However, you can paint your wicker furniture the color of your choice.
8. Use a high-quality primer to provide an undercoat for the paint. Consider two coats of primer to create a smoother surface for the final paint color.
9. Top with a high-quality oil-based paint using a brush. Paint on a day when the sun is out so that the paint can dry adequately. Spray paint will help you get into the lattice design of the wicker easier.
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