Is Your Rattan Furniture Looking Ratty? Here’s the Design-Pro Fix

Is Your Rattan Furniture Looking Ratty? Here’s the Design-Pro Fix Garden Furniture Set

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EVEN AT their fanciest, natural wicker or rattan furniture pieces still read casual. In the conservatories of Victorian estates and on the Adirondack porches of robber-baron “camps,” the reedy weaves conveyed easy informality. For a sophisticated take on the earthy stuff, shiny, happy paint is the answer. “We have used natural wicker in mountain and lake houses,” said Atlanta interior designer Mallory Mathison, “but giving it the sheen of lacquering makes it a little less rustic, and you can really dress it up.” High-gloss pigment on the lowly material has other advantages, as well as some drawbacks. Here, the experts weigh in.

Giving a motley collection of rattan furniture a new color can bestow it with both coherence and charisma. New York City architect Gil Schafer did just that to some disparate seats and tables on a porch in southern Georgia. The gleaming red paint unified the mismatched antique pieces, he said, and brought a “kick of color” to a space otherwise outfitted with a gray floor, white walls and dark green shutters. Why did he choose gloss? “Matte would collect pollen and dust more readily than a surface with sheen,” said Mr. Schafer. He also touts lacquer’s tactile appeal. “In a house, for example, the walls may be painted in a flat finish, but we give door trim a satin finish because you’re more likely to touch the trim, and it feels better with a sheen.” The gleam beat a lackluster finish aesthetically too. “The lacquer is more lively, which is part of the fun of [painting] it, right?” he said.

Antique Carring Coffee Table Sets Products This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

Is Your Rattan Furniture Looking Ratty? Here’s the Design-Pro Fix - WSJ