Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 21, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press sunday Homes Section Philip Anwyl 6977017 b1 May 1995 you get what you pay for in outdoor furniture Home Crest Excalibur aluminium mesh by Martin Cash business reporter Ever wonder what happened to All that super Light outdoor furniture that everybody used to have at the Lake Well its All broken and no Good any outdoor furniture available now on the Market is better far More stylish of a lot More expensive than those Light weight Lawn but Many Consumers Are More knowl now and there tired of buying f cheap furniture that inevitably yellows or gets blown for the concept of amortizing a Patio table and chair set Over 10 or 15 years makes More sense than spending a couple of Hundred dollars on deck chairs and a table that wont last through two but old habits Are sometimes hard to Marilyn Smith admits that it even took her a couple of years to become fully con Vinced that Selling Middle and upper end outdoor furniture was the thing to Smith and her husband de have been run Ning the outdoor furniture Hearth for about 13 it blew my mind at Smith said referring to highly functional steel framed outdoor chairs that sell for and up and would not be out of place in informal indoor but we started using them ourselves and Selling them and i now look out in our own backyard and our 13yearold Furni Ture still looks Brand Smith Virginia furniture manager at Kravco pools she said the improved Quality in outdoor furniture on the Market today has made outdoor Furni Ture a much More enduring and valuable component to household More people Are buying outdoor Furni Ture for wedding and retirement for Stewart its very popular at All prices and Kravco also offers mostly medium and upper end outdoor and sunroom for the store Sells Standar Issue resin stacking but tends to have More expensive the difference is that there is More ultraviolet Ray Stewart without them the Sun dries the resin the us inhibitors prevent the chairs from getting cracking and turning table and chair sets at Kravco and Hearth Patio Range in Price from less than to about Kravco predominantly features a Cou ple of manufacturers called Mallin and both of which incorporate a lot of tempered Glass table tops in their latest table Stewart said tempered Glass is also referred to As safety Glass because the Only Way to break it is if its knocked on its but with the extensive breakage is not much of a Stew Art said even if a welded joint becomes manufacturers such As Mallin and Home Crest will replace Ken Crosbie customers also dont have much to worry about when it comes to defective or broken Crosbie makes and Sells outdoor Cedar furniture from his woodworking shop in the garage of his House in Hes been doing it for More than 20 he said someone asked him to fix a Cedar chair that the Man had owned for More than 15 when i started working on i realized that i was the one who built Crosbie i fixed it and didst charge Crosbie will custom make but Stewart says outdoor furniture is More durable than it used to be Smith is Happy to talk about colors with and cleaning r a meaning painted surfaces of outdoor car Wax prevents oxidization cushions should be cleaned once a year after there vacuumed first to prevent dirt waxing is also recommended to protect High Quality resin chairs if paint is chipped Oft steel and wrought Iron it has to be touched up with paint to prevent rusting outdoor Cedar furniture could be turned upside Down during the or covered with a Tarp application of Oil based Wood stain with color pigment is recommended for Cedar furniture every three he will Only use Cedar preferably West coast his classic style Cape cod chairs sell for around the through the Winter i Cut enough arms for about 100 chairs and ill Cut about 50 or 60 Side rails at he who refers to himself As an old Wood Cutter from Way makes every manner of outdoor Cedar such As table wishing planters and a Crosbie Cedar table with chairs benches Sells for around and its All backed by Crosbie for virtually the entire life of the i like the Wood a Crosbie i really enjoy working in the shop in the and i still have 10 he said it used to take him about two weeks to build one Cape cod but now Hes got the process Down so that he uses five different drills on one if i have to change the Drill bit i just go out and buy another he Crosbie is glad to do custom but hell Only use Cedar and Hes Long since stopped colouring the a few years after making some furniture and staining it for a she was disappointed because she wanted it to match some other furniture she Crosbie i cant keep up with the col now Crosbie covers his furniture with Thompson water sealer and then recommends to his customers that they use an Oil based stain with color pigments unless they dont mind the Wood weathering to a Silver Grey he says one coat of stain on the Bottom of the furniture and then two Coats on the top will last for about three years when another coat is suggest retailers such As Kravco and Hearth and on the other Are More than Happy to talk about colors with Cus Marilyn Smith said she encourages Hearth Patio customers to move their Patio furniture into the Sun rooms or move Sun room furniture but to do that there should be some coordination of styles and for we recommend bringing in colors from the she its important to have some new colors and patterns Are part of the reason that tightly Strung Sling chairs have come Back in Stewart said Sling chairs make a lot of sense for a few Rea there very comfortable and there great around the Pool because they can be sat on with a wet bathing Stew Art said it would Cost about if the Sling had to be replaced and that about the base Price it would Cost to recover an out door even though that might actually buy a couple of those cheap old chances Are they Arent As dont look nearly As Nice and wont last As Long As a new Sling or steel or wrought Iron framed 3 Barkman Concrete Thi a v a was you think about 909 Gateway Road or Call 6673310 ;