Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to write about teak furniture or much of anything else today as I have to leave town and am running out of time. So I’ll just a cover a tiny portion of an overall trend sweeping the outdoor home.

The trend: anything that can be done indoors can be (and is or soon will be) done outdoors. As people are beginning to live a greater portion of their lives in their outdoor rooms, they want a seamless transition from the indoors. So whether it�s the look of the outdoor furniture itself or the accessories that accent it, the indoors is moving outside.

One example is outdoor artwork. Traditionally reserved for the living room, dining room, and hallways, advances in printing and materials technology have allowed companies to produce artwork that can hang on the exterior walls of your home 365 days a year with no noticeable problems. The company that helps us make our pieces, Open Air Designs, prints the digital images of our artwork with ultraviolet inks onto an aluminum composite substrate. The piece is then cured and coated with UV inhibitors to protect it from the elements. Lastly, the printed sheets are scored and folded to create the look of stretched canvas, and voila, you have a work of art that has all of the appeal of indoor art but all of the durability needed for outdoors.

And when you think about it, it makes complete sense. Because behind your deep seating set or your teak dining collection is usually a big, blank, ugly clapboard, brick, stucco, or aluminum siding wall. What better way to beautify that space than with some weatherproof artwork that will further make your outdoor room feel like home?

What do word origins, optical illusions, or jokes have to do with teak furniture? Nothing, but there’s no need to discuss business all the time. Each Friday I will have an interesting item with little to do with teak or outdoor furniture. I hope you enjoy.

In frontier America, a person unable to write was often required to sign a document. Under such circumstances, in lieu of a name it was legal to sign an “X” on the form.

Often, a party to a contract agreed to it under pressure and didn’t want to observe its terms. Oral lore insisted that when crosses were doubled, one being placed over the other, the first was cancelled or made null. This double-cross was common enough to give its name to any act of deception or betrayal.
Source: “Why You Say It” by Webb Garrison (1992).

Take bold risks with outdoor throw pillows.

When it comes to teak furniture, deep seating collections in particular, color palettes are where many of us take our risks. However, there is a safe and easy way to be bold. To buy deep seating cushions in anything other than basic solids may be a bit much (imagine an outdoor furniture collection covered in Burberry© or polka dots). The best way to venture out is to buy outdoor throw pillows upholstered in decorative fabrics or exotic colors.

This strategy will allow you to add rich splashes of color that will really make your teak furniture pop. Additionally, since outdoor throw pillows are relatively inexpensive, you don’t have to be afraid to experiment, and you can buy new pillows with new colors and patterns as your tastes or color trends change.

What do cartoons, “best of” lists, or short stories have to do with teak furniture? Not much, but lighten up. On Fridays I’ll post something interesting that probably has very little to do with teak or outdoor furniture, but it should at least make you smile or think.

I ran across this on the Internet today and thought it was cute.

Gray or gold? How do you like your teak furniture? From our 25 years of experience in the outdoor furniture industry we have learned that it’s a 50/50 split between those people who prefer their teak furniture develop its classic silver-gray patina and those who want it to stay its original golden color. But what is this patina? And for those so inclined, how can they prevent or remove it?

One of the characteristics that makes teak virtually impervious to the elements is its high oil content. Over time the teak oil rises to the surface and is exposed to natural sunlight. The sun’s ultra violet rays then oxidize the oil over a period of 12 to 18 months and turn it gray. Thus the patina you see on aged teak furniture is simply oxidized teak oil on the surface of the wood.

As I said earlier, many of customers enjoy the distinguished, timeless look that the patina gives teak furniture. However, if you are among those who like teak’s natural hue, how can you maintain the golden color? There are a few ways, but it usually comes down to two words - elbow grease. Whether it’s annually restoring the teak furniture to its original color or simply trying to maintain it, you (or your staff) likely will have to put in some work.

Washing and Sanding: Remember, the patina is simply oxidized teak oil on the wood’s surface, not the teak itself turning gray. So the patina will come off. Once the outdoor furniture turns or begins to turn silver-gray, you can wash it with water from a garden hose and then sand the furniture lightly. Sounds simple. However, this process can take many hours as sanding is a laborious process, and you need to make sure to get into every nook and cranny so that the teak furniture takes on an even tone.

Power Washing: A faster way to remove the patina is simply to power wash your furniture with water. Although I know of customers who do power wash their teak furniture, I do not recommend it. Over time the high-pressure spray strips the teak of its natural oils and makes the wood less durable.

Preservatives: There are many products on the market that are purported to preserve the golden color of teak once applied. However, I have not been impressed with the results. Most of these chemicals discolor the outdoor furniture and do not last very long. The ones that seem to work the best, although not perfect, still do not last more than three to six months. Thus you will need to put a fresh coat of preservative on the teak several times a year, not to speak of the initial application (three to six coats) that needs to be put on the furniture once you first receive it.

Covered Areas: Since the sun’s rays are what oxidize the teak’s oil and create the patina, you can keep the furniture either indoors (many of our customers are actually furnishing the inside of their homes with our outdoor furniture now) or under a covered porch, patio, or terrace. By shielding the teak from direct sunlight you will be able to maintain the teak furniture’s golden tone for years if not indefinitely.

Now for the answer to last week’s brain teaser:

The man who invented it doesn’t want it. The man who bought it doesn’t need it. The man who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?

A coffin.

On Fridays I’ll post something fun that most likely has nothing to do with teak furniture, but it should at least make you think or laugh. Here’s a fun little brain teaser for this week.

The man who invented it doesn’t want it. The man who bought it doesn’t need it. The man who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?

The answer . . . in next week’s post.

Do not put teak oil on your teak furniture.

Most people put teak oil on their teak patio furniture because they want to preserve the golden color and prevent the teak from developing its gray patina. Not only will the oil darken the color by a few shades, but it will also, if not constantly maintained, attract mold and mildew. Teak oil turns your teak furniture from an easy-to-care-for piece of outdoor furniture to a high maintenance hassle.

* I should mention that if you have your own yachting crew or a house maintenance staff that can reapply the teak oil every season and keep a watchful eye over it, then you can ignore this advice.

Jokes don’t have a whole lot to do with teak furniture, but that’s okay. We don’t have to talk about teak or outdoor furniture all the time. At the end of each week I’ll post something that will hopefully start your weekend off right.

A young sailor was sitting in a bar having a few drinks when he looks over and sees a pirate. The pirate has a wooden peg-leg, a hook for a hand, and patch over his eye. Unable to resist, the sailor asks “How’d you end up with a peg-leg?”

“I was swept overboard during a fierce storm,” says the pirate. “and a bloody shark bit off me whole darn leg!”

“Holy cow!” said the sailor. “What about the hook, how’d you get that?”

“Me crew and I were boarding an enemy ship, a fierce sword battle ensued. One of them cut me darn arm!”

“Absolutely incredible!” gasped the sailor. “And the eye patch, tell me how you got that?”

“A bloody seagull dropping fell into me eye,” replied the pirate.

“Umm, you lost your eye to a seagull dropping?” asked the sailor, admonished.

Embarrassed, the pirate answered “It was me first day with the hook.”

Talk to you next week.

As a teak furniture manufacturer, we at Arthur Lauer feel a responsibility, in fact we always have, to contribute to the green movement through clean, sustainable practices. At the risk of tooting our own horn, here are some of the ways in which we’re green.

Sustainable teak: The teak we use in our furniture construction is harvested using careful land management practices and responsible replanting techniques.

The benefits of wood:

1. While the raw materials for other products (aluminum, stainless steel, etc.) must be fabricated using energy-intensive and chemical-laden processes, our primary raw material (teak) grows naturally with no need for energy input.
2. Once the useful life of a wood piece of furniture is at its end, the wood will biodegrade in the landfill.

The benefits of teak: With its high durability (25+ years), teak furniture will last decades longer than furniture made from other woods. Consequently, fewer trees will be used as it will need to be replenished much less frequently. Further, although teak furniture is biodegradable, it will be decades before it even needs to be thrown out and end up in a landfill.

Our Cabot stain: The Cabot stain that we use is water based, cleans up with soap and water, and is VOC compliant.

U.S. Made: Our competitors ship their teak furniture from overseas to the U.S. partially assembled, which means that boats are wasting much fuel by (i) carrying air (the space between parts) across the ocean and (ii) shipping more container-loads than necessary because of this inefficient use of space. Further, the more ships used by our competitors, the more air and water pollution they cause to the environment. Arthur Lauer, on the other hand, manufactures its furniture in the United States. Consequently, we ship cut lumber from overseas, which can be packed incredibly efficiently (with little to no space between the pieces) given its regular, square dimensions.

Waste management: According to a waste management company we hired, through our current recycling program we divert more than 87% of our waste away from landfills each year – equating to over 237 tons and 1,785 cubic yards of waste that is either being recycled or reused.

Clean waste: Most of what little waste we do produce is environmentally friendly saw dust, which is primarily hauled away and used for horse bedding. We do not produce any metal shavings or toxic chemicals.