The sun is slowly burning a hole in the horizon as the summer day slowly glides to a close. You carry the pitcher of margaritas — so cold that frost is forming on the outside of the pitcher — out onto the deck with the tantalizing vision of tipping back in your favorite rocking patio chair and pretending you’re Jimmy Buffett. As you rest the tray on the glass tabletop, and head for the chair, this tropical dream is interrupted by the pile of what appears to be rotting jungle mixed with bird droppings in the chair. Is this the end of Margaritaville? Fortunately, most patio furniture cleans easily, with a few basic cleaning steps and normal household cleaners.
First, if you have a hose handy, wash off the major mess with a stream of cold water. If a stain remains, adding a small amount of your favorite dishwashing soap to a pair of terrycloth washcloths (Dawn Ultra and Palmolive have worked well for me) and rubbing the area from both sides will resolve many of the more stubborn ones. Sometimes, though, it seems that nothing seems to work. One Fall, I had an extended-stay guest that used the back porch off the guest room as the smoking lounge. The patio furniture stayed out too long, and the third snowfall (and ice storm) had passed before I recalled the shivering solder standing watch on the deck.
By then, it was frozen solid into an icy drift, so the chair remained on the porch through a Wisconsin winter. It was well into late Spring before I gave it another thought and, well, the fabric certainly showed it’s displeasure at this harsh treatment. Now, my patio set consists of a set of fixed high-back fabric-over-metal-frame chairs, with 2 rocking reclining captain’s chairs. On this high-back chair, the normal cleaning methods helped, but left several discolored areas, so I decided it was time for a little more aggressive approach. I found that, once I removed six nuts, I could pull the all-weather fabric from the steel frames, and toss it into the washing machine, set on the delicate cycle.
After three passes in the washer, I remounted the very happy looking shell back onto the metal frame, looking nearly as good as when I had purchased the set years earlier. Of course, the other five chairs now looked dingy, in comparison so, with strong verbal support from the Peanut Gallery (of course, I think they drank up the margaritas, too, while I was working), the process was repeated again… and again… until the entire set was clean. The results looked spectacular, and probably extended the useful life of the patio set by a few years, as well.
So, with little more than a little soap, water, and some creativity, your little slice of Paradise can continue to look good as your tropical escape for years to come. Enjoy!