Can You Have Enough Lawn Chairs?

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, we brought a lot of stuff back from Missoula when we moved my grandfather in-law. Included in the giant U-Haul were three 60's vintage metal lawn chairs that my wife wanted to restore and use. Apparently you cannot have too many lawn chairs because we were about to accumulate these as well. Like the Monarch stove, the chairs had sat outside for a long time and even though they were under a covered area, they were still quite rusty. Despite the rust they seemed to be mostly intact without any major damage so we tossed in them the back of the '66 and brought them home. Once we got them back, we toyed with the idea of brushing, scraping, and sanding them down ourselves but after taking a closer look we determined we would be better off having them sandblasted professionally. The hardware had rusted together so badly that the bolts would need to be drilled out and there were some holes in the legs that needed to be patched and I don't have a welder.
While looking for sandblasting shops I stumbled upon a website for a local powder-coating specialist. I hadn't considered the idea of powder-coating, thinking that we'd just shoot them with a couple layers of outdoor enamel, but after doing some research I thought this would be a much better option, especially since these chairs would be put back into service outdoors in the rainy Northwest. I called the vendor up who was somewhat surprised at the request (he typically did motorcycle parts) but agreed to take a look. We hauled the chairs over and for $300 he agreed to disassemble, sandblast, and powder coat all three. I thought it was steal. During the process, he did find one section of a leg that required some spot welding to reinforce the rust-eaten metal but when they were done they were beautiful. We put some rubber hose on the leg bottoms to save them from being scratched on the pavement in our backyard and now we have some great vintage seats to relax in. The design of the chairs is a typical 60's modern look that I admire. Although our home is becoming a weird blend of 20's and 60's era decor, not exactly complementary of each other, I think there are some similarities in the intent of much of the design aspects. The 20's still saw major influence of the Craftsman style design on the west coast (there are several typical Craftsman bungalows in our neighborhood) and the less ostentatious designs of the 60's remind me a bit of that with their attention to practical use without completely ignoring aesthetics. This last picture is the final product, on our at-the-time nearly finished front porch. Don't worry, I know what you're thinking, "Where are the cold-ones that should be enjoyed while using said chairs?" I assure you, I quickly remedied that situation.