August 24, 2022

How We Restored Our Teak Wood Outdoor Furniture by Cleaning and Refinishing

What We Restored: (Qty 1) 117” Double Extension Rectangle Table; (Qty 6) Chairs

Restoration Time: Three hrs cleaning (two people); Two hrs oiling first coat (two people); Two hrs oiling second coat (one person); One hr oiling third coat (one person)

*We cleaned our teak wood outdoor furniture with a no-sanding method using products that state they are “ideal for use on teak, rosewood, eucalyptus, bamboo, and mahogany”

About nine years ago, we got our second-hand Smith & Hawken teak wood outdoor dining furniture set for our patio. It’s well made and durable but the wood had badly weathered to a gray finish and we weren’t familiar with the restoration process of teak wood at the time. Over the years, it began to mildew due to neglect on our part because life got busy with three kids and we never cleaned or covered it.

Condition of our teak furniture before the restoration. Teak can weather over time to a silvery-grey finish, especially when exposed to sunlight.

I didn’t mind the gray too much but after nine years, it was filthy with mildew and ready for a good cleaning! I can’t believe we’ve dined out here all these years ignoring this fact.

We researched the best way to clean and restore our teak wood outdoor furniture, by reading through lots of articles and watching Youtube videos, before deciding on the best products and method to use. I also discovered lots of photo examples where people had successfully restored their badly weathered gray/black teak furniture to its original warm tone without sanding which gave me some hope!

These two sets are similar to ours | 12 Seater Grade-A Teak Wood 13pc Dining Set: 117″ Double Extension Rectangle Table | 7 piece 71″ Table that extends 94″to

I’ll admit that I wasn’t confident we could get it to look like new but felt we could clean it and it would look better. But wow, were we blown away! After our research, we decided to order Star Brite Teak Cleaner/Brightener and Star Brite Teak Oil. It’s available in many hardware, home improvement and boat stores but we found that it was by far the cheapest to order from Home Depot. So how do you clean and refinish badly weathered gray teak wood furniture? Keep reading to find out exactly what we did to restore our weathered teak wood outdoor dining furniture set and have it looking brand new…with no sanding!

SUPPLY LIST

What We Restored: (Qty 1) 117” Double Extension Rectangle Table; (Qty 6) Chairs

Restoration Time: Three hrs cleaning (two people); Two hrs oiling first coat (two people); Two hrs oiling second coat (one person); One hr oiling third coat (one person)

Cleaning Portion:

(Qty 2) 32 fl oz. Star Brite Cleaner & Brightener *states that it is “ideal for use on teak, rosewood, eucalyptus, bamboo, and mahogany”
(Qty 4 Pairs) Protective Gloves for cleaning and oiling
(Qty 1) Scrub brush
(Qty 2) Old toothbrush

Refinishing/Oiling Portion:

Qty 2) 32 fl oz. Star Brite Oil *states that it “seals and protects all fine wood”
(Qty 3) Foam Brush w/ handle (get a couple or more for larger furniture pieces)
Sponge Applicator Pad to saturate large area
Clean Rags to wipe excess oil
Empty Spray Bottle to fill with cleaner & brightener
Old To-go Container
Drop Cloth for oiling process

HOW TO CLEAN TEAK WOOD

*Note: You can purchase the cleaner and brightener separately. We wanted the combo to skip an extra step. The brightener is for those who want to lighten the wood and bring back the warm tone.

Step 1. Hose down furniture if lightly weathered. For badly weathered teak, you can apply the cleaner & brightener directly to the dry wood (we ended up just hosing ours down because the day we planned to tackle the cleaning, it was lightly raining on and off).
Step 2. Pour Teak Cleaner & Brightener into clean empty spray bottle.
Step 3. Spray and saturate area to be scrubbed.
Step 4. Use scrub brush or toothbrush to scrub areas that were sprayed, working in sections.
Step 5. Hose down areas that were cleaned. We did this halfway to see the difference!

*Note: We read that it is not recommended to pressure wash teak wood because it could increase the likelihood of splintering. We ended up using our pressure washer but at the lowest setting because our wood was so filthy! Use at your risk!

ALLOW TEAK WOOD FURNITURE TO DRY

Teak wood furniture completely dried after cleaning and brightening application

I couldn’t believe how much the wood lightened! The brightener portion almost bleached out the wood. Our teak wood furniture set looked so fresh and CLEAN!

HOW TO REFINISH (SEAL AND OIL) TEAK WOOD

Step 1. Make sure wood furniture is completely dry. Lay down drop cloth under furniture.
Step 2. Pour Teak Oil into a to-go container to streamline this process. At first, we were squeezing out the oil into our brush and realized this was a much faster way!
Step 3. Dip foam brush or sponge pad (depending on the surface coverage) and apply directly to wood furniture. You’ll want to saturate it evenly and brush in the direction of the wood grain.
Step 4. Wait about 5 minutes to allow to soak into wood before wiping off excess oil with a rag. Keep on applying until you’ve covered every surface.
Step 5. Wait for the Teak Oil to dry and see if you need a second coat. We actually did three coats because our wood was so dry and just drank up the oil!

After the first coat of Teak Oil application. The wood soaked up all the oil because it had never been cleaned or refinished so it was very dry!

BEFORE AND AFTER OF OUR TEAK WOOD OUTDOOR FURNITURE RESTORATION PROCESS

Photography by Canary Grey

*Note: At the time we had photos taken, we did two coats of oil. After, we decided to do a third coat but the difference can be seen minimally in photos. It is recommended to seal/oil teak wood every 6-12 months but I’ve read that once a year is sufficient as long as there’s no sign of weathering.

Here’s the finished result with two coats of oil and no sanding involved! It was really satisfying to restore our teak wood outdoor dining furniture! We also replaced the umbrella and seat cushions with Sunbrella fabric to protect against the outdoor elements. Making something old, new again will always feel rewarding. Hope you found this post helpful and inspirational!

Sweetest Regards,

Patti

similar furniture set | chair cushions | umbrella & base

Product Sources

Teak Wood Furniture Set is no longer available but this one and this one are almost identical to our Smith & Hawken set
Rectangular Outdoor Umbrella in Sunbrella Fabric | Also see this Umbrella
Concrete Umbrella Base 66 lbs
Outdoor Dining Chair Seat Cushions with Piping in Sunbrella Fabric
Table Runner (I use two 72” x 14” table runners because of the umbrella pole)
Jett Black Flatware
Brass Candle Holders (similar)
Taper Candles in Warm Tones (I also like these here)
Black Wire Tealight/Votive Holders 4”
Serving Board (I also like this one here)
Marin White Wine Glass
Marin Highball Glass
White Ceramic Pitcher is no longer available but see here and here for similar ones
Mixed Wood Appetizer Plates, Set of 4
Black Vase is no longer available but similar one here
Fluted Cement Planter from At Home (Similar one here)

Sweetest Regards, Patti

Italy Travel Tips and Recommendations from our Two Week Stay

For our ten year wedding anniversary, we were in disbelief that we’d actually be able to take a two week trip anywhere, let alone to Italy! Brian connected with his sister and niece who volunteered to nanny our three kids and that was the start of our epic vacation planning.

We planned the entire Italy trip ourselves and by popular requests, I’m detailing all of our tips and recommendations here.

I understand. Planning a two-week trip to a country you’ve never visited can seem overwhelming so here’s my guide to help make your Italy vacation planning a little easier.

PLANNING YOUR ITALY TRIP

1. Booking Flights. We heard that you want to clear out your history when searching each day. Apparently, websites can track this info and inflate airline prices when they know you have a date in mind. Not even sure if this is true but better to be safe. We mostly searched for flights on Kayak.

2. Booking Hotels. Once we had our Italy flights booked and knew we were flying into Rome, we started searching for accommodations. There’s not a lot of Airbnb options in the areas we were staying which meant we were limited to hotels. The duration of our stay was dependent on what we wanted to do in each city, cost, accommodation availabilities and train route. Scroll down to see exactly where we stayed.

3. Exchange Currency. If your bank offers currency exchange with no fee, please exchange ahead of time! Before your trip, have a few hundred dollars on hand because the exchange fee can be super high at airports and in Italy. Check your credit card exchange fees, too. We made sure to only use cards that didn’t charge a fee. Most places only accept VISA and Mastercard.

4. Map out Transportation. From the airport to our hotel, we arranged for a driver (through our hotel) and it was nice to have someone pick us up after a long flight. We walked everywhere in Rome and didn’t take any transportation except for one train ride to the Vatican. Below is our transportation mode from one city to the next via the train (Trenitalia) and ferry (Travelmar). *Try to book at least a day in advance.

Rome to Venice: Train
Venice to Salerno: Train. Then walked to the ferry to Positano. Keep in mind that Positano is known as the vertical city so depending on your hotel location, that’s a lot of steps up! You can plan ahead to see if your hotel will pick you up after hopping off the ferry or order a car/cab service.
Positano to Amalfi: Personal driver. We rode the bus to Ravello for a one day trip.

– Returning –
Amalfi to Salerno: Ferry. Then walked to the train station to head back to Rome.

PACKING FOR YOUR ITALY TRIP

We were warned about rolling suitcases on the Italian cobblestone streets and stairs. A travel backpack and RFID blocking waist wallet each, along with one regular backpack was all we brought!

travel backpack | hanging toiletry bag | twist memory foam travel pillow | RFID blocking waist wallet or a belt bag would work just fine.

The travel backpack worked out well for us. Especially climbing up the steps in Positano and over the bridges in Venice. But there were a few moments, like when we were walking from the train station in Salerno to the ferry, that I wished I could roll my backpack. I pulled together a comparison of our backpack and a rolling backpack that had really high reviews on Amazon. Could be helpful if you’re deciding between the two.

In my opinion, the backpack is the best route. Without the wheels, there is more space for your items so it was impressive that we were able to pack two weeks worth of clothes in it! Also, in the airport, when others had to check in their suitcases at the gate, we were never asked to check ours. We were hands free allowing us to easily navigate with our phones.

*Tip: you may encounter suspicious activities on the train. Like many big cities, be aware of your surroundings and keep an eye on your belongings. We used wire twist ties on our zippers to reduce the risk of being pick pocketed. We’ve heard too many stories from friends and family about this experience.

Some Important Items to Pack

European adapter/power converter
FFP2 face masks. Italy’s required masks for public transportations. We did witness on rare occasions, drivers denying rides to those without it. And also witnessed on the train, security mandating riders with masks that weren’t FFP2 masks to go purchase one up front.

My Must Haves to Pack for Hair and Skin Care

My favorite leave-in conditioner
Zit Patch. My face is acne prone and the worse is feeling a painful zit pop up on vacation!
Sunscreen Serum
Acne Treatment Skincare. I’ve tried it all and Proactiv seems to be the only thing on the market to help my acne prone skin.