Well Wrought -- Hottest Trend In Outdoor Furniture Inspired By European Villa Gardens

Longing for a villa in Tuscany or a country home in Provence?

Aren't we all?

Seriously, with European real estate prices even steeper than waterfront lots on Bainbridge, who among us can expect to own a European country hideaway?

But with a deck or sun room, considerable loose cash and a taste for baroque design, you can create the elegant ambiance of an Italian villa garden or a French country estate and get in on this summer's hottest trend in outdoor furniture: Old World wrought iron.

It isn't all wrought iron; a lot is cast aluminum. But whichever material it is made of, the most fashionable outdoor furniture this season looks like something made a couple of centuries ago in Europe. It usually is designed with curlicues in vaguely aristocratic leaf or floral motifs, or soft, swooping lines that suggest romantic Victorian furniture styles. The most elegant is finished in a mottled blue-gray or dark green that gives it an antique, weathered look as though it has just spent a couple hundred years under the trees in pastoral Italy.

Given the nation's infatuation in the last half decade with post-modern design, perhaps the new interest in looks that are so old-fashioned they're antique is not so surprising.

"Today we're seeing more traditional homes being bought and people are putting more ornate, traditional furniture in them," said Ken Greenbaum, president of Greenbaum Home Furnishings in Bellevue and Lynnwood. Like several of his competitors, he said wrought iron and cast aluminum terrace furniture is selling well.

"You don't take a big Tudor home and put real contemporary furniture on the patio. Most people want something neo-classical, something that looks like it's from out of the past," Greenbaum said.

Said Steve Neff, an outdoor furniture sales representative: "It seems as we get closer and closer to the 21st century, in home furnishings we are looking back further and further into antiquity."

Even the names of the two best selling cast aluminum lines by Woodard, an Owosso, Mich., manufacturer of outdoor furniture, suggest Old World Europe. The Chambaard line was created using elements from 18th-century French design, said John Caldwell, whose Los Angeles design firm created Woodard's cast aluminum group.

"I would say Chambaard is a compilation of architectural details and other designs," said Caldwell. The Chambaard group comes in a teal/gray marbleized finish. The table has a glass top.

The other big seller by Woodard is the neo-classical Delphi group, which comes in a darker gray/green. Many of the chairs in these lines can be used with or without cushions.

Such sets in cast aluminum and wrought iron don't come cheap. At Molbak's nursery in Woodinville, the 42- by 72-inch Chambaard oval table with six chairs costs $4,799. A less ornate wrought iron set called Florentine, manufacturered by Brown Jordan, runs $1,959 for a table and four chairs. Woodard's simpler French Country wrought iron group costs $779 for a 30-inch round table and four chairs.

"We're seeing a trend toward quality," said Dana DiMaio, Molbak's furniture shop manager. "When it comes right down to it, people are spending more on the home front. People are also buying this furniture to last, which it will."

The furniture is so fancy that not all of it is staying on the patio for dining alfresco. Greenbaum said that some of his customers buy it to put in sun rooms, enclosed porches or even large kitchens. Small, round French bistro chairs and tables work well in many tight kitchens and breakfast nooks, said Greenbaum. The smaller sets are also bought by condominium and apartment dwellers who have postage-stamp decks and terraces.

One reason that wrought iron is making a comeback has to do with function, not fashion. Manufacturers have avoided making wrought iron outdoor furniture for decades partly because it rusts in humidity. Now manufacturers say that new, rust-resistant finishes keep wrought iron looking new even in coastal climates such as the Puget Sound area. Many of the most fashionable furniture this season is made of wrought iron - bent steel and iron - and cast aluminum, which is poured into molds to make intricate shapes. Furniture made of wrought iron and cast aluminum is heavy and unlikely to be knocked over.

Extruded aluminum is the aluminum tubing that is often used for budget-priced outdoor furniture. It is maintenance-free, lightweight and is made into furniture with uncluttered, contemporary lines. Resin, the material that most people think of as tough plastic, is also a favorite material for makers of inexpensive outdoor furniture since it is easy to care for and can be molded into many styles.

A table and four chairs in white resin can cost as little as $100. At Abodio in Seattle, which sells a range of outdoor furniture from inexpensive resin to cast aluminum sets from Woodard, the French bistro look can be had in a more upscale material - vinyl covered metal - for $399 for a table and four matching chairs. Though wrought iron and cast aluminum will always be more expensive than resin or extruded aluminum, Abodio's EMU line of vinyl-covered metal offers an affordable but fashionable alternative to wrought iron.

Wood is also perennially popular for outdoor furniture. Adirondack chairs remain big sellers in this area, especially those painted white or hunter green. And in the more expensive lines of wood garden furniture, teak is often favored because it weathers well and requires no maintenance.

Teak garden benches and casual furniture are frequently designed with simple, clean lines to resemble the sturdy, informal benches found in classic English cottage gardens.

But wrought iron - which this year also is one of the most sophisticated looks for indoor decor - is clearly what's hot. Even Smith & Hawken, the California purveyors of garden furniture and tools, included several pages of 17th-century inspired, dark greenish-gray, cast aluminum furniture in its latest catalog, a notable departure from the company's usual preference for homey Adirondacks and English garden-style teak.

"The cutting edge this year is definitely in wrought iron and cast aluminum," said Neff.