Bicycle Red

Two red metal spring chairs on our deck were originally a nice deep wine red color that I really liked. But they faded badly in the strong New Mexico sun, and after only 3 years had become a dull maroon. So we had them repainted this summer.

Boy did we ever. Wow. Those are RED chairs.

They came back from the shop a brilliant shiny red and all I can say is they pop against the brown deck and the gravel and fence beyond.

They are a true bicycle red. And the reason they are is because we took them to a bike shop to be repainted. There is no mistaking this color. If you are a mountain bike racing enthusiast (my son is) you know the lure of a red bicycle.

I got it in my mind that the best place to have these chairs professionally painted was a bike shop where they do powder coating applications. I had convinced myself that the powder coating -- a highly electrically charged paint application that coats and sticks and wears better than wet paint -- was what we needed.

We found a great guy in Santa Fe who builds special order bicycles, and of course has to paint what he builds. Metal bike frames are powder coated. He agreed to do our chairs and they came out fine.

Better than fine. And red. Very red. Waterproof.

We had him do a small metal table that had faded badly too. It's also very red and shiny.

They are awfully bright right now, but as the bike shop owner was loading them into my car, he said helpfully, "don't worry . . . they'll fade."