Is Your Rattan Furniture Looking Ratty? Here’s the Design

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EVEN AT their fanciest, natural wicker or rattan furniture pieces still read casual. In the conservatories of Victorian estates and on the Adirondack porches of robber-baron "camps," the reedy weaves conveyed easy informality. For a sophisticated take on the earthy stuff, shiny, happy paint is the answer. "We have used natural wicker in mountain and lake houses," said Atlanta interior designer Mallory Mathison, "but giving it the sheen of lacquering makes it a little less rustic, and you can really dress it up." High-gloss pigment on the lowly material has other advantages, as well as some drawbacks. Here, the experts weigh in.

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