Chairs, Part I: Dress up a tired director's chair with these slipcovers from Custom Coverings of Fall River, Mass. They're a hit on Nantucket and in Newport, retailers there report, for both outdoor and indoor use. Custom slipcover designer Rochelle Ponte designs them and her husband, Jim, is the company's marketing director. The covers come in cotton or acrylic ($89) or Sunbrella, a fade- and weather-resistant fabric ($99) in solids, stripes and patterns, including the sailboat fabric pictured above, the most popular seller. Visit online at www.customcoverings.com or call (508) 675-7728.

Three cheers for the washer

If you're getting ready to throw a couple of loads of laundry into the washer this morning, think about this: The average household washes 50 pounds of laundry each week. That same typical household machine-washes more than 6,000 articles of clothing annually. And each of us generates over a quarter of a ton of dirty clothes each year, the Soap and Detergent Association reports. That load of laundry you're about to do is just one of more than 660-million wash loads Americans do each year.

Just decorate and dust

[Photo: Mixed Nuts]

Chairs, Part II: Have a seat on this assemble-it-yourself cardboard chair. Yes, really! It's 5/8-inch-thick industrial-strength cardboard that can hold as much as 1,000 pounds. Besides that throne-like chair called the Royal Assets, above ($65), there's a sofa ($75), a couple of other chairs ($37 and $40), a kids' rocker ($12), a bookshelf ($30), end table ($20) and even a fireless fireplace ($60). They come in plain beige, and you're welcome to get out paints, crayons, markers, stickers, whatever you like to decorate them. Order them at www.crazycardboard.com.

Anchoring the outdoor meal

Dining out on the deck this weekend? To keep tablecloths from flipping up or blowing away before the table is set, safety-pin metal washers or lead fishing sinkers around the hemline to weigh it down. If it's windy, cloth napkins are a better choice than paper. Remember those luminarias you put out at Christmas -- votive candles in small paper sacks filled with sand? Try them around the deck or lining the driveway. Practical party favors: a small can or bottle of insect spray at each place setting.

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