By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Like the architecture it was meant to compliment, mid-century modern patio furniture still looks surprisingly up to date more than a half century later.  Give it some fresh paint, replace the cording, and it's as good as new.  But tweak the shape a little and update the color scheme and it's even better.  That's what DIGS, the Palm Springs, California garden design store we mentioned in a previous post did with some vintage Tropitone.  They asked their fabricator Rick Drury to combine two chairs to make a sofa and also to transform an ottoman into a coffee table.  And they asked him to do it all in sleek black and white.

Rather have some color?  Just ask, says DIGS owner, Paula Walters.  "If cording comes in that color, we can do it," she says.

Sofa $925; coffee table $750; chairs $425.