By Sara Poirier Correa
Sentinel Business Reporter
Patty DeFelice got into the business world by unfortunate circumstance, but has stayed in it for the love of the game. A teacher by schooling, and a car repair expert by experience, the Greenwich native is now back at the helm of Patty’s Portico Outdoor Furniture Restoration, a Port Chester, N.Y.-based shop she started nearly 20 years ago.
“It’s about taking really beautiful objects and when I bring them back to life, I just love [the owners’] reaction,” DeFelice said of what she does at Patty’s Portico, which includes restoring patio furniture, cast iron radiators, railings, iron gates, art sculptures, motorcycle parts and aluminum pieces. Patty’s Portico also does teak wood restoration, wicker wood refinishing, vinyl strap replacement on furniture such as the Brown Jordan brand, welding repairs, mending of broken chair and table legs, as well as furniture cleaning and mold removal.
Thrust into the male-dominated auto industry in 1976 following her father’s heart attack, DeFelice never made it to the classroom after earning her master’s degree in teaching from Manhattanville College. Her father’s long-standing auto body repair shop on West Putnam Avenue needed her help.
“A short-term crisis became a 33-year commitment,” she said, adding that she has no regrets about getting into a then-unknown world.
“I was very challenged by the fact that I was the only woman in the industry at that time,” DeFelice said. “ I enjoyed working with people who trusted me.”
After a customer asked her to refinish a piece of wrought iron furniture with car paint, DeFelice said she continued doing such projects until she ran out of space at the auto body shop to hold the pieces she had worked on. This led her to lease the space she now occupies for Patty’s Portico at 140 Highland Street, just off Main Street in downtown Port Chester.
“I learned how to operate a business and how to create a relationship with customers, evoking trust and to provide an excellent service,” DeFelice said of her time at her father’s shop.
As for how to work with cars, she said: “I just learn by trial and error.”
DeFelice sold her furniture business in 2009 but said she soon got tired of her new time off. She returned to work for a friend at a car repair shop, and when Patty’s Portico’s new owners were about to close up shop, she returned to where it all started, taking back control of her business last year.
“I was really hoping for something else to do because I really missed being in the business world,” DeFelice said of her brief hiatus.
In the time between leaving Patty’s Portico and coming back, DeFelice said computers really changed the game, helping her business become more efficient.
“Everything moves along much faster,” she said, referring to the research that can be done on different methods of restoration and the pieces she works on. Even the billing process, DeFelice added, runs more smoothly.
Projects at Patty’s Portico can take anywhere from two to three weeks, for example with a dining table and chairs. Customers don’t even have to set foot in the studio to use its services, as pictures of items, estimates and color charts can all be e-mailed, and products picked up and delivered.
“It runs like clockwork,” DeFelice said of her business, which saw the return of her former delivery people when she took back ownership.
Using a state-of-the-art powder coated paint finish to restore many of the pieces Patty’s Portico deals with, DeFelice said she has seen some interesting items pass through her doors—from a life-size sheep with a broken leg (it had been used for a Sleepy’s mattress store advertisement), to a Big Bird art sculpture that needed sandblasting and then was painted a bright yellow.
As for the future, DeFelice said she is in Patty’s Portico for the long haul.
“I see myself being here at least another 10 years,” she said.
“I’d like to go bigger and better,” she added. “I’d love to get a larger facility with a conveyor system and robotics.”
More about Patty’s Portico may be found at pattysportico.com or by calling 914-935-8839.
