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Thrift, Gift, Reworked & Found

Having blown my outdoor budget on installing a patio, how do I furnish and accessorize it? The $500 patio set I bought five years ago had disintegrated and I didn't want to purchase another set until I could afford quality pieces that will last.  I knew I had a jumble of old, mismatched pieces in the garden shed.

I uncovered a 60's or 70's era metal table, a forgotten striped umbrella and a disgustingly dirty, plastic chaise lounge.  The cushion for the lounge was faded and stained and definitely not stylish!  I had a potting table, constructed from old barn boards, that my kind brother in law made for me years ago.  This was all prime crafty, DIY material. I started with the table.  You can see three layers of paint that should be sanded off.  I'm in a hurry!  I hand sanded the really rough or peeling spots and hosed her down.

Using an ordinary paint brush, I slapped on carefully applied two coats of Home Hardware Rust Coat in Gloss Medium Blue.  It's a pretty good match for the blue/lime/yellow umbrella.  I used all of a 235 ml can at $5.99.  A little rummaging through the patio dishes and I found the blue/lime fish shaped platter I painted years ago in pottery class and a set of old blue/lime placemats.  Done! I'm still looking for vintage metal chairs to paint and that will finish the set.  They're making them again and they sell for about $100 each.  That's not going to happen.  Garage sales, here I come!

I moved on to the chaise.  This is going to get a treatment I saw on Cityline Home Days years ago.  It only works if the vinyl is worn porous.  I'm sure this should be power washed and cleaned up with some special cleaner but, I'm in a hurry! I wiped it down with a sponge and water.  My sister gave me half a quart of lime green, interior latex paint she bought as a boo boo for $1.00.  I slapped on carefully applied one coat of the paint.  After sitting outside in direct sunlight and two heavy rainstorms, it is still fine.  This will work!

Here she is all cheery lime green ~ The ugly cushion gets the next makeover.  A new 4X12 painter's drop cloth cost $16.95 at Home Depot and was just enough fabric to make a slipcover for the cushion.  This stuff shrinks like crazy so be sure to pre-wash the cloth.

My sister and I are entranced with printing images on fabric at the moment.  We first saw the process on a great blog, http://www.tickingandtoile.com/.  We downloaded an image of seahorses from another favourite site, http://www.thegraphicsfairy.com/ and transferred it to the dropcloth.  The sewing is really nothing more than making a pillowcase.  Even I can do that!  But, my dear sister (the one married to the kind, potting table making brother in law) did the sewing.  I'll explain the image transfer process another day.

Done!  I love the rustic, "I feel like I'm in Provence", look! The potting table got a white wash with another $1.00 can of boo boo paint in Benjamin Moore Timid White.
I watered it down to the consistency of water and slapped it on (I'm comfortable saying that with whitewash) and wiped it off with a rag as I went along.  The wood took on the soft, mellow look of driftwood. It will make a great server for entertaining, keeps garden implements handy and shows off my end of summer garden bounty beautifully!

The total investment ~ under $20.00!!!

~The Reveal ~ Ta Da ~ 
Funky Junk Saturday Nite Special
Posted by Maureen Wyatt at 19:50 Labels: DIY, The Yard


