Sprucing Up Our Summer Deck

Welcome to our back deck...

It's only about twelve feet deep.  It's our little fenced-in heaven.  Lol!  

Do you detect some humor?  Making the best of what we have here!

There was a little strip of lawn here when we moved in.  I love grass but it was slightly sloped and not really good for anything, except mowing.  So, when a friend ripped out their wood deck we claimed all of the used boards to create our own little deck area.  

If you've been around P3 before you've probably figured out we love to recycle, reuse, and re-purpose whatever we can get our hands on.  Not just from a save-the-universe-one-tin-can-at-a-time perspective...but our budget is pretty slim right now and we don't want to let that stop us from having a good time and enjoying our space.  

...And this is why we've been creating this little "oasis" in our teeny tiny backyard!

A blue and brass SCALE holds a couple of plants atop a chippy green tray.  

This shelf was a roadside rescue ~ I believe it was a printer stand in it's former life.  

(It may have a date with a can of spray paint eventually.)    :)

I did several things to minimize the appearance of our never-ending fence line and add some color and interest:

•  I hung an old multi-pane window, which I sprayed the back of with Krylon's Looking Glass Paint.      The Looking Glass Paint makes it look like an antique mirror.  
• I hung one of our homemade CABINET DOOR-TURNED CHALKBOARDS on one side of the window.
•  An empty blue frame surrounds a hanging flower pot on the other side.  

Love It!!! 

I am delighted with these new chair pads!  They're so comfortable.

They were made from some very inexpensive beach towels.  

If you would like to see how they were created click HERE.

Just off the deck to the right is our free Craigslist hot tub.  

BEST FREE ITEM EVER!!

It took Scott some time and energy to get it up and running, but it was definitely worth it.  I think he invested less than $200 in parts and that's it...a new heating element and some hoses.  Nice, huh!?

The blue tubing along the fence are blue rope lights.  They wrap around the dining area all the way around to the end of the pool.  They look amazing at night. 

We are enjoying the vibrant, cool blues and greens out here.

Those are acrylic plates from Freddie's...nothing fancy.  ;)

Don't have to worry about them getting broken.  :)

The gate leads directly to the swimming pool.  

It was FINALLY hot enough to go in today.  

Woohoo!!!

Speaking of the gate...it used to be somebody's front door.  

Scott salvaged it from a demo and cut off the top (window portion), then added hinges and a latch to create this funky gate.  

I caught him sanding away at the paint and quickly put a halt to that... 

He was getting rid of all of the good stuff!  

I'm going to make a cute sign to go on the front....

"POOL AREA" or something fun.

Here's Scott manning the grill while Sadie holds down the fort.  

She's never far when the aroma of BBQ is in the air!  

Oh how I love that dog.  

Don't worry...I saved her some trimmings!

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Easy and Inexpensive Deck Chair Pad

 Check out our plain old deck chairs.  

Before you make fun of them you should know they were a bargain.  Four chairs, a table plus a shade umbrella were only $99.  We've had them for a few years and they work great for outdoor dining or hanging on the patio with a glass of lemonade (or a margarita ~ that sounds so good!).  The backs recline and they weather well ~ which is important here in the Pacific Northwest ~ because you never know when it's going to rain.  Well, actually, it's more like you never know when you might get some sunshine!   The woven seat was just not very comfy for lounging.  (Can you picture the lovely woven imprint they left on our thighs?  Not cool.)

How about these chair pads?  How sad is this picture with the schlumpy chair cushion?  These just won't work!!!

So, when I saw the adorable blue striped towels on sale at a department store for $2.99 each I thought, "I can do something with these!"

Let's see what I can do...

You know, for sitting around sipping lemonade (or margaritas!!!).

I am LOVING the stripes...COOL!

I took my scissors to the two old pads and cut off the covers.  I ended up with four pads that I cut down to the size of the chair seats.  No going back now!

I laid the towel down wrong side up, put the pad on top of the towel, then folded the towel back over the top of the pad.   I cut the excess towel off ~ leaving enough fabric to fit over the pad as well as about a 3/4 inch seam allowance on each side for stitching closed ~ plus extra for turning and hemming the rough-cut edges.  (Big breath after that run on sentence!)

I turned the rough edges up TWICE and pinned them that way ~

Then I sewed a new hem where I had cut the towel down to size ~

After the hems were done I folded the towel with wrong sides together, placed the pad inside and sewed the entire piece closed along the previous hems...doing this left the previous hems to resemble double "welting" ~

 First one done!  Only three more to go...  Check it out ~

These cushions are so soft and comfortable for our hineys.  No more imprints!!!

Perfect for basking in the sun...whenever that day finally comes.........................................................oh, forgive me,
I got lost in that fantasy for a minute!

And I'm playing around with some accessories to liven up the space.  I will show you the complete transformation when I'm done, but here are a few of the things I'm tossing around ~

An empty blue frame surrounding a garden art plaque...hmmm...not sure yet...

A couple of signs from Target's dollar section ~

...some .50 cent garage sale lanterns hanging from plant hangers ~ battery powered candles for ambiance.

Can't wait to show you the space when it's done!

Big HUGE thanks to Beckie Farrant for sharing our Raised Garden Bed on Roadkill Rescue...go take a look and please don't forget to tell Beckie that Sherry from P3 sent you!  

You can see her post HERE

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Bench Makeover ~ I think I have Spring Fever

Lately I've been drawn to pictures of outdoor spaces. 
Light, bright and cheerful spaces such as these:
{Click on photos to follow links to available sources}

Aren't they wonderful???
It's no wonder I'm pining for some sunny outdoor time.

After such an extended period of short, gray, rainy days that are the norm around the Pacific Northwest ~ It takes it's toll on my level of cheerfulness.  I'm not joking when I say I prefer summer months.  I am lucky that in my job I'm able to spend a decent amount of time outside even in winter, so I can get as much Vitamin D as possible.  I also lean towards Cottage and Scandinavian design due to their use of light, white and bright colors.  It may be dark outside more often, but I have some control over the evironment inside my home!

A lack of daylight hours combined with cold and rain for extended periods of time can take it's toll on all of us.  Mother Nature seems to understand this and starts throwing in beautiful, crisp, sunny days here and there this time of year.  Just enough to keep me satisfied!  It's sunny days like these that cause me to start dreaming of those long, warm, lazy summer days.  I thought I would work on a project that would help get me into a breezy, summertime mood.

One of Scott's Craigslist runs a few months ago scored us a couple of free benches.  There were two benches, one about 4 feet long and the other about 6 feet.  They had a pizza parlor label underneath.  I don't know why, but that seems kind of funny to me...how we ended up with these pizza parlor cast offs.  They weren't very pretty...painted a dark brown and covered in brown vinyl.  The vinyl upholstery had numerous cracks and repairs in it also. 

We were in need of some more furniture suitable for our back deck area for the warmer spring and summer months.  I thought it would be fun to make these benches over with some paint and outdoor fabric.  I was able to work on the smaller 4 foot bench this weekend.  Here is what I was able to accomplish:

The metal piece was painted silver to freshen it up, then the wood was painted a pale green with a touch of grey in it and distressed.

The seat was reupholstered in an indoor/outdoor fabric in a beachy, tropical pattern

Fun metal hardware was just an easy spray paint fix.

Bright Shiny Silver on this fabulous feature of the bench.

Colors that bring long, hot, relaxing summer days to mind. 
(And it doesn't clash with the pool either, that's a bonus!)

New life given to a discarded piece.  The fabric was attached to the underside of the seat with a manual staple gun.

A place to sit and sip lemonade!!!

Just in case you forgot how bad it was ~ ANOTHER BEFORE.

And again the AFTER shot!    ;)

This might be the perfect spot for a tiny nap...

I have a whole bunch of thrift store stuff to show you that I'll be using to finish jazzing up this back deck.  This little project took maybe two hours time and $10 in fabric.  The paint used we had on hand.  I purchased $20 total in outdoor fabric so I would have plenty to do some other back deck projects.  Can't wait to show you!!!

Here's hoping that your week is filled with fun projects, little naps, sun breaks and happiness!
xoxo,
Sherry

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