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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ROCK ON!

This poor glider rocker was sad and pitiful.  The cushion covers were stained beyond help and were not removable for washing.  I'm not even confident that I could have given it away.  So it sat in my garage for quite some time with miscellaneous garage paraphernalia piled atop it's grungy seat. 

It had no hope...

...until...

I got a new Brother sewing machine as a gift from my Mom! 

THANKS MOM!!!  

So, I tore open the sewing machine box and pulled out my new toy.  After I read a few pages of the manual, (that's more than my instruction-allergic husband would have read!) I went to work whipping out new cushion covers.  The Brother Sewing Machine worked like a dream!  In no time I had created new cushion covers for the chair.  Okay, so my seamstress skills may need some practice.  My stitches are not perfectly straight and I'm thinking I'm supposed to clip the seam allowance inside the curves to help it take it's rightful shape.  Not sure???

Luckily I had this warm, neutral fabric tucked away in the garage as well.  It was just barely enough ~ but it did the job perfectly.  It's a microfiber type cloth so it will be easy to keep clean and stain free.  I decided to whip out a burlap pillow and see if I could do some fun text and the first thing that came to mind was "Cuddle".  I printed on the burlap with a Sharpie in brown.  I wanted to try printing on the burlap with the printer (I saw it on Pinterest!), but I didn't have any freezer paper on hand and that is what you need.  Must try that soon! 

With my new "Cuddle" pillow

Here she is again posing with a cuddly blanket and teddy bear. 

My pillow didn't turn out half bad.  (Although ~ I must learn to sew straighter.)

Finally, here she is with my favorite children's book...can't you just hear her calling out to be ROCKED ON???

Have a great weekend!
Sherry

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Look What My Husband Dragged In:

Look What My Husband Dragged In:

He was driving down the street, minding his own business, when he noticed someone putting these chairs out by the curb with a sign that read

"FREE TO A GOOD HOME". 

There are five chairs including a Captain's chair AND a dining table with three leaves!!!

(You can just barely see the corner of the table in the above picture).   Yes, you heard me right, five chairs and a dining table that can seat 8 comfortably.   Wow.   ALL. FOR. FREE.    Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Check out this Captains chair:

Isn't it amazing? I love it!

And here is The Man of the Hour ~ cleaning all the gunk and grunge off the chairs so they can be painted a nice fresh white.  He doesn't even blink anymore when I say I want to paint something white.  He always gets this cute little twinkle in his eye when he asks what color or finish I might want to do a piece of furniture in.  Hmmm, wonder what that is all about?  I think I'll have to branch out and pick some new colors ~ just to throw him off a little!  I talked him into letting me use spray paint.  I keep seeing amazing photos of spray paint transformations in blogland and on Pinterest and I just wanted  to try it for myself.  He is reluctant to let me have my way with them but he hesitantly gives me full artistic reign...

Here is the fabric I chose to recover the seats:

Check out the old fabric (below)!  I had to use it as a template to cut the first one...yuck..ugh...blah...pfff...

This is just the first layer I removed.  Underneath this was another disgustingly bad layer in a horrid gold color.  STINKY!!!

I removed both layers of fabric and used one of them as a template to cut the rest. There's a very large print I wanted to center on the seat cushions. Maybe doing a print like this was a bit risky for me to tackle...especially since I am a beginner and havent recovered anything in a long time.  Once I had the design centered I pinned the template to the new fabric and cut it out.  After the first one was cut I used it to cut the rest; lining up the design to ensure that the chair cushions matched instead of having the print randomly placed. 

First one cut ~ only four more to go!

All five cut and ready to be attached!!!

Tools for recovering the seat cushions.

                                                                                                      

Here I am (below) stretching and stapling.  I put one staple in the center of each side first.  This allowed me to get the fabric right where I wanted it and make sure that it was stretched nice and tight before finishing the rest of the stapling.  Better to check the placement now than to wait until all the staples are in and have to remove them all later!   (I probably could have pulled it even tighter than I did.)

Stretching and pulling


TA ~ DA!!!

Stapling - what fun!

The first cushion is finished...not exactly centered but good enough...

(I had to plop it down on the chair to see how it looks!)

Aren't they adorable?

Spray Paint Time!!!!

Next they got a fresh coat of spray paint.  This was nowhere near as easy as it sounded!  I learned I need a lot of practice at spray painting furniture.  The Man just kept peeking out the window at me and shaking his head.  Poor guy.  I have to give him credit for not coming out and confiscating the spray can!  I would probably have done that to him if I saw him doing what I did.  It was hard not to get too close and when I did it just caused the paint to run.  Not only that, but it seemed I wanted to do a complete finish in one coat.  That's just not going to happen!  Eventually The Patient One came out and gave me a little spray paint tutorial right there on our deck.  I really tried to do it like he showed me:  keep the spray can about 10 inches from what you are painting and use short, light, even strokes.  (And that's about what the directions on the back of the can suggested too.)  Ha.  I just wanted to spray the whole thing as quickly as possible and be done with it!  I never claimed to have a lot of patience!!!

They still need another coat of paint. I think I will add some glaze to bring out the beautiful details in the legs.  It might be a good idea for me to watch a tutorial (or two) before tackling the glazing step...just sayin'...

AREN'T THEY GORGEOUS???

Can't wait to show you what the table looks like once we get it done!  Soon I hope...

Enjoy your projects!

Sherry

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