Refreshing the patio furniture

Last year we made a 3 piece seating set for our patio.  You can see that process here.  After having guests out all summer, we never got around to painting or finishing the wood in some way, which of course, was something we needed to do to help preserve the wood.  So this weekend (while Dale's back is STILL keeping him from doing kitchen electrical), I went out and sanded it all down and gave it a coat of paint.  Here's what they were looking like:

Along with the wood getting weathered, the cushions were really faded from a year in the hot SoCal sun.  So I went out and bought some fun fabric and made new covers.  here's what the faded fabric looked like (You can see where this one had a pillow lying on top of it!):

Although I could buy sun-resistant fabric, I know that I like to change things up, and whipping up new covers with inexpensive fabric is a nice way to update the furniture each year.  That, and a quart of exterior semi-gloss paint and I can get a whole new look.  Last year, I thought I wanted them to be a dark red (well, that never happened!), but this year, I was thinking a nice black background with a blue batik style fabric would look cheery:

One thing I'm not sure about is the configuration - it's supposed to be set up as a U shape -- but I found that a little bulky.  I've got it set up as two independent pieces this time:  an L shape and a stand alone sofa.  I'm thinking of taking off one or more sides of the last piece -- still up in the air about that, but I'm not afraid to grab the sawz-all and lop the arms off if I think it'll work out better!

I have to recover some of these toss pillows, too - they worked great with the background of the cushions last year, but they clash a little with the blue. 

We really need a coffee table here, too -- so we could sit out here and eat out, now that spring is here!

Vacationing

For the past few weeks, we've had a parade of visitors out - two of my daughters for a week each, and our best friends from Indiana for a week.  We got to visit and revisit a lot of Southern California fun spots - Disneyland, Hollywood --

my daughter cracking up at how serious the Storm Trooper was

And we discovered some new, interesting hidden spots.  Like the cemetery where Marilyn Monroe is interred - it's truly hidden away.

We were there the day after Ray Bradbury's funeral - fresh grass.  We visited the Getty -

With their beautiful site and gardens, and a stunning view of LA.

And we enjoyed having our visitors, playing games, eating and generally catching up.  It was great!  We have a week off, then our last group of the summer comes on Saturday for another week and a half.  More Disneyland and beach!  It'll be fun --

Because we've had so many visitors, we need more beds (especially for the group coming this week).  In the studio, I had a small red loveseat that I liked, but it didn't really help out much.  So I sold it on Craigslist and looked for a replacement that had a fold out bed.  I found a great leather loveseat with a twin sleeper on Craigslist, but the leather was in terrible shape - sun faded and looking kind of sad.  But since it was in faded condition, I got a great deal on it (and it had never been slept on, the mattress was still in the original plastic).  I got some leather conditioner and polish and got to work:

You can see how dry the original (left) side is compared to the restored side

I did the right side only so I could show my husband how different it looks!

The leather was still soft, just really faded and dry looking. 

When I got it all done, it looked great.  I used a nice brown leather polish and a leather restoring product to keep it supple.  Lots of muscle to work all that into the surface, but the results were worth it.  I need to make some fun red pillows, I do miss the red in the room!  But it's soft and comfortable and looks fabulous now!  And as a bonus, it would match up with the living room furniture in case I ever want to do a shift in furniture -- my little red loveseat didn't go with anything!

New Chairs

Several years ago, I bought Dale a new recliner. His old one was horrible - it reminded me of the one Frasier's dad had - but he loved it and wouldn't get rid of it unless I got him a new one.  The new one was a beauty - tufted and super large and comfy, but lately, it's been looking kind of sad.  Again, he hated to part with it, so I looked into getting it reupholstered.  I checked on Yelp! and found a highly rated shop, got estimates, all ready to go.  I was only hesitating because they said it would be 3-4 weeks in the shop, and he hated to be without. 

But I'm glad I hesitated - because I was scouting through Craigslist (can't stop myself!) and I found an identical chair for $68!  A bargain, because this chair originally cost close to $1000.  The upholstery on this one was in even worse shape - cat scratched (although when we went to go check it out, I can't help but wonder if they had a lion instead of a cat!) but the chair itself was in great shape.  So now we have a matching pair - I used to have a pair of wingback chairs that I loved, but had to part with when we moved. 

We picked out some beautiful upholstery fabric with an all-over leaf pattern that goes nicely with our new couch.  And the best part of all, since the chairs were so big, they rushed to get them out of their tiny shop and were done in less than 2 weeks.

(Ugh. I had to block out the background on this picture because it's a mess of drywall stacked against the wall and the old furniture that I've just listed on Craigslist. ) These chairs are so comfy!  Deep and wide and all that tufted comfort.  I just want to be sure we keep them up - although the price to get them redone ($350 each) wasn't as bad as I had expected, and because we love the shape of these, I'd do it again.

I'm thinking of painting the living room.  Thinking of black.  But - before I do, I need to replace that drywall back there with a wall of shelves for my books, which are still stacked in the guest bedroom in boxes. 

another furniture piece

While Dale worked on running electric (up the ladder, into the attic, hey, turn off the power, back down, repeat), I reworked a table that we had in the living room.  I actually got this table when I was living in apartments, almost 20 years ago, I pulled it out of a dumpster!  I went to throw my trash out and I saw it down in there - I had to climb in and drag it out.  It's been a handy little table, about 3 years ago I painted it black to cover the badly stained top - but it needed to be freshened up.

So while I was in between helping out with electrical, I sanded the top smooth, sanded edges to give it a weathered look, painted a compass rose on the top, sanded that a big to age it, then gave it a nice coat of stain and several coats of poly.

It looks so much nicer now!

I also refinished the bathroom door this week.  This door had plastic laminate contact cemented to the backside.  We wanted to keep the original doors because they're really nice, so I pried up all the laminate, removed some plywood that they used to level the insets, sanded it all down and added a strip along the back edge.  We are going to convert the bathroom door into a pocket door, and this one should be about an inch or so wider so it doesn't pop out of the pocket.  The additional strip won't really show, but I added a strip of wood and sanded it even, and added filler in where the old door knob was.  It looked pretty rough!

I sanded it all smooth, and then primed it and gave it two coats of nice white enamel.  For a finishing touch, I painted "Bath" on the top panel, which will only show when the door is closed.




Well, we didn't get the pocket door done this weekend, but it's the next project on the list.  And the door is ready to go!

Oh, and see all those baby shoes on the shelf? Those will go in my bathroom, too.