Monday, July 30, 2012

Patio Furniture Refresh & Outdoor Decor Shopping

My big goal over the weekend was to get going on our "deck-orating" project.

One of the to-do's I haven't mentioned before was to fix up our little Ikea patio furniture set.  Here is a photo of the set when it was brand new in the summer of 2010 (we talked about it the first time we fixed the deck shown here).   Don't you just love the color and wood finish???
We sure did and it was nice to enjoy that lovely new set that summer. 

Sadly, our set was ruined the following summer due to the May Tornado.  Not sure if the set blew off the deck or got knocked under the giant pine tree that fell in our yard.  Either way, it ended up under that giant knocked over pine tree.  We actually didn't even know we still had it until we started cleaning up the tree when Alex got to yell, "I found the patio set...under the tree!"
As you can imagine, it didn't look the same at all after that :(  That nice wood finish got all chipped and scuffed up after getting tossed around in 120 mph winds and dragged along the concrete under a big pine tree.
With all the other little deck updates, our patio set needed some attention too!  All it took was a little bit of sanding (thanks to nature for already roughing up most of it) then I used Rustoleum's Espresso spray paint to give it a fresh start.  I debated sanding more and then staining the wood but I am happy with the darker solid color of the furniture and it also won't clash or contrast with whatever color we stain the deck.
Aside from painting the furniture, I did a little outdoor decor shopping.  Most of the retailers I went to had their seasonal outdoor selections on clearance which sadly meant there wasn't much left to shop.  Thankfully, I was able to score two sets of the Solar Deck Lights I wanted from Target!  I wish I could have gotten more to put on our fence as well!  If anybody out there spots them in the Twin Cities area let me know :)
My other lucky find ended up being these outdoor pillows from Home Depot, just  $8.00 each.  I liked the stripe and color on these, but I am still bummed that Target no longer had the pillows I really wanted :(  I was trying to avoid going to the fabric store to make some of my own but I might just have to now?  Maybe I can at least make two more that coordinate with the HD pillows but in a larger size?
So, not as much gathered as I had hoped but at least we got to a bunch of much needed (not-so-fun) yardwork.  Alex also ended up fixing the stairs to the lower level when he began adding lattice on each side of the deck.
A couple more pillows and plants and I think things will be wrapped up here!

If anyone has a good online site for finding outdoor decor this time of year PLEASE let me know! 
I had no idea it would be so difficult, garsh!
Yep, garsh :)

9 comments:

  1. I love the color you painted them. Super cute accessories you scored too.

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  2. Wow! I have the same solar deck lights attached to my fence by the entrance! Congrats with great buy.

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  3. If you know someone who works at Target, they can look up which stores in the Twin Cities still have those lights. Or the pillows you wanted. The code you need to give them looks like this: XXX-XX-XXXX

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  4. Try grandinroad.com. But don't blame me when you become addicted!

    Juliann Jones

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  5. Hi Barbara An from California here. I too have that table. And am now re-doing my condo back yard. I loved the idea of curtains, yes I love grandin road and frontgate too. But too much $$ for me. So I bought shower curtains, the kind where water can hit and not run all over the floor. Found white and coco brown on sale. I mean cheep bargain!! And they have eyelets already! I cut the brown and sewed on the the bottom 1/2 so dirt wont show so much as the white. Hung with shower curtain hooks. My Hunny Bunny aka husband installed metal pipe around the outside of the patio (wanted something sturdy and easy to paint to match the patio) and WhooYaa! Looks cool and shades the sun!!

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  6. You might want to look around in thrift stores. You can also try checking out some Amish furniture in flea markets. These are great pieces to add to your existing patio furniture set.

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  7. Hi. Your patio looks great! I am looking at purchasing ikea patio furniture from the same line and wanted to know how you like it and how it is holding up.

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  8. Hi. Your patio looks great! I am looking at purchasing allot of ikea patio furniture from the same line and wanted to know how it is holding up years later. Thank you!

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    1. Our Ikea patio furniture sadly ended up under a fallen pine tree after our May 2011 tornado, so I can't really say if they would have held up well or not. I painted them after that and the paint obviously didn't hold up. I'm thinking of completely sanding them again and doing a proper stain to help seal and protect them.

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