Turquoise Spray Paint... My Latest Addiction

Spring, finally, may have sprung here in central Illinois...   

and I decided it was time to update some of our stuff.  First up, the wicker plant stand:

for the record,  turquoise spray paint isn't just everywhere.  Valspar makes two pretty shades of it though, Tropical Oasis & Exotic Sea.  I like the Tropical Oasis a little better- its the color I used on this plant stand.  

While standing in the paint aisle at Lowe's, I started talking to another paint shopper.  She convinced me to go ahead & try to paint some planters.  She also apparently buys spray paint because she likes the colors, not because she has a project in mind for it.  I can get on board with that- collecting spray paint like I collect...  yarn, paper, fabric, any thing with color...

So I started with this old urn...  it's a little beat up.  I washed & used a little steel wool over it.  This was painted with the exotic sea color of paint.  It's a little brighter than the other color.

and here you go!

I love it!!  

Now to go through my stash of planters & see what else I can transform...

The Outdoor Cushion Project

I've been dying to show you my brand-new-made-by-me patio cushions but it seems Mother Nature doesn't think you need to see them in action.  Our poor patio set--  ten years old, not ready to be tossed but not quite worthy of hundreds of dollars of new cushions - won't know how to feel when the weather finally does turn warm and gets to be all pretty again!  I also made new cushions for our three piece wicker set.  It didn't really need them, but they wouldn't have matched, and I knew that would bug me.

Outdoor fabric from Fabric.com...about $8/yd  and two spools of thread- all for less than $70.  I was very, very fortunate in that we were able to re-use the foam from the old cushions.  Buying new foam would have been the deal breaker.  Outdoor foam is really expensive.  I didn't price it out all the way, but would have cost an easy $150.  Our original cushions had a bottom and a back.  I wasn't really feeling like making a full back piece, so I used the batting from the old backs, folded it in half, and made small pillows for the chairs.

So, all in all...  6 chair bottoms, 6 chair pillows, and 3 pads  for the wicker set.  I used these instructions from Sew4Home as my guide. I did NOT make the piping.  That seemed... exhausting.  It was not a hard project, at all, but took some time.

Hopefully, SOON, we can take our cushions outside and enjoy them!  I think they'll go nicely with a bottle of chardonnay, don't you?