Cocalores: Painted & stenciled patio furniture

2012-08-08

Painted & stenciled patio furniture - Tutorial

Remember when I showed you this?

A neighbor of the in-laws had given us that table when she moved into assisted living. It was almost new, solid oak, but it was ugly. Seriously ugly. It came with equally ugly chairs with brown leather upholstery. And because it was solid wood and because it was really nice to give us the table and because it had the perfect shape for playing poker, we didn't throw it away. Back then we had a very - well, let's say, specific landlord, so we couldn't change anything about the table (i.e. no sanding, no painting). So it stayed. For five long years. Then we moved and it started its new life in the garage. Disassembled.

Fast forward one year. We needed a new table for our patio. We had bought a set of chairs that we liked, but the tables were either ugly or very, very expensive. (We never seem to like the cheap stuff!) You see where I'm going here?

I sanded the foot first, cleaned it again, then I painted it with this grey outdoor paint that I still had sitting in the basement from a project that I hadn't done after all. Of course, then I did the same with the table surface.

As you don't use table cloths or other fabric decorations on a patio table very often, I decided to make the table a little prettier, so it'd look good without them.

I had the stencil from my stenciled carpet still lying around in the bathroom (drying), so I used it. (Never mind my always very fancy methods of fastening things, e.g. putting old garden shoes on the plastic sheets so that they don't move.)

I really like the look of white on grey. What about you?

So here's the finished result...

...and a short comparison: before and after!

So instead of buying a $400 patio table, I used paint for about $4 (that I had sitting around) and a free table (that I had sitting around as well). I guess for $4, that table will make me very, very happy!! Less garbage, more pretty stuff.

Have you ever salvaged old stuff by giving it a new life? Tell me about it!

Have a fantastic day!