Bonanza of Blue Patio Furniture

 The Furniture Finds

One two separate evening walks around the universe I came across a pair of blue patio chairs, and also a metal-frame loveseat with blue cushions.  All of these pieces had seen better days, and I'm guessing they had been sitting outside on a porch or patio for a bit.  But they all seemed intact (no loose legs or fabric rips) and ready to benefit from a good cleaning.

Blue chair pair (stacked)

Not feeling the love...seat

Loveseat, backside

The Cleaning

The two blue chairs were, despite a bit of dirt, in perfect condition. (Thank you curb givers!). So with a little soap + water + brush action they cleaned up nicely.

With the loveseat I was only able to wash the covers and the smaller (upper) cushions in a washing machine.  The seat cushions will have to wait until another solution presents itself, they will just stay as they are since the plan was to keep the piece outside anyway. But again, thank you curb givers for putting this out so it could find a new home.

The Conclusion

I have some friends who just bought a house and mentioned they were looking for patio furniture! 

What coincidence!  I realized that my limited patio space was best used for plants, not for lounge furniture (maybe if this were a large space - but it is not!).  So I offered up the blue beauties (and some orange and white pillows I had found and cleaned) and everyone was happy.

Look at this lovely setup!

Sitting pretty on a new covered porch.

Happy freestyling. Don't be afraid to take something, clean it or fix it up, and then offer it back up to the world as an act of kindness - someone will ALWAYS want it.

From Curtains to Cushion Covers

The Find

Some lovely people left a set of paisley curtains and linen sheer curtains out on the curb, with an even lovelier note that the curtains had been dry cleaned and were free for the taking.  Thank YOU considerate givers!

Ready to go!

Paisley close-up

The Re-Use

I wasn't quite sure what project would use up ALL the fabric, but it was clear that making new seat covers for some thrift store chairs would be a good use for some of the fabric.  We had purchased a set of 4 wooden chairs from the thrift store with lovely lines but less-than-comfortable seats.

Thrift store chair

The first step was the remove the seats from the frame, and then remove as many staples from the chair bottom as possible.  I discarded the old foam and batting.

Wooden seat disassembly

All the seats got new foam for cushioning, definitely NOT free, but worth it for a comfortable place to sit.

Foam in package

Due to the size of the chair seats, we needed 4 separate pieces of foam.  I laid the wooden seat onto each piece of foam in order to draw the outline.

Ready to trace the outline

After cutting and shaping the top of the foam with a slight curve I cut out the required amount of fabric for each seat cover. No photos from these steps, but there are lots of tutorials online. I used a medium-duty staple gun to staple the fabric to the bottom of the wooden seat, carefully checking for fabric wrinkles and pulling the fabric taut as I stapled along each side.

Conclusion

The chairs turned out great, much more comfortable with the new foam!  There was plenty of leftover fabric, so I had some special help in making a table runner out of the same fabric.  Now that's coordination!

Newly recovered chair seat

Happy freestyling! May the freestyling force be with you wherever the galaxy takes you.

Sewing machine cover, from leather couch cushions

Someone was throwing away an old couch, so old that the covering on the cushions and back was REAL LEATHER.  Not vinyl, not pleather, not 'bonded leather', but real 100% cowhide-- which had clearly been much used in its 30-year career as a couch.  Since it was destined for either landfill or creative reuse I decided to salvage it and see what could be made with such pieces.

Project #1 - sewing machine cover to replace the large plastic bag that had been serving as a cover for last year.....8? 10? years. Definitely time.

Luckily a sewing machine cover is not spatially complicated, but I did decide to add a pocket to the outside to hold odds and ends.

Here is an overhead view while deciding what pieces of leather to use.

More fiddling around, putting the existing cushion cover over the sewing machine to see how the leather would drape over the top.

The final product (with the hole for the top handle not visible).
Not the most cutesy or perfectly-seamed piece, but for my first time working with leather using the sewing machine I'm pleased how it turned out.  I'm also happy to have been able to salvage this natural material and extend its useful life.

Happy freestyling, reduce, REUSE REUSE REUSE, and then recycle.