Well it's been a while but we are still working hard on projects here and there. Today we took advantage of this beautiful Sunday to work outside and enjoy some of the warm not so freezing weather. While Rob worked on some of the weeding, particularly the plants that get stuck in the dogs coats and are a pain to pick out, I started to see what needed to be done to our new patio swing. The swing came from one of my dad's clients, someone who just didn't want it anymore and didn't want to put the work into making it look nice again. Well I'm always up for something free even it needs a little love.
Honestly, I was even a little skeptical when it was dropped off, I mean look at that cover. Talk about moldy fabric and spider webs galore. This swing had definitely seen better days but it was well worth a little bit of elbow grease to get it back into ship shape.
I decided the first thing that I would do was take the cover off - it dates the whole swing a little more than Rob and I liked and with all the shade the big tree in our yard provides, we weren't too worried about even making a new one to replace the moldy, ripped cover.
Rob and I took some sandpaper to the whole unit, wiped it down to relieve it of any remaining bugs or webs and then I started spraying. We decided to go with Rust-Oleum Multi-Colored Texture Spray in "Aged Iron". It's a great product and can be found online for about $5 or in local hardware stores for about 9$, so shop around! One coat on the whole unit (not including the seat or the back of the bench) took three whole cans of the Rust-Oleum. Note: if you use this spray paint, know that it is great for sprucing up a piece but not great for full coverage - if that's your goal, I would use this texture as a second coat.
All in all it took about three hours with a trip to the local hardware store in the middle for extra paint. Definitely not a hard project but well worth the difference a little sweat equity makes in something that was free!!
As you can see above (before) we were dealing with some rusting and the original paint was wearing thin and becoming green in some areas. It wasn't a solid color originally, maybe a two-tone textured deal? I'm not exactly sure but we just went right over that.
The results are just noticeable enough and the whole swing looks a lot fresher than before. The pictures below are our "after" results.
We are starting to love our little backyard, we even got a fire-pit the other night! Super cozy!
Everyone loves the outdoors in our family and we will be using this patio as long as we can before the snow comes!
lots of love and until our next project, Lindsey
p.s. We got a new dog last weekend and she is great! Harlee, the black butt in the picture above is a 1.5 year old Australian Shepherd who is fitting in perfectly with Oswin, Rob and me. YAY!
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