25# Gotta love council pick up day

Today I thought I would share with you a project that I have been working on for a while. Now as I have mentioned previously I may have a problem when it comes to hoarding things but I have to admit that I also have the bad habit of pulling things out of dumpsters and picking things up off the side of the road. Let me present you with Exhibit A:



Last year while driving home we realised that unbeknownst to us it was council pick up day. I decided that a detour was in order and we began to scour the streets. Not long into our search we came across these little beauties. Now I know they look like they were throw out for good reason but I thought that with a little work we could turn them into something useable.

Now the funny thing was were driving our little Corolla at the time which really is not the best vehicle for transporting a five piece outdoor setting but I was determined to fit it all in. A few other people in vehicles more appropriate for transporting furniture waited near by hoping that we would give up but in the end we triumphed! (although I must admit that I had to drive home because the driver seat had to be put so far forward that my husband could not actually fit behind the wheel!).



I originally was going to coat the table and chairs in some varnish and keep the look of the cane but it just did not seem like it was going to freshen them up enough. After we moved into our new house I decided that a fresh coat of white outdoor paint might do the trick. After a couple of coats of paint they came up a treat.



While there were no cushions left with the chairs I decided to turn the cushions from some old couches that were given to us by my in laws into the base for our new chairs.



I am loving the look of stripes on outdoor furniture at the moment and managed to find some great fabric at Ikea that fitted the bill perfectly. I tried to use the old cushion covers as a guide when sewing the new ones but in the end I used some brown paper to create some rudimentary patterns. They turned out a little big but I suppose that is better than being too small.



I'm really happy that I was able to convert the chairs into something a little more comfortable and it feels great to give life to some old down and out furniture. At the moment all four chairs are painted but I still have to buy the other two colours of striped fabric from Ikea. I'm hoping to make up the other cushions in matching green and yellow stripped fabric.

Now I just have to wait for this years council pick up day so that I can get my next fix.