Chic Outdoor Pillows

In my search for chic outdoor pillows I found some  that screamed my name!

Oh my! I’m in love with the orange one. Of course right as I go to put it in my shopping cart I realize it’s sold out! Boo to that!

 

So lovely readers of mine were any of you able to get your hands on them? If so you must share pictures with me and custody. :)

Weekend Recap: Outdoor living on the cheap!

Hi All,

 

Can’t believe I’m actually typing this, but I’m happy to be back to my normal routine. With my vacation to Colombia and then traveling to Delaware last Friday I have been completely out of the loop.

 

Sunday we had plans for two BBQ’s, but our home was calling our names instead so we decided to have some house time and get things in order for the start of the summer.

 

Our backyard was in a sad state so we decided to make that our first priority. We have plans to build a deck, but until that happens we’ve made the following little tweaks.

 

We had three old patio chairs that the previous home owners left behind, a table that we had saved from the trash last summer and a bench that sitting all alone.

 

So we just put it all together! Now we have a sunny and cherry place to hang out and it cost us zero dollars!

Now we have a tree that sits in the middle of our backyard. I thought it need a little something, something so we went out to IKEA and got these:

 

I loved that they were bright colors and went with the colors already on the seat cushions.

 

Don’t they look so sprinkled hanging on the tree? I of course had to test them lit up at night and the twinkle coming off the tree was amazing!

We added another teeny tiny sitting area with a small seat hammock. This piece was given to us by our in-laws and was a gift from one of their trips.

You can find something similar here or here.

 

Remember my old trash to treasure project from last year?

When we took this:

To this:

Well they came out again and voila another little sitting area near our fire pit!

 

Our final little sitting area came together with two chairs that we bought back from our trip to Colombia. They are hand crafted and made from yellow wood. Me and Jon both fell in love with them so they became our extra baggage and home they came.

 

Our last little fix was in our veggie garden. It looks like we had a bit of growth while we were gone so while we were IKEA we picked up these trellis pieces. Each set was on sale for $2.99! So now our tomatoes have somewhere to go!

 

We had quite the productive day. Does the backyard look like our dream space? No, that will take time and money to get there, but with only a trip to IKEA and using things we already had hanging out we made the space much more usable and pretty!

 

Did you do any yard work over the weekend?

 

Any places you can recommend for outdoor cushions? We searched high and low for some to add to the bench, but we came up empty handed!

Outdoor Living: Cheap & Chic

The temperature is going to hit 85 degrees today in NY, which means all that I can think of is spending some time outdoors.

 

One of the projects we want to tackle this year is a deck. Over the weekend Jon was at  Big Lots and saw something he knew I would love right away!

Now it may look like an ordinary gazebo, but it had me at BAMBOO plus the super price of $200 didn’t hurt!

 

Picture of it in the store:

Bamboo detailing:

That’s right folks it has bamboo detailing throughout all of the framing. Of course my immediate question was can we spray-paint it? Poor Jon said yes so now of course I want to paint it in a bright shade! Perhaps red?

Then I would leave the top as is, but those side curtains would be coming down and I would be making new ones with this:

Outdoor fabric that is only 9.95 a yard and with a classic stripe that just screams summer to me.

 

Add to the mix some red French bistro chairs, which are on sale this month for $115 each.

Then search Craigslist for a pedestal table that you can refinish.

 

Voila found this baby for $30. With a little sanding and a lot of high-gloss black paint we would be in business.

Of course I want to hang something like this in it:

But at $399.99 that is so not happening.

 

So, how about instead I try and recreate the look with this for $30:

Yes it doesn’t look exactly the same, but use some imagination and see it strung up with coral beads like our inspiration from PB.

 

These beads are only $2.96 for a 16” strand.

 

Woo hoo! I think I just convinced myself that the gazebo is a must buy. Jon was itching to pick it up since Sunday and I’ve kept telling him that we should wait until the deck is built, but with only 6 left at my local Big Lots. I will be picking one up tonight!

 

* When you go onto Big Lots site it asks you if you want to join their rewards club. Do it! You get their ads emailed to you two days in advance and then tend to put 20% off coupons in those emails as well.

Take a seat

Last week I showed you some of my most recent trash to treasure finds that I recently found.

One of the first items that needed immediate attention was the patio chairs.

Here are the frames after I took all the mesh out of them:

 

Pictured below is the mesh seating that needed a good cleaning and a little re-vamp.

I then went out to IKEA and picked up 2 and a half yards of this fabric:

 

I also made a quick stop at Walmart and picked up some cans of spray paint for the chairs. I wanted pink and Jon didn’t so I went and got…..

Pink! What can I say with a name like Ballet Slippers how could I not. I didn’t want to be a totally horrible wife so I got 2 cans of Ballet Slippers and  2 cans of a more neutral shade called Pebble. Since we have 4 chairs I figured we could compromise and make 2 pink and 2 pebble.

Here is a shot of my chair with it’s lovely shade of pink:

Turns out spray-painting is not as easy as it looks and I ended up getting a lot of drip marks on the chair I did and Jon had to take over and save the day! Thanks Sweetie!

The fabric then needed to be cut to size, pinned, and then run through the sewing machine. This was a little awkward, because I was attaching it to the mesh backings the chair already had and it was a bit stiff so it took a little push to get through the machine.

Now for the finished product:

Close up of the fabric and pink frame:

This project was super inexpensive.

Here is the breakdown:

The chairs were:  FREE

2.5 yards of fabric at 8.99: $22.47 plus tax we’ll make it $24

6 cans of spray paint at $2.59: $15.54 plus tax we’ll make it $17

So for around $41 bucks I got a brand new patio set!

Oh I so love it! I’m still waiting to finish the rest of them. I have a pebble frame finished with fabric as well and most of the sewing is done  for the other 2 chairs except for one seat bottom. Of course the sewing machine decided to stop working Saturday evening and I have no clue what is wrong with it!

Hopefully we can play around with it tonight and figure out what is wrong and finish up the rest and then I’ll post a picture of the completed project!

On the sewing front this project was supper easy. I used no sew hew tape to secure the fabric on when I was having problems pinning it and then just rain it through the machine. The lines came out straight enough. You can't really tell where it goes a little oh course.

On to a new sewing project!

Camila vs The Sewing Machine

I’m sure you all remember me stating that I wanted to learn how to sew this summer. I wanted to blog about it so that I would really be forced to do it. So here I am updating you on what’s going on.

Last week was a little crazy around here, but I did end up finding the sewing machine so that’s an accomplishment. Yay for week 1. Baby steps right?

This is the beginning of week 2 and I need to get to business. This morning before Jon left for work I had check the machine and make sure it was threaded correctly. Yes, Jon knows more about sewing then me!

Your question now must be,“Camila what do you plan on making with that fab multi-colored striped fabric?”

Well thanks for asking.  Here is my very long answer. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again. I have no shame in grabbing something from my neighbors curb on garbage night. In fact on Sundays me and Jon drive around and see if there is anything good for the taking.

This Saturday we found this:

Ok so it looks a bit worn, but a client of mine wanted to find one  to use in her living room and is on tight budget. So I’m going to try and make some magic and see what I can do with it. Don’t worry I’ll keep you posted.

Alright back to the sewing. So a couple of weekends ago my In-laws neighbors were throwing out their old patio set. So before it hit the curb we got a sneak peak and grabbed it. It wasn’t in horrible condition just dirty so it went home with us.

Here is the table all cleaned up. It was missing an umbrella so over the weekend we went out and picked one up. Now with the umbrella base it’s looking like a tulip table to me. Ah a girl can dream right?

Here are the chairs. They had a mesh fabric in them, but I wasn’t loving it so I figured out how to take the whole thing apart and I’m going to spraypaint all the frames.

Here is the mesh fabric that was on the chairs that I didn’t love. I’m going to clean them up  and then use them as a base to attach my new fab mulit-colored fabric!

  So this will be my first project. I’m hoping all goes well. I need to got out and pick up the power-washer to clean them up before I get to work, but fingers crossed I have at least one done by tonight!

Under my Umbrella

How chic are these outdoor Umbrella I recently found on online? Only problem is that they don’t show the prices on their website. That’s never good, but a girl can look anyway.

For more color ways and style click here.

All images are via Santa Barbara Designs.

Outdoor Living: Glam Version

Ok cleaning took a bit longer than expected today which meant my Glam Cabana took longer than expected, but good things come to those that wait, because I found an amazing canopy at a crazy price!

So here goes:

Canopy for only $139!

Cheaper than the original one I posted about, but same size (10’ x 10’) and with that amazing striped fabric already no need for fabric to make curtains!

Then for sitting arrangement I decided to go with a little more comfort and luxury and do an outdoor day bed. Navy goes best with a little yellow and this number fit the bill:

Day Bed for only $438. I was looking for a bit cheaper, but this was the best deal I could find. It already comes with it’s own canopy so I would remove that and just use the bed.

This is an outdoor daybed so the fabric is weather proof. It also includes all the toss pillows. For the look I’m going for I would toss the stripes ones and keep the yellow.

Next since we are going for luxury and glam I found an amazing outdoor rug that will add a pop of white and be comfy on our toes.

Outdoor rug

for $ 319 (You can always just use the outdoor rug from the original post, but glam apparently means more $$$)

 

We need a place to put all our fancy drinks so why not get one of these side tables for that purpose?

Mirrored side table for $249.

Now instead of artwork for this canopy I want to take inspiration from Ms. Wearstler and go for mirrors instead.

I would purchase three of these at $25 each and paint them a high-gloss white along with adding mirror to them as well. You could then hang the three along the back wall of the canopy with invisible fishing line!

 

Then for a little sparkle and light I would add a couple of these:

Lanterns in small and medium sizes ($39-$59)

I don’t want to go to crazy over budget on this glam look so instead of the fancy outdoor cooler from the original post lets get back to the basics and use this instead for only $21.99:

Plus it fulfills my requirement of a little bit of Lucite thrown in for good measure.

Depending on how many lanterns you pick this look would go for around $1400-$1500.

Oh I’m so excited for summer to get here. I already want to curl in that daybed with a good book and my pups.

Now I just have to figure out what look I want to go for.

Decisions, decisions.

Outdoor Living that's chic and cheap!

Image of Viceroy Pool Cabana designed by Kelly Wearstler from here.

To most of the design obsessed the pool cabana pictured above is their ideal picture of a chic outdoor living arrangement. I do not disagree. I would love to be sitting poolside at the Viceroy in Santa Monica for my entire summer, but that’s just not going to  be happening.

Lately I’ve been thinking about my outdoor space and how it is pretty much a blank slate. Thinking of warm days and how I would just love to be able to take the laptop outside and work had me brainstorming on what I could do. So why not try and make my own little pool cabana sans pool!

Here’s what we need to achieve a similar look that is probably easier on the wallet:

First version:

Canopy: $278.00

To dress it up you can buy ribbon and put trim on the top. Also for more privacy you can buy some fabric and make very simple curtain panels that will use the canopy poles as it’s rod in indoor/outdoor fabric for around $ 9 a yard.

Instead of a massive outdoor sofa that would be pricy how about using a set of lounge chairs:

If you don’t have chaise loungers already then you can pick some up here for $170 each. Then for only $19.99 you can add some fun and a punch of color in a cover:

Then so that we don’t have to stick our toes in the grass we can add an indoor/outdoor jute  rug from here for only $170!

Next how about we add one or two side tables at only $50 a piece to stack our magazines or drinks:

Then of course we need a little art work. You can get a picture printed on canvas for $150 and  hang it up with the help of the canopy poles and some invisible fishing line.

To add some additional pops of fun and happy head to Pearl River Mart and pick up some lanterns for $8.50 each. Which you can also hang from the canopy poles with invisible fishing line. The would look great staggered in different heights.

Plus for a little wow and let’s face it so we don’t need to move an inch lets add this as well: Outdoor cooler for $200.

So for around $1,000- $1,300 depending on what you already have and whether not you add the cooler you can add a great additional “room” to your home for the spring/summer season.

I’ll be doing another additional post later in the day for a more glam version of an outdoor cabana!

Stay tuned!