Collaboration: Outdoor couch
Hello Readers,
I KNOW we are approaching the holidays but I’m going share a slice from one of our summer projects — my first Evan and Kirbi build I’ve shared on my blog!
Our home and yard we treat as our canvas — square footage to express ourselves. This became even more important to us when the coronavirus hit and we sought out a space that could make us feel like we were sitting in a romantic restaurant. It would take both of our minds to come together and of course, we needed to do it as inexpensive as possible.
When I decorate, I try to build upon one piece we really like. We searched online for a piece to inspire us but we came up discouraged. Too expensive. Not our style. On trash night, I like to take a peek around the subdivision. I’m an imaginative dumpster diver. Evan usually brings me down to reality, for good reason — we’d probably live in a junkyard of my “treasures” otherwise!
Weeks went by but one day on Evan’s car ride home from work, he sent a picture of this broken down futon on the side of the road. Look at the bones! To me, it had a mid century feel - a style Evan and I love. The perfect inspiration piece for our backyard oasis. I called him immediately, “who can be borrow a truck from?”
When Evan loaded it up in our friends truck, (thanks neighbor John!) a woman came out of the house warning us, it was totally broken “you’ll fall right through it!” ….We weren’t afraid.
Like most projects, this one sat around in the garage where we had to step over it, constantly move it and we had a few injuries from it too (that woman was on to something about the “falling through.”
As we planned, we learned quickly cushions would be our biggest expense and we searched everywhere, even pricing out sewing our own. Spoiler alert, that was just as expensive.
We landed on these but noticed there would be a big gap between cushion and edge, it is a futon after all! It was nothing Evan couldn’t fix.
Evan took the whole piece apart and reworked it, striped and cut new supports using scrap wood we had.
My hands can’t stand sanding but dealing with dirt — that I can handle. While Evan sanded, I planted these bushes below — My parents were ripping these out of their yard and put them up for grabs. Some were in tough condition, as you can see here where Maisey is sunbathing.
Many days and careful watering and they came back!
We laid the rock on the edging. These rocks were also recycled from my parent’s neighbors who were redoing areas in their yard (thank-you Hart fam!) The hostas were clumped together on one of the sides of our house, we divided them into 4 plants. With careful watering, they thrived. Our lounge was coming together!
Spending more time out there with all the watering, we realized the back was HOT…. and this freckle face can’t take the heat.
Nobody was happy - except Maisey, who is perfectly content BAKING in the hot dirt.
We needed shade and….we needed it cheap. That’s when I got a brain blast — sun sails. Bonus, they were super affordable!
When the construction was complete, we ragged on a light colored stain we had from another project. This lighter color gave it that tropical rattan vibe - a completely different look than the dark stain we found it with.
Out outdoor lounge, not complete but a living canvas. The car is FINALLY back in the garage and this little oasis is a perfect place for lemonade or a foot massage. Now can you do THAT in a restaurant?
