Back Patio Re-Do!

Snazzy-ing up the back porch was pretty low on my "To-Do" list, but I got an itch to paint some furniture and I though the Adirondack chairs would be a perfect project.  

My dad had built the Adirondack chairs many years ago and had tried to paint them right after building them.  But since the pressure-treated wood was new, the paint just flaked off.  Frustrated, he never painted them again.  After they switched hands a few times, they ended up on our back porch screaming for a makeover.  

I started with the accent pillow.  I guess I should have taken a picture of the pillow, you can see a little of it in the picture below.  They are royal blue, with a row of brightly colored birds.  I first was going to paint them orange to go with the royal blue.  I headed to the big-chain store and picked up a can of spray paint + primer.  I asked the paint guy if this would cover pressure-treated wood and he said, "Yeah, sure."  I came home all excited and put the first coat on the underside of the chair to make sure I liked it and...womp womp.  It looked horrendous.  The orange wasn't soaking up, and stayed tacky.  It just looked BAD.

Plan B.  Go the long route of priming them with real paint.  Shortcuts went out the window.  I bought Zinnser primer (great stuff, by the way) and started painting. Instead of going with orange paint, I decided to go with Aqua blue exterior paint, and am in love with it! Greg had also picked up some benches that we used for a present and then one for our garden.  I decided to paint those as well.  I got one chair and one bench done, but the weather and some chair repairs put us on hold for a few weeks.

Let's just say that when my dad built something, he built it to last...forever...and never be taken apart...not even by a hurricane.  Chair #2 had a rotten leg and needed to be replaced.  There was a large bolt, plus 4 screws (that I saw) holding the leg together.  Well, after removing the bolt that was paint encrusted, 8 rusted screws, and then finding out it had liquid nails on it, I ended just banging it with the hammer until the leg finally popped off.  Greg helped me cut the new leg and put in new screws and voila, the chair was ready to paint!  But the weather had a different idea.  It kept raining, and I needed a dry spell to paint.

I finally got that dry spell today.  After a little monsoon passing by us yesterday, everything started to dry out, and the sun finally came out!  I finished all the painting, finally swept the back porch and Greg helped me hang the lights that were 40% off at Michael's ( I love stuff on sale)! I am absolutely horrible of taking "Before" pictures, and not too great at taking "During" pictures, but here are some "After" pictures for your enjoyment:

From the kitchen door facing outward.  Loving the aqua blue I chose for the chairs!

Looking on to the back porch.  Love the new lights!

From the yard, the whole patio.  This is our new picnic table we got from Round Top.  Reminds us of Germany.

The new sod!

One of the benches

A week or so ago, I saw our neighbor laying sod in his yard.  He had a few pallets full of sod, and I mentioned that if he had any left over, I would pay him for it.  He let my buy 30 square feet, which didn't cover as much of the dead spot in the middle of the yard as I thought.  A few days later, he said he had more, and I could take 30 more square feet.  I happily took it, and covered more of our sad-looking yard.  The rain has been great for the St. Augustine grass to take root, but I probably need another 60 square feet to put a real dent in the bald spot.

That will be another project for another day. For now, I will eat a cookie and enjoy the back porch.