Our Deck Goes Glam

Now that summer is almost over, I am finally getting around to a post about our deck make-over.  Previously Mr. and I just had one sad little table and chairs on our deck.  

This is from the 4th of July party we threw a few years ago... Yeah, it was a huge success.

In order to encourage us to lounge on our deck more often, I proposed buying a chaise lounge.  However, on a trip to Home Depot this past spring we spotted an Adirondack chair and bench. Mr. said he would prefer them over the chaise lounge so we scooped them up and spent a few days staining them.

I felt the chairs needed some pillows so I purchased the pillow forms and some fabric and hand-crafted these pillow cases.

I also picked up this ottoman because in reality it was cheaper to buy than make.

Voila!

Much better.

You have to allow me to toot my own horn for a second.  If you have been following this blog for years through all my sewing projects, you will know that I am drawn to geometric patterns but they are a pain in the patootie when trying to sew them trying to align everything etc etc etc.  I took a ridiculous amount of time making sure the patterns lined on the seams so here is a viewing:

I know, I am awesome.

In addition to all of this, Mr and I have fought for years with this umbrella stand:

It's in great shape but just ignore that.

For years we have tried everything to keep our umbrella from blowing over but nothing worked except sitting at the table eating while trying to anticipate a blow over and grabbing it in time.

So, when I randomly saw this new umbrella stand online, I bought it ASAP.  A little big but really fantastic.  We have it filled with 50 lbs of sand with 50 more pounds on stand by just in case that isn't enough.  So far so good, no more blow-overs.  YEAH!