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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Patio Furniture Vamp Tramp

** Note:  Clicking on pictures to make them bigger will help you appreciate the vamp!**
I posted on Facebook in February a patio set we bought off of Craigslist for $25.
Did you hear that?
$25.
It is clearly missing some paint and rusting, but it just needed a little buffing and some spray paint.
Seriously.
$25!  Cheap, Yo.
This is Howie Do it:

First step- Leave pup inside!  He was very upset with me...

The Set Up:
Check out our "yard".  Pathetic.  Really, I am so self conscious about the condition of our yard.  It's either barren or Planet of the Crab Grass.  AGH!  I did put the drop cloths under the table to "protect the grass" from paint according to my {obviously blind} husband.  I did it after the picture.  Sorry!
The Supplies:
Two drop cloths and a "wire BBQ brush" from the Dollar store (so $3 people!) and Spray Paint- outdoor use in Satin Finish.  You can see there is only one can in this picture.  Silly Katie, after doing the underside of the table (that's it!), I had to run to Home Depot and get 2 more cans.... which was barely enough.  I did get this on clearance at Joann Fabric for $2.50, though {thank you teacher discount on top of Clearance)!
Check out how much this set needed the paint.  It was thirsty for it for crying out loud!

 I buffed the peeling paint with my "BBQ" brush and was left with..
Mmmm, attractive.
And painted my little heart away!  Note to self:  Do not spray paint in flip flops and without gloves on.  My feet were black except for where the top of the flip flops were, my pink toe nails were speckled with black paint, my feet were black... REALLY, and my hands were stained.  I ruined 2 loofahs in the shower (mine and the guest one- don't tell Daniel but I'll just use his for a while!) and had to scrub the shower floor after I was finished.  Sick!
But, worth every minute of frustration.  Here is the beauty after!
No more rusty butts!
Rrrrrllluusty!  {Inside joke with my sis.  Love you!}

What a beaut. 
Cost?
Table and 4 chairs:  $25
Drop Cloths and Brush:  $3
3 Cans of Outdoor spray paint:  $10
Total:  $38!

It may have been cheap according to my wallet, but not my muscles.  I could barely carry the chairs and had to bring myself to some out-of-body experience to help Daniel get the table up and down the deck stairs.  Pure metal, baby!
Looking for an umbrella for a steal.  Let me know if you see any deals...or curb alerts!

PS If you don't have a rewards credit card, you should totally get one.  We're not credit whores at all- we don't have any credit card balances (actually, we leave like $15 or $20 to build credit.  Paying off your balance every month actually does nothing for your credit!)- but we do have a rewards card with Discover.  At any home improvement store, we get 5% back towards our balance.  With buying our first home and sprucing it up through the good 'ole Home Depot, we just got $50 in rewards.  Sweeeeeeet.  Tiling the entry ways sometime this summer... fo free!

Going blueberry picking this afternoon with my mother- and sisters-in-law at a local patch.  "Pickin' is good" they say.  Supposed to be triple digits easy with the heat index.  Kill me now (from the heat, not the people.  I love my fam!)

 

6 comments:

  1. http://www.ehow.com/video_4753368_paying-off-credit-card-full.html

    To quote Doctor Cox from Scrubs:
    WRONG, WRONG, WRONG WRONG
    WRONG, WRONG, WRONG WRONG
    YOU'RE WRONG

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  2. It is a nice table though. Good job!

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  3. WELL our financial person said that "closing" your account each month doesn't really HELP- but it's not a bad thing. He looked at our credit report and if you pay off your balance in full, your report will say "closed". He also said to not spend over a third of your limit, but that a small running balance is a good thing.
    I don't know about you, but I really enjoy getting on my blog and reading comments about how I'm dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I've gotten many of them. Just shrug it off and remember: my opinion does not matter.
    Also you should be able to delete any comments you don't like. Saved me all kind of time when some spammers found out my URL.

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  5. I owe you an apology. Like an Internet troll, I latched onto one minor comment you made in a post about being thrifty and smart, and attacked it. I did not mean to imply you are dumb. We’ve both been given financial advice, and are both trying to improve our credit. I am sincerely sorry.
    Please keep up the home improvement and recipe posts. Wife and I both enjoy them. Well, I mostly enjoy the recipes…

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  6. Great Job Katie! I really needed this as I'm looking to do the same thing! :) Thanks a bunch!

    ReplyDelete