Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Multi Way Patio Lounger

What a beautiful day it is here today! Kurt and I have been working on a project for several weekends that I have wanted finished so bad. Not only to utitlize it on these sun filled days, but to share it with all of you.

Without further adeau.... The Multi Way Patio Lounger!!


I searched and searched online for the perfect chair.

Here's what I learned:

We could buy one of those cheap white plastic chairs for $50 at Lowes or Home Depot or even for $25 I could ge the metal hinged foldable chairs in several colors {I was tempted when we first arrived!}

But what I really wanted was this chair: $480 for the chair, add $189 for the pad oh and if you want the side table, which duh where am I going to put my homemade pina colada?! An additional $120!
Grand Total for 2 chairs $1,578

I can see it now, "Oh babe guess what I found the lounge set I want so I can get tan while you work." Ha that would have gone over well! (To clarify I go back to work on Monday.)

Ok here's the scoop I found this chair through Shanty2Chic's blog. I thought we can so build that and do it together--we love building projects {we get to be outside and productive}! The catch I {of course} wanted to alter the original plans. 'How cool would it be if the chair could be a chair and a chaise lounge!' To Lowes I went with our plans {the new ones I drew up, since I was supposed to wait for Kurt to build} in hand. I bypassed 2 not so helpful guys and got "the master", he and I clicked! He knew exactly what I wanted to do and verified that it was possible and I had the correct bolts and wing nuts! Thank you Lowe's Master!

All cut ready for assembly...

Several hiccoughs along the way, but nothing we couldn't work through! The measurements in Ana's plans did not match up with our wood, so for the first chair I did lots of sanding, the next one we built in a different order than the plans suggest and that proved much easier! Oh and that part about me being a nurse and attempting to draw up my own plans…about 90% accurate ;)

I stained the chairs and applied a final polyurethane coat--Note to others check every portion of the chair before you assume its dry and throw your brand new cushion on it ;) I'm sure only I can tell what happened!

Now for why its a Multi-Way…
         You can see the line in the above photo. We built that end portion as its own piece. You can set it at the end for a chaise or move it next to the chair to use it as a table. If you have a small yard and this is just too much furniture to have two chairs and two side tables, the tables legs fold inside and you can set the "table" flat under your chair! The only catch we found in this is the adjustable back doesn't sit upright enough for it to really be a chair and the seat portion for the "chair" is a bit long for us short folk…eh that's why I sewed up some fancy pillows!


Estimated Chair Cost for Two: About $80 the other blog said they got all the wood for $25 not sure what kind of wood they used!

To make the cushions we popped into Joann's, bought 4.5 yards of outdoor fabric and one egg crate mattress foam. Estimated Cost: $50 with coupons!



Since taking these pictures I've played around with that chair pad on the left if you fold the extra down the back it helps the chair sit taller or leave it like I have it pictured so the chair doesn't intent into your legs :)


There are purposely no arm rests-- Three Reasons: We can hold up our own arms, they would get WAY too hot in this Az sun to use anyhow and armrest tan lines--enough said. 

Four pillows (one not pictured) Estimated cost: $25

They could also be a bench if you're having a backyard shindig and need more seating!


In total: We built these chairs with our own 4 hands, 3 weekend days, 2 week days, lots of ball throwing for Coop, a few chewed up pieces of wood for ignoring him, 3 trips to Lowe's, 2 to Joann's, 4 coupons, about $155 {on the upper end of estimating} and countless memories!

Hope you enjoy! If you want the details on any of these pieces leave a comment!



Enjoy the sun, Melissa Delight
<3 ZZB

Friday, March 9, 2012

Capture Happy

For a few months since reading The Happiness Project I have had this idea floating around. I earmarked the page that spurred the moment and, well, wanted to put it here….But since I haven't unpacked the entire house it stayed in a box, which all of you who have moved know how that goes!

I wanted to capture our favorite, happy memory of each month for the entire year from the photos we took that month.

{What I didn't want was us purposely making moments happen in order to frame them.}

Capture Happy.


Upper Left-January 2012 Bottom Right December 2011

I will change out each picture at the end of the month, but keep the prior picture in the frame, so that each year we can look back on what we did--Don't forget to date the back of the photos. I think I'm going to paint something that says "Capture Happy" for above this...

I am excited for this--my own Happiness Project! Kurt looked at the pictures last night and said "Dang, we live a fun life!" Mission accomplished.

<3 Melissa Delight

--ZZB

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Girl meets Boy.

When we first moved to Phoenix I wasn't a permanent fixture in this little rental. I attempted to decorate when I would visit, but Kurt would say, "Babe, when I have my guy friends over I don't want them making assumptions." If you're a guys guy and a good decorator--good work! Anyhow I'm off track, the moral of the story is I am now here to stay so this house has to be more decorated!

Here's my attempt at bringing girly to what was a house filled with only camping gear :)

I started with insisting we have plum colored sheets… I mean they are almost black. We compromised on the shower curtain--it could have flowers if the colors were neutral. Deal!

I went right along with that and attempted to decorate with black, gray and plum….. then I started yawning!

So I introduced YELLOW and {a little bit more plum} to the mix :)  What do you think??



Loving my new pillows! DTSM (Did Them Suckers Myself)




I used the same method here that I did in my Puckered Duvet. The back is a fun patterned fabric minus pin tucks.
 Here's that fun patterned fabric. Its similar to the headboard fabric yet different. I used scraps from my Short and Fun Dress for the gray striped fabric and the plum comes from leftover ribbon from a friend's wedding.
I think its subtle girl meets boy...

(P.S. see that plum floral pillow case sticking out?! Funny story…. We almost made it out of the Home and Garden Show on Sunday without buying anything and then a gentleman on the escalator had THE pillows we HAD to have! So we went up and then back down just to learn he only had king size left, but we can have them for less than two queens…well we'll take TWO! {They are pieces of memory foam so apparently you can mold them however you like to sleep.} Our original plum pillow cases were queen size and covered about 2/3 of the pillow and created a log to sleep on. I mean these pillows are AWESOME… ok they are not terrible now that I have pretty new king size cases.)



Leave me some love!


--ZZB

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses

I have just under 2 weeks left at home before I begin my new job, which means this house is project central!

Today's {and a little chunk of yesterday} Project!


To back you up a few steps this project started as one $0.50 piece of wood slightly cracked and a leftover piece from my new bedside tables.

I nailed two leftover 1 x2" scraps to the back at the top and the bottom to connect and stabilize. Careful not to pick out nails that will poke through your wood.

On pinterest a few months ago I repinned an idea on how to put perfect letters on a canvas. I tried that method for some Christmas Gifts and didn't love it so I decided to give it another go with a different medium and it worked!

I stained my boards with miniwax all in one stainer from home depot or lowes. Since I was staining my bedside tables black and am lazy and didn't clean my brush before the next project I got a fun unique stain on this project…{could have been a fail, but worked better than I hoped!}

Anyway today I took my dried stained-wooden canvas and went to town. I used my Silhouette to make the letters!! {I honestly smile every time I use the machine, so worth the investment!}

I put the letters on contact paper so I could peel and stick the letters on to the wood, which is the method I borrowed from Brassy Apple's blog. Really stick the letters to the wood using your nail to ensure the edges are stuck real good!

Now take your paint and carefully paint away! Be mindful that no edges pop up in your excitement :) I went with a not perfect paint style--It's up to you.

Once dried--{This is where the project mixed with anticipation could get the best of you-->BE PATIENT!} Peel off the letters. If you scrape the paint with your nail it will come off. You have some parts that may have a little paint on the letter but honestly it adds to the uniqueness.




Good luck with your project!! I found the inspiration for this on pinterest, but was not able to find a tutorial for how to do it so hopefully mine helps you!



P.S. I think this worked better than the fabric and spray paint because the wood absorbed the stain and then didn't need to absorb the paint so I in turn got clean edges. I noticed in the fabric one if I first sprayed the fabric with a clear craft spray then the spray paint bled much less!


<3 Melissa Delight

ZZB

Thursday, March 1, 2012

HaPPy BirthDay, Cooper Fynn!!!

Cooper turned TWO today! Where does time go?!







From this-->






<-----To This!!












Cooper even got to go to the toy store!

We had {Cooper put up with} a fun Birthday Photo Shoot today!













Cooper Fynn, you make my heart smile everyday! You changed my world in so many ways. You have truly been a blessing in my life. Thank you!!

Love, Mom

Off to make the Coopster some home made doggie bones (stay tuned for recipe), oh and dinner for Kurt and I!




ZZB <3