I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday. I visited one of my sisters at their get-away home way up in the North Woods of Wisconsin, first time I've been up there in about 30 years, and had a wonderful time.
Back home, I've picked up the work of getting my patio in shape, including adding something I long wanted but never felt I could/should afford -- a permanent gazebo structure, my Shezebo! I've always been generous toward others, but not so much with myself. Now I guess I'm old enough and wise enough to know better than to deprive myself at this stage of my life, turning 65 next month. I'm treating myself to things I never thought I would buy for myself, and my health hasn't been this good in years. I amaze my primary care doctor and my cardiologist every check-up, LOL. I think it's because I'm happy (despite the loss of my dear Mr. Don in 2012), and FREE after working my butt off for 46 plus years.
True to form, I started out with one set of ideas in mind for what I wanted to do to decorate my Shezebo, and ended up going in a totally different direction.
I knew I wanted to add seating that would fit within/under the Shezebo. I budgeted $500, figuring I would like a modular outdoor sofa unit (I had seen 3 or 4 at Amazon for under $500 that consisted of a four-piece sofa and one coffee table, for a total of five pieces) with white-ish or light beige cushions, something neutral, and I wanted a body of faux woven wicker that would hold up to the weather and go with my existing patio chairs. I shopped for several days but was worried about the quality of the inexpensive furniture. Then an email ad arrived from Home Depot -- patio furniture on sale. Of course I looked!
And I bought on super sale at Home Depot online a pair of these -- stationary rocker lounge chairs, and added a pair of footstools:
I was leery of selecting the Peacock color because the online image at Home Depot was less than desirable to show me what the color actually WAS,, but I did not want the green color (above) or a sort of reddish color also offered. I breathed a great sigh of relief when the cushion covers (sold separately from the cushions that come with the chairs and footstools) arrived separately ahead of the furniture and I was able to see the upholstery in person. The "peacock" is a turquoise or aqua color; the material is a thick weave with some brown woven in and the texture is slightly nubby but very soft to the touch. The primary color reads turquoise/aqua. Here's a not very good pic of one of the cushion covers I took with my antique digital camera:
I also wanted an area rug, something I've never had outdoors before. I h.ad a deck for over 20 years at the former Maison Newton and never had a rug out there
And I wanted a fountain. A water-splashing, gurgling fountain!
Originally I was going to go with an area rug that would contain similar colors to the "peacock" tweed upholstery on the new stationary rocking lounge chairs and foostools. I zeroed in on a couple of different rugs on sale at Home Decorators online - they were having a big sale on outdoor furnishings including rugs, and I found several 5 x 7 area rugs were under $100, plus 20% off, plus a free 6 x 9 rug pad.
The Bayview area rug.
The Gallery area rug.
I had chosen the Gallery area rug when I got curious (oh oh) and decided to check out what else was on sale. Maybe I could find some cool accessories I hadn't thought about at a to-die for price. Not a good idea idea for the budget, but I came away with -- furniture cushions -- for my existing patio furniture.
I fell in love with this pattern - the tapestry/Jacobean look, the colors, ooh la la! It speaks both to my love of the traditional and the colors of summer.
Valbella Provence pattern.
But if I was going to buy this pattern, I needed to rethink the rug I'd chose, because the patterned rug I'd chosen was not going to work with these chair cushions. So, I went back to the rugs and looked again, and this is the one I ultimately purchased:
The Wharf area rug.
The Wharf area rug was also on sale for the same price as the rug I'd initially selected, so I bought it instead, and went ahead with a big splurge and ordered cushions for a shabby-chick white wood Andirondack chair, a high-backed plastic adjustable lounge chair (my favorite for reading outdoors), and my two patio table chairs.
I had initially budgeted $500 maximum for a (perhaps) modular sofa unit to go with the new Shezebo. I spent less than that purchasing my two new chairs with footstools plus their slip-covers, so the splurge for the furniture cushions wasn't as much as it could have been. I did get them on the 20 - 40% off sale - was shocked by how much they would have cost if I'd paid full price, wowsers!
The rug has been received, it's still in its wrapper. I don't want to put it on the patio until the Shezebo is installed. The rug pad has been received, ditto. The furniture cushions are arriving this coming week, I received a shipment notification a few days ago, woo woo!
Best news yet - my Shezebo is going up NEXT SATURDAY July 30th! And the assembly/install price is just a bit over half of what I had budgeted. Happy happy happy!
Fountain coming up next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment