Giving a Goodwill Find Some New Life

Hi!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was fun and busy, and the highlight was celebrating Jady's 36th birthday yesterday!  You don't look a day over 35, honey:)

Since we started building this deck I have been on the lookout for some patio furniture that could supplement the few wrought iron chairs and side tables we already had.  For the sake of thoroughness in research, let me tell you, I have been diligently scouring websites and stores of every kind for a deal on outdoor furniture (check out some of them here).  While you can definitely spend a fortune in this area, I was pleasantly surprised to find some reasonable prices out there, too.  The sticking point for me, and what made finding just the right thing (cheaply) more difficult was that I really wanted a sofa, not just a love seat.  We build this deck to be large enough for parties and bigger groups, and while it's not a huge space, I just felt like a full sized sofa would make more proportional sense than a two seater.

A couple of weeks ago when we were finishing laying the decking boards and throwing up a temporary railing so we could use it with houseguests in town, I was getting a bit desperate about the furniture.  Plenty of online stores carry sofas I like, but some take ages to arrive and most are still more than I wanted to spend.  After striking out on eBay and Craigslist, I decided to hit up a couple of Goodwill stores on the chance that they might have some patio furniture stashed away.  And that's where I found this dirty little gem.

So it's a little quirky in that the whole thing separates into three pieces that make a couch when pushed together, but happily that meant I could fit it all in my car!  The metal was rusted and worn, and the cushions were unbelievably dirty, moldy and gross-- but I love the simple scrollwork and heavy, sturdy frame.  I could see the potential under there, and for $75 I felt like I was getting away with something:)

The photos really don't do justice to the yuckiness of those cushions, guys.  I honestly thought about offering to pay Goodwill more money to leave them there so I wouldn't have to pack them in my car, but in the end I toughed it out and took them straight home to the trash.  The frame was in perfect condition structurally (critical, since I'm not about to try to weld anything!  Although it could be fun to learn...) but desperately needed a new coat of paint.  A couple of our old wrought iron chairs had begun popping sections of paint and showing rusted areas, too, so I pulled those out along with the new sofa and got to work.

To freshen up the old metal I started by cleaning it well before scraping off any major sections of flaking or bubbling paint with a putty knife.  Then, to smooth down any rough or rusty areas I used a sanding block and then scrubbed and wiped it all down before painting.  Two even coats of Rustoleum spray paint in matte black, and they're as good as new!

The only thing missing at this point-- cushions.  Since I knew most online sources wouldn't ship them quickly enough for us to use this new couch while our houseguests were here, I tried to find local sources with the right size, shape and color.  In the end, though, trusty Amazon Prime came through for us, and these crisp, comfy box cushions arrived with free 2 day shipping just in time.  LOVE Amazon Prime.

I can't wait to share more updates on the deck progress later this week!

xo

Liza