My Artsy-Crafty Side

So, I am not very crafty.  I am not terribly artistic.  I do crochet, but that's more to keep my hands busy than to be intentionally crafty.  Also, I think Pinterest might be the downfall of society.  

But, we "inherited" some really old, not-so-attractive furniture when we moved into the Sanders house. However, it had sentimental value and we were told that it could not go into the trash or be given away.  So I decided to pretty it up.

I got online and found some inspiration from a blog that I love to read:

Her "Before" pictures... they looked a lot like what I was going to be working with.

 

 And her "After" picture:

I read about her process and bought some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Chalk paint is REALLY easy to use and even I didn't mess it up!  We picked out an indoor/outdoor fabric (because our furniture is going to spend its spring and summer seasons on our upstairs balcony) and had the cushions recovered. And our (mostly) finished product:

Right now, the furniture is "wintering" in our upstairs hall.  I wanted something bright since our house is white both inside and out.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  And for less than the cost of a Wal-Mart patio set (including paint, fabric, and the cost of paying someone to recover the cushions), I now have a set (a sofa, two chairs, and a coffee table) of very nice, solid hardwood outdoor furniture that looks great!