homey

I didn’t buy a blue sofa so I painted a bench blue

It all started a few weeks ago when Mr. M and I were deciding on some new furniture selections. The decision was mine to make… and one of the options on the table was a gloriously green/blue sofa set. The only problem was that it was going in the orange entry room, and for the life of me I couldn’t merge the orange/blue scheme in my head on the furniture showroom floor. So… I went with a neutral color instead and cried a few tears for the very bright entry room that disappeared.

Just a week later, as I was driving up to our garage, I noticed how horribly faded our porch bench had become. “I’ll replace the fabric cover next weekend,” I thought to myself. And then it hit me when I hopped online to pick out some outdoor fabric: I’ll paint the outdoor bench blue! The Cost Plus World Market bench had been battered by heat and rain and the wood desperately needed some love… so a bright coat of paint would surely do the trick!

I went to JoAnn’s to pick up the outdoor fabric (HGTV HOME Outdoor Fabric – Parallel Play Caribbean – $13.25 for 1.33 yards) and then went straight to Lowe’s to pick out some custom colored paint ($12.98). I used the fabric to find a paint color that matched perfectly among the paint chips (Valspar – Tropical Hideaway), had it mixed up, and headed home with a paintbrush ready to do my thing!

As for sewing the bench cushion, the fabric was extremely easy using an industrial strength needle in the sewing machine! I just needed 2-straight seams along one long edge and one short edge! I already had the previous pad insert, so I just used it as the template for my measurements. I secured the open side with velcro and was done within 10 minutes!

And this is the final result:

I think it looks pretty smashing with our bright orange door!  Now we just need a few more colorful pots on the porch, and we’ll really be the bright house on the block (shh…don’t tell Mr. M). And now I don’t have to mourn the loss of a blue seating area…

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