Vintage patio set...

Our next door neighbor moved out and left behind a small wrought iron patio set from the 60's that she no longer wanted. She was going to toss it since the chair cushions had gotten thrown out at some point. When she offered it to me, I said yes, since I could see it had potential to be cute (even though it really wasn't my style).
Honestly, I just wanted a little project with some quick gratification, and this fit the bill. It was well weathered, but in solid shape.

       

The glass table top was so dirty that I originally thought it might be frosted glass. Mais non...just super caked with several seasons of dirt, but incredibly in perfect condition. Not a single scratch or chip once it was spiffed up.

My husband made a template and cut out 4 plywood cushion bases from some scrap that he had, then I set out for JoAnn Fabrics to buy some foam and pick out fabric (with coupons, of course). The foam and outdoor fabric set me back a walloping $29 and the 3 cans of spray paint from Home Depot, just under $16.

I know that these stripes aren't exactly "vintage-y", but with the scroll-y grapevine design on the table and chair frames, I wanted to step away from that fussy, flowery look that was popular in the 60's.

Since I had planned to spray paint the frames gloss black, I found some outdoor material with just a touch of black in it, and then stapled it around the foam and wood seat.

It's a sweet little set (I kind of feel like I should be setting out an afternoon tea for "the ladies"). And it was a quick, inexpensive project that will fill out a space on the patio of a house I will be staging soon. 

What I learned:

1. People's butts must have been much smaller in the 60's. These chairs are a bit on the dainty side.

2. The sentence "I'm going to throw this out unless you want it" is almost completely irresistible to me.