Island Decor

Outdoor “Rooms.” Need a new look for your patio?  Patio furniture that’s been around for more than a decade can look rather worn.  New cushions at $35 a pop add up fast!  I rejuvenated the cushions on my furniture with indoor fabric, found at a garage sale, sewing simple sacks, hand-basted at the opening.  These still looked fairly good after a summer of sun.  But, my set of Martha Stewart/KMart chairs, tables, and chaises, originally bought on sale at summer’s end, had lost their appeal.  With no money to spend on new furniture, how did we get a new outdoor “room”?  Here’s how we did it.

Tropical Décor. First, we found inspiration.  Where would you like to go on vacation (if you could afford it)?  A Polynesian, South Seas theme came to my mind immediately.  We took a 2 pronged approach.  We put our old patio set (12 pcs.) on the free website, www.Craigslist.org. And, we sought out a bamboo tiki bar and rattan dining table with chairs on the same website.  With the sale of the old patio set and a couple of old wing back chairs on Craigslist, we made enough to buy the perfect tropical furniture on Craigslist!  We’ve been having fun finding odds and ends at garage sales to fill in.  We splurged in buying a woven palm cover for our old market umbrella.  It was $100 online from www.designtoscano.com (plus shipping).  We used cheap bamboo roller blinds and garage sale bamboo to build a sun screen.  Palm pods from a neighbor’s trimmed tree were hung from the patio rafters, looking rather like a pod of dolphins, arcing across the ocean!  We’re enjoying our patio again, entertaining in our new outdoor “room.”

Beach Décor. Patios decorated with a theme transport guests to another place and time.  Who doesn’t love the beach?  Update your backyard or balcony with a fresh beach look.  Look for or make signs on old pieces of wood:  “This way to the beach!” or an arrow on which you paint “Beach.”  Bring out a beach ball, beach blankets, towels, and woven mats.  Check garage sales for faux lighthouses, fish nets, buoys, brass lanterns, shells, rope, and sailboats.  Fill a rubber raft full of sand for kids to play in.  Hang a beachy travel poster from the rafters.  Play Beach Boys music at your barbeque parties.

Western Décor. My parents built playhouse/storage units in their backyard to simulate a short street in an old west town.  Made from board and batten with reclaimed windows on concrete slabs, they actually function well.  The general store is a giant pantry.  The barn houses the lawn mower and garden supplies.  The assayer’s office is Dad’s tiny workshop.  The livery stable has bikes and large tools.  A giant old iron kettle is full of flowering kalanchoe.  Zinc buckets, washboards, a saddle, a harness mirror, tack, and wagon wheels hang here and there.  My mom painted very realistic horses looking out the windows of the “barn.”  Each little house is about 6’ x 8’, each painted a different color.  We love to sit on the swing under the patio roof to enjoy the view, complete with hitching post.  Sometimes, Dad and my sister salt a big crock of pickles to age out there.  We love the ambiance, with a red-checked tablecloth on the wooden table with a blue-speckled, enameled coffeepot filled with flowers for a centerpiece.  It’s an ongoing work of love.

Tags: ave money decorating, beach décor, outdoor entertaining, patio furniture, theme decorations, tropical décor, western décor

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 6:55 pm and is filed under Save Money Decorating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.