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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham
Showing posts with label Adirondack chair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adirondack chair. Show all posts

Treehouse Deck with Adirondack Chairs

Thursday, September 1, 2016


A treehouse deck at the same level as the French doors opens the living room into the surrounding woods. The new deck beckons sitting for long hours under a ceiling fan watching nature, even when it is raining. 

Treehouse Deck with Adirondack Chairs 



By using chairs, a deck space is easily rearranged for just a couple or for a large crowd. Giving New Life to Old Adirondack Chairs and power washing folding wooden chairs gives a bright clean look to all the furniture. 



An old chippy blue painted box is the perfect size for a coffee table, and the box is convenient for storing supplies for the deck. Like the citronella candle in the blue bucket, extra pillows, a throw,... 



On either side of the French doors are a French-style metal plant stand and a glass-topped table with a Singer sewing machine iron base. 




Serving snacks and drinks is easy, easy, easy using the table. The coastal looking metal box on the treadle holds gardening gloves, some snippers, and a spare spray faucet to attach to a garden hose. When using the table for serving food and drinks, the box can hold extra napkins and glasses. Another possibility is using the metal box to serve iced-down bottles of drinks. 




Setting food and drinks, or your feet, on the chippy blue box are no cause for concern. The old weathered box will not be harmed, but will gain even more patina that adds to the relaxed atmosphere of outdoor living. 




Nothing new, except plants, was purchased to furnish or to decorate the new deck. Everything was either on the old deck or in the house... like the old blue box that was upstairs holding seasonal items. 




A coastal summer theme is easy to create with existing blue and white shell dishes, a starfish decorated glass, and a set of coastal bird decorated metal tins. 




The Adirondack chairs were refreshed with power washing, sanding, and painting. 



Surrounding woods, however, remind us that the deck is not on the beach, but is nestled on a country plot instead. 



Potted ivy plants receive rain water and sunlight because they are on the four-foot extension beyond the roof of the covered section of the deck. 



Trees surrounding the deck offer deep shade during the summer months, but will allow winter sunlight to warm the deck when they drop their leaves. 



The plants on the blue box and glass table will be rotated to sunnier areas periodically. 




While the overall look on the deck is coastal right now, there are still French country touches that will always be a part of any decor of our house, outside and inside. 




There is still the open area of the deck yet to be shared. 

We had rain for a solid week after the new deck was built, and more rain is forecast. So much rain is highly unusual for north Texas in August. We are enjoying the covered porch part of the deck in the rain, but the open area needs several sunny days before it can be pulled together. 



My Sanctuary

One day the sun will come back out. 



*****

First Party date is Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016 @ 4:00 p.m. 

Looking forward to seeing all the links to Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Blogs! 


Follow me on Instagram by clicking on my Instagram button at the upper top right. 
I hope to post Paris photos on Instagram. 
Please join me at these inspiring places for more joy of living. 

SUNDAY
Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic and Refined

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How to Bring Coastal Summer to a Deck

Thursday, August 25, 2016


Where is your favorite beach? Perhaps one spot comes to your mind instantly or perhaps, like me, no beach comes to mind as your favorite. Yet, the beach always comes to my mind in summer, and the two go hand-in-hand in my mind. 

Summer and the beach  

Since I am not going to the beach this summer, I brought a little beach to my deck. Here's how to bring coastal summer to a deck far from the beach. 



Start with a glass decorated with a beach symbol... a starfish, seahorse, shell. 




Add sand to the glass. Since I had sand left-over from when my garden shed was transformed from An Ugly Duckling to a White Swan, I used some of that. If you don't have any sand from other projects, local hardware stores stock more than one kind of sand usually, and sell it in bags. 




Place a small candle in the sand, and add seashells around it. Use a candle that is in a small glass for three reasons. 

1. The small glass contains the burning wax keeping the sand and seashells clean.

2.  The small glass keeps the larger glass from getting as hot. 

3. The small glass inside the larger glass provides two structures between which to contain the small seashells. 




Display a small collection of seashells in a small glass container like this recycled glass dish. 

These small shells were collected along the shores of Cape Canaveral when I went to see one of the last launches of a space shuttle, but that launch was scrubbed due to the weather. What to do when vacation plans fall through? Make other plans. Like collecting seashells... 

That was the second time I went to Florida to see a shuttle launch, and both times the launch was cancelled. Third time was charm since I did see the launch of the Endeavor shuttle, the next-to-last ever shuttle launch. 

Growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, I was very aware of and interested in the space program. Several family members worked for Marshall Space Flight Center or subcontractors. I have vivid memories from the 1960s when booster rockets were first tested over 15 miles away from our house. On summer days with clear blue skies, my bedroom window would begin to shake as thundering, rumbling sounds filled the air, sounding like a thunderstorm. The rockets were "tied down," and the engines were fired for testing. 

The dream was to see a live shuttle launch. Collecting shells was a fun way to while away the time while waiting for the exhilarating event. The shells became mementos of a life dream fulfilled.  


White sand, white shells, and a white candle coordinate well with other decor, including French country. 



Add a heron decorated tin to hold fresh white stock flowers, a freshly-painted white Adirondack chair, and a blue and white throw pillow printed with summer phrases. 

With just a few items, it is easy to bring coastal summer to a deck. The keys to achieving the look ... 

a blue and white color scheme 
traditional beach symbols like sand, shells, seahorses, herons
Adirondack chairs

Voilà... Without seeing the rest of the setting, this scene could be on a deck along the coast. 


*****

New Life to Old Adirondack Chairs

Sunday, August 21, 2016



One of the best things about covered porches is the protection they provide furniture and pillows. Our Adirondack chairs, however, sat on the old open deck for years and did not receive the TLC (tender loving care) they should have. 



Rain, sleet, hail, snow, and ultraviolet light took their toll and weathered the chairs to a dark gray. Hiding behind patriotic pillows in Three Easy Designs - Patriotic Deck the chair still looked inviting and was comfortable, but also looked a little forlorn and unloved.

However, with a lot of elbow grease, a power washer, a sander, and some paint I gave new life to our old Adirondack chairs this summer.

Step by step they regained a brighter, lighter look and regained some of their former glory. Do not expect them to regain the beauty of their youth; more like a well-done face-lift of a gracefully aging beauty.

Nor should these three steps of renewal be called easy. Remember the first thing I listed was elbow grease, but the finished chairs were worth the effort. 

Step 1  Power Washing




This took the longest time, except for painting, and was the hardest step physically. I power washed the two Adirondack chairs in the yard under the pear tree which allowed the tree to soak up the water and provided shade for me as I worked. 

If you have ever used a power washer, you know to wear old clothes. I was soaked from the back splash of water, and was filthy from the back splash of dirt from the ground. 



The chairs were so weathered the power washing really roughed up the wood. 




Had the the chairs been cleaned routinely, it would have taken less power washing to get them clean, and the wood would not have been damaged as much. 


Step 2  Sanding



The rest of the restoration was completed on the covered porch section of the new treehouse deck. A large plastic tarp protected the new deck floor. By setting the chair legs on paver stones, the chairs were lifted higher making it easier on my back as I leaned over the chairs to sand them. 




A power sander made this step easier. Since the wood grain was so damaged, I used a #80 grit sandpaper for the first sanding. The sandpaper package described #80 grit as the grit to use to remove old paint and/or to level uneven surfaces. 

Boy, did these chairs have uneven surfaces! So much so, I wondered if the chairs were beyond repair, but the coarse sandpaper quickly showed the chairs could be salvaged. 



I used #120 grit sandpaper for a second sanding to give a smoother surface and focused on the arms, seat, and inside back slats since these surfaces would be the ones with the most contact for people sitting in the chairs. 


Step 3  Painting 



I used Rustoleum spray paint and primer in Heirloom White. Since the chairs had never been painted or stained, the wood soaked up the paint. 

On the first coat, I began to have second thoughts again. This time about painting the chairs, wondering how they were going to turn out. You know that feeling... OH, NO, WHAT HAVE I DONE?  Should I sand all this paint back off and just apply a clear sealer? 




With the first coat of paint the chairs looked very much like they did before power washing the gray off. 



The chairs looked very rustic and C H I P P Y, a style that many people like. I prefer a little less chippy and a lot more painted surface. 




Each coat of paint reassured me that Heirloom White paint was the right choice to give new life to these old Adirondack chairs. 




Not quite there, but getting closer to the finished look... a white beach chair weathered over time from sitting in the white sand on the Gulf coast. 




One more coat of Heirloom White got the look. 


Please join me at these inspiring places for more joy of living. 

SUNDAY
Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic and Refined

MONDAY

TUESDAY