Patio Umbrella

A long, long time ago in my postings I mentioned that I have been working on re-finishing some furniture, including our patio furniture. Well, I have finally finished! I spray painted all the metal portions with a really cool brown spraypaint. (Actually, I still need to spray the umbrella stand, but that will have to wait until the spring.) This color worked out really well because it blended in perfectly with the rust spots on the metal. Unfortunately I greatly underestimated the amount of spraypaint needed to cover the entire set. I thought that 3-4 cans would be plenty, but it ended up taking about 9 cans. So if any of you want to do it as a cost savings, it probably won't be that beneficial. But since I started this mess, I had to see it through to the end.

One of the best parts about this project was the new umbrella that we made. My amazing friend Lucy was the brains behind this operation. She helped me pick out fabric and put the whole thing together. Sewing an umbrella took more effort than we had anticipated, but I had a great time working on it with her. I am constantly amazed at the things she is able to sew. Take a look at these pictures to see how amazing this umbrella really is. (Oh, and I tried to get Lucy to start a custom umbrella business with me, but she declined my business proposition. So for the time being, I am the only one with a Lucy-special umbrella.)