before & after: patio set

A few weeks ago, Brandon picked up this awesome (and cheap!) patio set on his way home from work. Do I have a good husband or what? I love that he is always up for my crazy projects. I have really been wanting a patio set so we could eat outside without having to drag our card table out each time. When I saw that this entire set would be $25, I knew we couldn't go wrong.

This is the before...everything in good shape minus a little rust on the chairs, but you know me, I can never leave anything alone. Plus, half-- if not all-- the fun is painting.

The hardest part of the entire project was deciding on a color. I wanted something bold and spontaneous. So this is what we decided on-- Krylon Smoke Gray and Sun Yellow. I was happy to see that Krylon now has paint + primer in one. And it prevents and protects from rust. It was perfect for furniture that will get lots of weather.

After a good scrub down, and a few coats of paint, we have a happy little patio set. If I would have been thinking straight, we should have kept the chairs gray (since they were already gray) and done the table yellow and we would have used a LOT less paint. But, we are still happy with how it turned out. (And yes, the bottom of the chairs still need one final coat, but don't tell anyone.) We now eat outside any chance we get. And can I just say how happy those yellow flowers are? They were my first attempt at planting bulbs. So glad they actually bloomed!