Sometimes I'm shocked....yet thankful.....at what people throw away. Some of my very best finds have been roadside castaways and dumpster diamonds-in-the-rough. In my neighborhood, every six months is "Brush and Bulky" trash day. It's one of my favorite holidays! I ALWAYS find something of use to me that someone else has deemed unfit for residence in their home or outdoor living area. Amongst the usual items (yard clippings, mattresses, old tires) there is always some sunburned, fraying, shabby wicker patio set that is thrown away for obvious reason. The southwest sun is just too intense for wicker to last very long. Occasionally, however, you will find a wicker chair or table that hasn't met it's demise just yet. I was lucky enough to come across just such a piece recently and want to share with you how I turned this cast away into a keeper!
Behold exhibit A.....one Wicker Couch. Some water stains and a bit of fraying around the edges,but overall a pretty solid piece with some nice lines.
On it's way to ruin, but not quite there yet, I knew if I could stabilize the deterioration, I would have a sweet wicker couch for free!
Most of the damage seemed to be along the bottom edge. Needed to figure out a way to shore things up....I knew roaming the aisles of the hardware store would present a solution, so off to Home Depot!
These looked promising............
Hard to see in the pic, but they are U shaped, so I thought I could set the bottom edge of the couch in a 'trough' I constructed out of these....On second thought, too hard to bend around corners and sharp once cut. Plus, most of my tools are in storage, so I had to keep looking. Wandered around a few more aisles and pretty soon found this.......
It's called Stucco Corner and I guess it's used for....Stucco corners! It can now add to it's resume Wicker Couch Shorer-Upper, because it did the job beautifully! Plus it's only $3.29 for 10'. Nice Price! But before I show you how I did that, I have to retrace my steps a bit and show you the paint job. I love painted wicker furniture and I love Turquoise...the color, not the stone (although I do love the stone as well) So wicker couch, meet your new color!
I guess technically it's Teal, since the color is called "Aracauna Teal' by Martha herself.
Oh, and did I forget to mention I found the couch with not one, but TWO matching glass topped, cube side tables in PERFECT condition? There wasn't anything wrong with the tables whatsoever. I guess the previous owner thought them guilty of ruin by association, but there was not one thing wrong with them! Try not to hate, I'm just lucky that way :-)
This is the first coat of color....if you've ever painted wicker, you know ya gotta paint this stuff up, down, sideways, forward, backward, across and diagonal to get every. little. bit. covered with paint. My advice? Get your hands on a paint sprayer if you have to beg or borrow. You will thank me.
Now, on to the shoring up part......you remember the Stucco Corner?
Well, here is where I'll show you how I used it.
Using wire cutters and pliers I wrapped the mesh around the entire bottom edge of the couch, corralling the loose and frayed edges and when I was done, I had a double duty solution to the problem: loose parts contained and a neat metal mesh decorative element!
Here is where I'm going to leave you dear reader, because there is nothing like a cliffhanger! Actually it's time to get the kids wound down for the night which is a lengthy process and also because this post was getting long and I still have tons to show you. So, I'll be back later to show you the results! You won't want to miss it....Thanks for visiting!
