Garden Chair Makeover

I was hoping to get productive on my days off this week, but in the end I got a bit lost down a YouTube rabbit hole.  I've been enjoying watching the Living on a Dime channel lately and have found myself watching some videos from their video list.

I did manage to make some rhubarb jam on Thursday with some rhubarb I harvested from the allotment, and I removed a few things from our very cluttered garden shed and took them to the tip, but not much else got done to be honest.

Anyway, on Thursday whilst getting some things out of the shed, I decided that our garden chairs were looking a bit worse for wear and needed a bit of a makeover. One had a cigarette burn in it, courtesy of a visitor we had some years ago, another had a rip in the seat and they were just generally faded and grubby due to a general lack of care by us. They were part of a set that we bought to go in our old house, whilst it was rented out and when we sold it, we decided to use them ourselves. They must me 11 or 12 years old by now so have had a good run.

Instead of creating new covers from scratch, I decided to sew new fabric over the existing fabric, as I wasn't sure if any of the fabrics I had would be strong enough.  I found some fabric from my stash and got stuck in.  I managed to cover one chair on Thursday.  I did the sewing all by hand, as it was tricky to do on a machine due to the thickness of the existing canvas fabric. 

Here's a before picture of one of the chairs:




My fingers got a bit torn up by the needle in the process, and the frame needed a good wipe down, as it was covered with dirt and cobwebs, but I was pleased enough with the outcome.  It probably won't be to everyone's taste and looks a bit niche and funky, but the aim is just for them to last another year or two, before I buy some new ones to match the black sunbed I bought last year.

Here's a picture of the finished 'made over' chair:



The frame could in all honesty probably do with being sanded and painted, but I don't know if it's worth my time, so we'll probably just manage with them as they are. There's two more to transform when I get the time.  The fourth is at the allotment and can stay as it is.

Anyway, here's a picture of the new one's I've got my eye on. They're not very exciting or expensive, but I just haven't got the money for them at the moment, as we've got such a lot of expense this year and what with my hours at work being reduced, I thought it'd be best to make do and mend for a while, until I've got some disposable cash to buy them. Besides, we don't sit out in the garden a whole lot anyway, so I don't want to buy anything too expensive and I want them to fold up easily, so they'll fit in the shed in the winter.

Baby steps and all that.