My Parents' Patio Re-Design, Finale

My parents came home this afternoon, and we had almost finished the patio project. All we need now is lighting, mounting fixtures for the wall art, and wind chimes (must have wind chimes).

Here are the pictures of the finished project:

Dexter approves.

My Parents' Patio Re-Design, Part Three

Yesterday, my parents went out of town for a sort of family reunion. The moment they were out the door, we did this:

We cleared away the furniture and swept the concrete. We then scrubbed with our old favorite: bleach and water. 

 

We painted the couch and ladderback chair. All of this furniture my Mom bought at various garage sales over the years, with the exception of my Dad's rocking chair, which I bought with my first paycheck from Walgreen's in 1991. It's actually my Mom's rocking chair, but my Dad sits in it. I used custom-mixed Olympic exterior paint for the blue and Valspar Cherry for the red chairs. 

For the metal accessories, I decided to use spray paint. I took apart the little glass-and-metal table to repaint, only to find that the glass wouldn't come out of the metal frame. 

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Not a problem. I cut out a mat of wrapping paper, taped it over the glass, and painted the metal frame with the exterior paint. 

In the next post, I'll include the photos from the completed patio project. Click here to see them!

My Parents' Patio Redesign, Part Two

My Mom's Love Language is Acts of Service. My Dad's Love Language is Quality Time. When we decided to re-decorate my parents' patio, we realized that it was a way to show them love through both of their Love Languages.

We started by cleaning all of the wooden patio furniture. I used a bleach/water solution in a spray bottle. Fortunately, the weather had done a good job of smoothing all the edges, leaving the surfaces soft and porous enough for painting.

My Mom said she liked these cushions on a random shopping trip, so I went back and bought them:

And we used these cushions as the basis of our color scheme. We wanted something bright and lively, that would also incorporate my parents' favorite colors: red for my Mom, yellow for my Dad (and blue for me, just because).

(Painted with the blood of our enemies)

After painting these chairs, it proceeded to rain every day for three weeks. Oh yeah, welcome back to Texas, where the weather does whatever the heck it pleases.

To see the next step on our patio re-do, click here. 

My Parents' Patio Re-design, Part One

When my daughter and I moved to Korea last fall, I thought that my parents would be fine. Sure, yes, we have a very close relationship with my Mom and Dad. They are good people, and everyone who knows them adores them.

But when my Grannye got sick and we came home, we moved into my parents home, ostensibly until we could find another place. It became clear, though, that both of my parents were suffering from degrees of depression -- my Mom due to the grief of losing her mother, and my Dad just continuing with his life-long battle.

Mom and Dad asked us to stay with them, to help take care of them. Generously, they have given us a place to live for the last four months. Even more generously, they refuse to accept money for rent.

Back in 2004, when my parents built this house, they spent a lot of time on the back patio, drinking coffee and smoking with my Mom's sisters, the Aunts. Mom has since given up smoking (yay!!) and the patio's popularity has sadly waned. But it is a lovely space, full of good energy with a view of the trees and the neighborhood park. We wanted to give back to my parents, and quickly decided that re-vamping the patio (in secret) would be a good way to do it.

Here's a before video of the patio, taken about a month ago:

Before link, click here.