Out Back

Before we were married in March, we had seen a patio set at Ikea that we liked and hoped to buy later that Spring. However, given the fact that the closest Ikea is 2 hours away, the rising cost of gas and busy schedules, we weren't able to make the return trip until mid-June. Much to our surprise (and my wife's extreme dismay), they had sold out of our set and wouldn't be getting any others in until next Spring. We did pick up two of the lounge chairs we wanted at amazing savings of $50 each!! So the trip wasn't a total loss.

I was content to wait it out until next year, but Angie was really excited to get outside and make use of the back porch. So...the search began for a unique, modern-looking and moderately-priced patio set. She scanned the far reaches of the Internet and came up with a bunch of ideas. We were looking for a mix of teak (or other hardwood) and aluminium. However, most of everything we found and liked was considerably out of our price range. We talked about settling on something we didn't totally like, and we almost caved...

But we held out...and a day later she found the Stack Chair Depot. They had a chair that we liked better than any we had previously seen. And although the tables were small and all wood, they matched nicely and were priced right. So we picked up two of the tables and six chairs. Upon delivery we found that the table legs were actually painted with a faux wood grain effect -- so before we put them together a quick trip to ACE Hardware to pick up some aluminum-colored spray paint. We sprayed them later that evening and had them together the next morning. We are extremely pleased with the finished result.

My mum -- using her mad sewing skills -- hooked us up with these custom-made covers for the boring black-and-white striped coushions we bought at Ikea to add a bit of comfort to the lounge chairs. We also picked up a Lack side table -- I mean seriously, for $12 you can't go wrong!