Last weekend we threw an engagement party for our friends, Chad and Alecia. We had invited a lot more people than can actually fit inside our house, so we were extremely thankful that the weather was perfect. As I have mentioned before, neither Shane nor I are too keen on yard work. Therefore we had a lot of work to do in order to be ready for an outdoor party. We used a few cheap tricks in order to make our house presentable. Here are some before and afters of the deck. I'll leave the yard to your own imagination.
We have a cute wrought iron table that I love, but unfortunately a few of the seats decayed and the original glass top broke and we 'temporarily' (2 years ago) replaced it with a painted piece of plywood.
A few years ago I painstakingly made new covers for all of the chairs that were given to us by my step-mother. For some reason squirrels loved the new fabric and chewed through almost all of them. That is why there's a mix of the original floral print and the surviving (I use the term loosely as even those 2 are not in very good shape) brown covers that I made.
I definitely did not have the time to remake covers for each of the cushions, so I went to check out my options at a thrift store. I was hoping I would find new cushions altogether, but I find it rare when you actually spot exactly what you are looking for when shopping second hand. Keeping an open mind, I ran across some curtain panels (I know you are probably wondering why this would help my deck...) at a great price. I got 4 panels (2 red and 2 striped) for $10 total. I also found some outdoor throw pillows, and I picked up some small throw blankets in case it got chilly. I spent less than $20 for all of my 'decorations'. And the best part is that all of these 'decorations' can be used again later. What do you think?
I just wrapped each curtain panel around the existing cushions. No sewing, no cutting, no time...
As for the rest of the set up, it was mostly left over from our wedding. The wine glasses, mason jars, tin buckets, even the flatware... I did have to buy a few paper plates.
When entertaining, I like to spread things out by setting up stations. Remember we don't really have any rooms where everyone can be in the same place at the same time.
Here is a second 'beverage' station out in the yard. The table cloth is a scrap of fabric I found left over from a previous project.
We set up a projector outside for the Alabama/LSU game later that night. It was expected to be pretty cold when the sun went down, so it was nice to be able to have the fire pit close to the screen. As soon as the sun came up that morning Shane and Chad were working on building the screen (2 2x4s, 2 sheets of sheetrock, and 1 king sheet) and hanging the lights I had made.
Hudson was warm and cuddly as a tiger. It just worked out that we were 'geaux-ing' for the other tigers that night.
