DIY Outdoor Furniture

I am so excited to put together this post! I have had MANY requests on all the details from our little patio project we just finished.

This has definitely been the year of the backyard for us! (nevermind we don't have a single picture hung on our walls IN our home still, yet now we have a finished backyard! priorities...)

Carson did an AMAZING job of building us a paver patio! When it came time to actually furnishing the patio I hit a road block... Everything I was actually wanting in outdoor furniture, I just couldn't justify paying for or didn't absolutely love! I wanted oversized chairs and a larger couch, but didn't want to pay Brody's inheritance for them.

So I got the thought.... ya know. I think we could do our own!

I used the Angel Marie Made couch and chair plans that I found. She did an amazing job putting together some building plans that I just made minor tweeks to...

I am not a professional. Nor claim to be. So these aren't perfect, but they do the job and I think they look great enough! Let's just jump right into my process!

I will link a full easy access list of materials and measurements I used below, so skip if you don't want to hear me blabber.

Step 1: Figure out your cushion "sit"uation! seems odd but this is KEY! you need to decide if you are going to buy or in my case make your cushions. I guarantee you will make a heck of a time for yourself by building this FANTASTIC specimen of a couch, only to not find cushions that fit it... SO . FIGURE. OUT. YOUR. CUSHION. SITUATION. I really loved the ones Angela Marie Made found for her set from HERE but they have been sold out forever.... so. I made my own look-a-likes.

I found these 3" thick camping foam pads from Home Depot and cut to my desired dimensions. Now if you want a thicker cushion (which I would definitely suggest) you can find thicker foam pads at craft stores- but i'm cheap and found that these were the same material but a fraction of the price. So I doubled mine up for a 6" cushion comparable to the World Market beauties. I left my back cushions 3", but this is total preference thing. you could easily make the back cushions 6" as well.

If you are going to double them up I just used a heavy weight adhesive spray to sandwich them together.

Wrapped them in this ultra weight batting

Next, I found the fabric I wanted. I chose this Ottertex Waterproof Canvas, and was SO pleased!

I sewed a simple box cushion (youtube "how to sew a box cushion" if you don't know how) to finish them off.

Ta-dah! You made yourself some cushions!

Step 2: Adjust your measurements accordingly. I made minor measurement changes to the building plans to fit my desired sizes.

My tweeked cut list

Couch:

(4) 2x3 @ 24 1/2"

(2) 2x3 @ 29 1/4"

(5) 2x3 @ 60"

(5) 2x3 @ 16 1/4"

(6) 1x3 @ 26 1/4"

Chair:

(4) 2x3 @ 24 1/2"

(2) 2x3 @ 29 1/4"

(5) 2x3 @30"

(5) 2x3 26 14"

(6) 1x3 @ 26 1/4"

Step 3: Build the darn thing. nuff said. follow the plans mentioned above.

Step 4: Sand. Sanding. Sand. And then Sand again. Sanding can be the most time consuming thing of the whole project. But it has to be done, so quit your belly achin'!

Step 5: Stain. let her shine!! there are literally thousands of stain colors and combinations you can choose from. THREE trips to the store and THREE different stain colors later I ended up with a color I liked! We ended up using the Behr oil-based Interior stain in Special Walnut and sealed it with a clear outdoor wood sealer.

Step 6: Enjoy cause you earned it!

I am so pleased with how ours turned out. Are they perfect? No. But that is what I love most about them. It was a fun project that we got to accomplish! Message me if there are any other questions that come up, and Happy Building!