Seeing Orange

It all began with that orange door.

I loved the orange contrast against our house paint color so much that I needed another dose of orange somewhere.

For awhile now this little storage bench (a $5 purchase from my neighbor's yard sale) has been sitting in the carport looking pretty drab.

It has been incredibly useful for seating in that location, but the dingy white was so blah. Not to mention that we couldn't really store anything in it because the bottom board was busted out.

By now you know that I like my furniture to be useful and have character.

Voila!

She got the same orange paint as the door (Bird of Paradise). Then I roughed her up a little around the edges before a final coat of rub-on poly.

Once she was thoroughly dry I installed some new wood slats in the inside so we can finally fill 'er up with some outdoor essentials: gardening gloves and clippers, sidewalk chalk, water guns and a surplus of baseballs.

Can't find the outdoor pillow/cushions your heart desires?

Make your own!

I searched the clearance racks high and low for a pillow in the color/design I was looking for; finally, I took my 50% off coupon to Joanns and picked out a fabric to suit my fancy.

I love how welcoming our carport looks with these punches of color.

Before and After:

This was my first attempt using the paint sprayer Justin got me for my birthday last year.

I would love to provide you with a review of this little contraption but I think I'll need to use it a few more times to really form a final opinion. All I know is that my coats went on too thick for my liking (probably operator error since you can adjust the spray settings), and the contraption started clogging a bit on my second coat. I was not impressed with that mess. However, the bench still turned out great. So until I use the sprayer again I remain an impartial consumer.  (Sorry, Jaim!)