We live in a two story townhouse, and in lieu of a backyard we have a lovely atrium. Most of the windows for our house are built around the atrium and it’s the center point of our loves all year round. On nice days during the spring and fall, and after dark during the summer, I love nothing more than to share a glass of wine with friends in the atrium. We eat dinner out there quite a bit, too. And the kitty cats enjoy lounging on the warm bricks, rolling around and rubbing their bodies on the ground, and getting acquainted with whatever plants I’ve managed to keep alive.  It’s a great space.

When we moved into our place almost a year ago, my in-laws gave us their old patio furniture so we’d have something to sit on outside. Since the offer on the house had been accepted (and the inspection completed), I’d hunted around for patio furniture I liked, but to no avail. As we moved in, we decided the dollars we’d allocated to purchasing new furniture were better used refinishing the hardwood floors and painting the walls.* So we took up my in-law’s generous offer to have their well maintained and little used 20-year-old patio furniture. (They’ve got good taste.)  My mother-in-law offered to refinish it first, but we happened to have a truck for just one day and I hated the idea of making a senior citizen crawl around and paint something when I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.

*The walls were “creatively” painted. Rather than move furniture, the painters simply painted around large pieces of furniture. Generally speaking, this isn’t a bad plan.  Certainly it saves time and back strain trying to move a huge armoir full of delicate china. Indeed, the only time it’s a problem is if you’re going to be moving out and there’s no furniture left to cover that giant pink spot on the otherwise white wall.  Then it’s a bit of an eyesore for ye new homeowners.

As you might imagine, the first summer in our new place was filled with a million things to do, and the patio furniture fell down the list in order of importance.  Toward the end of winter, I noticed small rusted areas becoming more noticeable. My in-laws generally stored the furniture in their garage; we used it so frequently that we hated to move it inside. Refinishing the patio furniture moved up in our list of priorities.

Then, I came up with an even more brilliant and oppressive plan. Ten days before Easter, I invited my in-laws over for each brunch on – you guessed it – their old patio furniture. I don’t think I mentioned that we’d be refinishing it first, I just blathered on about grand plans for a beautiful garden and edible food. But I knew we couldn’t let them see this:

And so our patio furniture refinishing project began on Saturday night – 7 days before Easter brunch – and continued with all hands on deck Sunday. We’re not done yet, but next I’ll share photos and details about the process – 2.5 times more expensive, 3 times more trips to Sherwin Williams than planned, and about twice as hard as I thought.

I think the results are going to be even better than expected.