Balcony Update

 Balcony Update

Balcony Cart Project

I'm never totally sure what I should call our outside space. It's a good sized wrap-around balcony, technically, since we're on the 2nd floor, but it's spacious enough that it just doesn't quite feel like a balcony to me and I often catch myself calling it the deck. 

This is the first time we've had outdoor space since we've been married so we moved here with nothing to put on the balcony. To furnish it without spending a ton, I've found a couple of nice resin wicker pieces (that some of you have seen on my Instagram account) and those are on the side of the L-shaped balcony that is closest to the interior apartment door. So I needed a piece or two for the other side, that is outside of our dining nook & has the door to our outside storage. 

I found this piece on a local Facebook consignment group for $15 and thought "Hey, if I screw that up I'm really only out $15!" and so I went for it. Famous last words. 

I picked a couple of colors that I've been using as accents out here on the balcony--teal & coral--and found them in my spray paint stash.  

 I also used painter's tape and outdoor clear polyurethane spray to lock the paint on and make it a bit more weather-proof. 

The sander block was to remove a bit of rust clinging on before I started painting. 

So I laid out a dropcloth and got to work! I painted the frame a teal color by Rustoleum that's made for indoor/outdoor use. 

I quite liked the teal color--it went well with the throw pillows that go on the chairs--you can see those chairs peeking out from behind the cart in a couple of these photos. 

Then I added painters' tape around the rim of the tray portion and added coral to the tray. 

It rained on me a bit (which I wasn't expecting) so the finish isn't quite perfect--it was too humid outside for this part to cure correctly. 

See? A touch splotchy on the finish there. 

After I had the top tray painted, I suddenly thought maybe white would be a better choice. So I hauled out some white paint and sprayed the bottom tray that color. Big mistake!! I don't know what was wrong with my white spray paint, but that particular can was totally jenky. It sprayed out in clumps, added a weird texture, didn't coat evenly...it was a mess. 

After two sad coats. So, so sad. 

I switched to a different white spray paint which was better, but the texture was still pretty strange on that bottom shelf. 

Eventually I decided I preferred the coral anyway, so I ended up going over the white with a couple coats of coral, which helped a bit but still didn't smooth out the texture. Then it rained (again!) so I just left it to cure with a quite splotchy bottom tray. Very sad that I added an extra step which actually hindered the whole process but hindsight is 20/20. I'm not going to lie--I'm disappointed that I don't have awesome "after" photos of a perfect aqua & coral DIY. But this is what I do have. :) Just keepin' it real around here. 

I suppose I could sand it all down but I was a little over it at that point and it seemed like a lot of work for a $15 piece that was going to hold a plant on the bottom shelf anyway. So I left it! (Also, I hit my leg incredibly hard on a corner of a piece of wood from a different project while I was painting this, so that might explain my apathy. It's been three weeks now and the bruise is finally the green-yellow of healing.) I do plan on giving it another coat or two now that the rain seems to be drying up. 

The other leg of the balcony is coming right along though! We have this set of chairs & table from Overstock.com, the little storage cube, chair cushions, and rug are from Target. The citronella candles are from HomeGoods and were a gift from my mother-in-law. 

This is a beverage holder/table, which is pretty cool and is from Wayfair.com. I honestly don't remember where the coral lamp under it is from but I bought it because it tied in so beautifully with the coral part of my color scheme. I may do a DIY painted rug with some coral in it for this side and put the navy print rug on the side with the painted cart, to sort of balance out the colors from one side to the other. I saw a painted rug tutorial on the DIY Playbook that looks like it might be just the ticket!

Or mavbe next year I'll be into a whole different accent color scheme and I can sand my cart down and repaint it then. Or maybe I'll just learn to be okay with imperfection. Either way. :) Plus next year I'd like to invest in a couple of more lounge-ish chairs for the cart side of the balcony as well--keepin' that budget in check by doing a couple things at a time. 

Just a few more touches I'd like to make in the next couple of weeks (mainly a plant for that cart!) and then we'll be ready to host some summer evenings out here. Check out all my outdoor space Pins on My Dream Home: Outdoors board. 

What are your go-to outdoor space pieces? Are you ready for bar-be-que weather? I know I am!

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XOXO, 

Jaclyn