Repurposing those old plastic lawn chairs...
Like everyone else, I recycle everything. After reading a million posts on the Dollar Tree redos, I thought maybe I could do something with old plastic chairs that were ready to be disposed of because of cracks or they just looked horrible. So, why not give them a good coat of "Fusion" spray paint and make them new again. I love bright, artsy colors. So I went with fluorescent colors. They were so bright and I loved them. I cleaned the chairs really good with soap and water, let them dry and then I spray painted them with "fusion" paint. I allowed them to dry for 24 hours. You can find "fusion" paint at any home improvement store. Once I finished, I thought, OK now what? A while ago I saw some old wooden chairs that people had cleaned up and put a flower pot in them... So my adventure begins...
After spray painting them I found some old plastic containers that I had other flowers in the year before and thought OK how do you cut these babies out. I found out it wasn't as hard as I thought...you just need a jig saw, a pattern for the size you want and a drill to start a hole for the cutout. I could have just placed the pots on the chairs and be done with it, but I thought they would be more sturdy with the actual pots and dirt set into the chairs for weight...and I was right. They have never blown over and that's a good thing.
The pot I used had a rim on it because it was once a hanging planter. I measured around the circumference of the pot and created a pattern out of newspaper. Then the fun began. I used a drill to make a hole so I could fit my jigsaw into it. Then I just ripped through the plastic. It took about 15 minutes for each chair. After cutting the whole I made sure that the hanging pots would fit and they did! I felt like I really accomplished something.
The Fun Part Begins...
Then the fun part began. I went out and purchased some starter plants and filled each one with some impatiens and other flowers. The pictures below were taken last year. This year I put geraniums in each, along with some yellow, orange and white flowers to match the orange and yellow chairs.
As you can see, I love color...and flowers. I'm not the best gardener, but do love to dabble in some gardening. My favorite flowers are impatiens. I love the way they mound in the pots, plus there's no dead-heading...that's a real plus. I love lime green with hot pink. I don't do well with muted colors. I would like to think that the colors I choose reflect my personality. No muted colors for me...😄
This year I planted geraniums instead of impatiens. I love the way they look, however they do need to be dead-headed to keep those beautiful blooms coming. No matter what flowers my readers like, these chairs just added a little more visual effect to the beautiful flowers...and that was my goal.
This was really a fun project and really quite easy. We are in a seasonal campground and every time someone passes by they always comment on the chair garden. I also added some patio stones (painted, of course) to an old plastic bench. It added more texture and color. The bright colors with the bright flowers in the pots put smiles on everyone's face when they pass by. These chairs really pop! Total cost??? Actually the only cost was for the spray paint...about $16 and a little elbow grease.
One Final Note...
This post is just an idea on how you can recycle things that you would normally throw away. If you can recycle, it's much better for our environment. I do hope you enjoyed this post. It was so much fun making my chair garden. A few recycled plastic lawn chairs, some paint and some pretty flowers...what a great idea!
Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by!
