DIY Double chaise lounger and cushion

Happy Friday! Today I've got some non-quilting crafty stuff for ya. Last night I finished sewing a cushion cover for our new double chaise lounger and I think it's pretty cool! Far from perfect, but pretty cool. :)

I really enjoy woodworking, and I've done quite a bit of it around our house. But today I give all the credit to my fiance. He built this for us using this plan from Ana White. She is all over the blog world, so I'm guessing you've heard of her, but if not - definitely worth checking out. She has tons of free plans and they are super simple to follow.

It took a few days for him to build (not working the whole day), and we estimate it was about $70.00 for the wood, hardware and screws.  We used pressure treated pine, which I know is full of icky chemicals, but cedar wasn't in our budget so we made do, and since we have the cushion we won't be touching it too much. The back is adjustable to three positions and it can also lay flat.

Okay, here is where it gets ugly. Try searching for a double sized cushion under $200. I dare you, lol. Pottery barn sells some on clearance for $99.00, plus $50.00 delivery surcharge, PLUS $17.00 shipping! Sheesh! I looked everywhere, no luck. We ended up buying two regular chaise cushions from Walmart for $30.00 each. (Shown above on the lounger before it got stained.) I didn't really care for the way they look, or the fact that they were two separate cushions, so I made a sort of giant pillowcase for them both to lay inside.

I bought a sheet at the thrift store, (wash and bleach it!), and sewed it along three sides. I left the fourth side open for the cushions to slide in, and sewed four buttons to keep it closed. The cushions have long ties attached to them that can peep through and tie down to the back of the lounger.

We only take the cushion outside when we're using it, so we don't have to worry about the weather or bird poops. Plus we can just take it off and wash it when it gets gross.

In total, it was about $130.00. It's hard to find anything new in the stores for even close to that price!

We knew we didn't want to have to mow around the thing all the time, so we're going to leave it under a tree and mulch around a big area for the lounger to permanently stay. We aren't done with that yet, so no pictures of it in it's final home! :) The whole backyard is going through a transformation right now - thousands of pounds of rocks, yards and yards of mulch, probably a hundred plants. It's nuts. Wonderful nuts.

 So now I have another excuse to do nothing, be lazy and drink wine. And yes, that's a finished quilt in the above photo! I will show you more next week! Have a great long weekend. :)

I am linking and partying it up with Tatertots and jello. If you are swingin' by from there thank you for visiting me! It makes me happy. I will visit you, too! And now I'm gonna go ahead and open up a Blue Moon. Yum! :)