My Friend's Generous Gifts

Not too long ago I was at my friend's house and spied a little (barely large enough for washing two hands in at the same time) blue sink in her backyard. I thought to myself that it would make a cute, little, whimsical planter somewhere in my yard. I asked her if I may have it. I said I would pay her for it but she would not hear of it. My friend said that sink (original to her old house) had been in her yard since after Hurricane Charley in 2004, when she had her bathroom remodeled because of storm damage.

Mother Earth was beginning to claim the sink as her own. As I went to pick it up, it took me a few tries to break it free from the grass and soil that was swallowing it up. When I did finally liberate it from Terra Firma, a colony of large, red ants scurried out of the sink's overflow drain (there are still some ants inside the sink as I write this).

I will need to clean the sink up a tad before I transform it into a planter (and get rid of the rest of those ants)...I am impatient to see some pretty Impatiens growing in the sink.

The sink was laying next to my friend's screened-in gazebo. The gazebo was storm-damaged as well. The screens were torn and blowing in the breeze and much of what she had stored inside was ravaged by Hurricane Charley too.

Inside the gazebo I saw two chairs and a couch that looked interesting. They were made out of metal with a grape and leaf motif. Again, I asked my friend if I could have them, offering to pay for them. She wouldn't take anything for them either (she did take The Colonel and I up on our offer to help her clean up the gazebo. I think we will also get her a nice bottle or two of Madeira).

The Colonel and I got the chairs and couch out of the gazebo and carried them to the truck. We then loaded them into the truck's bed.

The next day The Colonel and I went to The Home Depot to pick out new cushions and a new paint color for the couch and chairs.

Before I could paint, I had to clean the chairs and couch. I scraped the old, chipping paint away and I wiped any dust, dirt and cobwebs off that I encountered.

Now to start painting. I chose a glossy spray paint called Khaki (because it went extremely well with the new cushions). I set the first chair on two sawhorses and sprayed away. In no time, I had both chairs done. I did not have time to start the couch, as it was nearing time to make dinner (I plan to paint the couch tomorrow, weather permitting).

Before





After

My friend is coming for dinner early next month and when she sees how nicely the chairs and couch have turned out I think she will be pleased. I just hope she doesn't want them back.