Making Futons Rain-Ready

Two Beddinge futons for very little scratch--check! Pallets lined up and ready for use as a sectional--check! Now, making it so that the futons would survive the outdoors...a little trickier. 

There are sources for futon covers made in water resitant fabrics. The cheapest I found was the Futon Shop, at $215 for a queen size. (Beddinge is slightly longer than a regular full.) That's way over budget BEFORE I times it by two. 

Plus, my CL futon finds had each come with covers. It made sense to try to reuse those. I crossed ideas such as fashioning cushion covers from picnic blankets, drop cloths or duck cloth off my list. Now it was all about waterproofing what I had. Time to get creative, do some research and keep my fingers crossed.

I orded two vinyl, zipped queen mattress covers on Amazon for a total of $25 (from Shop Bedding). This was a little more than the cost of the plastic ones, but from what I read would last longer and was less likely to tear. I looked for covers that claimed to block allergens, under the theory that they'd block my mattresses from mildew. We will see. 

When it came to waterproofing the fabric, the search was a little more daunting. Ever heard of fluorpolymer? Nope? Neither did the thousands of people who sustained respitory injuries by inhaling it when they used waterproofing sprays. I'm sure there are safe useage guidlines, but I'd like to pass on the poison.

And now the questions. There are a number of 100% wax solutions, DIY and premade. But, will wax leave the fabric to stiff? And how long would it take to wax two big futons??? Nikwax offers a non-fluorpolymer spray, but how many buckets of that will I need? A friend suggested just using fitted sheets and pulling off when it rains, but it seems a shame to not use the covers which of course will fit perfectly and look much more put together. Ok, back to the blogosphere to look for a solution.

Bullets to Bench (Before)

I'm really happy with how the ammunition box upcycle went.  Here's the final product:

To get the height, we measured where other deck chairs fell and made my son pretend sit on it as we held it just to be sure (that part wasn't very scientific, but it was funny to watch).  After putting the legs on each side, we decided crossbars that connected the legs and cradled the box would add some extra support.  End result is a rustic look that I like, plus it serves double duty as storage and cost next to nothing:

• Ammunition Box - $5 at yard sale
• Spray Paint - $1 at ReStore (aka, best place on earth for scavengers)
• Poly - $0 left by previous homeowner
• Legs - $0 found wood as we cleaned the garage, prob from previous owner

So, under $10 for our new "custom" bench.  Plus, was nice bonding for the hubby & I.  The parts involving power tools were all him!  I'm the scavenger & idea person. :)  Ok, time to go test out the new bench.  Have to see if it can hold my weight along with a frosty Hoptober.  (Yikes, is it REALLY time for fall beers already???)