dressing up the patio on a budget & a quick project

I was driving home through the neighborhood after dropping off my son at baseball practice, and I had to do a double take.  There, set out on the curb with the trash, sat this fine looking end table with a marble top!  I immediately pulled over, to get a closer look.  The marble top was "decorated" in black permanent marker.  It was obvious that some one's child or grandchild had gotten into trouble at some point!  The base was a tan color, but I knew that with a coat of white paint, that could be remedied.  I was unsure, however, about the permanent marker.  Nonetheless, I loaded it into the van and headed home.  

I had found an iron patio set on Craigslist (2 chairs, and a bench for around $75), and I knew that if I could fix this table up, it would look great in the center of the grouping.  (The patio set had beautiful black wrought iron details, but the wood was a natural light color.  I painted the wood black to blend in with the iron)  Sorry no before pictures~just trust me, the chairs and benches look so much classier now!

I was determined to clean this table up.  I pulled out some soft scrub scouring cleaner, and a cotton rag.  I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and the marker came off!  I had to use the corner on a scouring pad for some of it, but with a lot of elbow grease, the marker disappeared.  I was thrilled.  I cleaned the rest of it up, and then painted the base white.  I sat looking at my diamond in the rough wondering if the owners would have reconsidered and kept it if they knew it's potential.  The biggest compliment that I got was when my sister in law was visiting (the queen of good taste) and exclaimed, "Where did you get that table?"  She, who knows me well, and my love of thrift, didn't have any idea that this could have been one of my finds.~from the side of the road.

Now, I wanted to put something pretty on top, so I pulled out this glass vase that I kept a pillar candle in at Christmas.  You can buy them at Wal mart in the floral/craft section for only a few dollars.  I already had the stones from the dollar tree, so I poured those in there.  Then I found these old silk roses that I have had for ages.  I had always loved them but never knew what to do with them.  I wanted to add a little color, so I stuck the flowers in as well for a little spring display and focal point.



Now I must tell you about the chandelier.  There was an ugly, old, ceiling mount light fixture that I was dying to get rid of.  I was looking through our local classified ads one day, and found this chandelier for $10.  It was brown, and had round globe light bulbs.  When I got home, I got rid of the bulbs, painted the whole thing black, and replaced the previous lights with chandelier bulbs.  I had my husband take down the old ceiling mount (boy was it ugly) and replaced it with my pretty chandelier!



When all was said and done, my dressy new patio furniture and fixtures came to a total of $85 plus a little paint that I already had on hand!  Not bad!