Funk up your balcony! A tutorial.

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Funk up your balcony! A tutorial.

Funk up your balcony - a tutorial

I live in a one-bedroom apartment, which can feel pretty small sometimes. But I’m lucky.I’ve got a balcony and it’s facing west, so I get to enjoy the evening sun. So relaxing after a hard days’ work. But to tell you the truth, this is what my balcony looked like until this afternoon:

Funk up your balcony! Maple And Oak Diaries

It was grey and boring, almost depressing. Booh! I just had to do something about it. I believe, even the smallest apartment, the tiniest patio can look colourful and pretty if you give it some thought and make an effort. It doesn’t even have to cost much.

I discovered plaster paint by The Plaster Paint Company a couple of weeks ago in my favourite vintage boutique A Vintage Affair here in Calgary. They make awesome pastel plaster paint and I couldn’t help it but go home with a gorgeous combination of “Ocean Breeze Blue”, “Cottage Green” and “Parlor Pink” without even having a project in mind. One look our of my window and there it was! Project: Funk up your balcony!

Step One: Paint the old, shabby Ikea furniture!

What do I need to funk up my balcony

I had my paint, a brush, something to stir the paint, a rag and the wax to seal the paint. That is important because the paint is water-based. Even though my patio furniture is sheltered by the balcony above, it might get hit by some rain and I wouldn’t want the paint to run.

The cool thing about plaster paint is that you don’t have to sand your furniture. Just grab a brush and go!

As I had to wait for about 30 minutes for the paint to dry, I went out to run some errands. – Shush! I’ll tell you later what I had to get. – When I came back I decided to give my table and chairs a second coat so the colours would turn more vibrant. You don’t have to do that if you’re happy with the way the colours turn out after the first coat. After another 20 minutes, the paint was dry enough for me to seal in the colour with some plaster paint wax.

Plaster Paint Wax

Yippee! My balcony furniture looks almost like a pastel rainbow now. SO much more fun than before, don’t you think?

Step Two: Get some balcony accessories!

  • I had some herbs in my kitchen waiting to be planted for the longest time. I love to cook, make vinaigrette or dips with fresh herbs, so I bought parsley, basil and rosemary plants weeks ago and had them waiting in my kitchen “for the right moment” to put them outside. I guess that moment was today. Yummy!
  • Another stunning balcony accessory is this fantastic pink vintage vase that I found in a thrift store for just 1.00$. I gave it a good scrub and it was as good as new.
  • While my first coat of paint was drying, I went (Did you guess it?) to get some fresh flowers. Bright, bold and beautiful!
  • And it’s already done! I love how everything turned out. The happy, vivid colours on my former shabby furniture, the cool pink vase with gorgeous flowers and edible greens to top it all off. But somehow I still feel like something is missing to make my balcony perfect – come back next Monday to find out what else I’ll be making to give my patio some loving!

    Me and my funky balcony.

    With love from the Maple And Oak Diaries,

    ❀ Leonie❀

    P.S.: That was easy, wasn’t it? I’d love to see your funky balconies, why don’t you send me some pictures!

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