Is this Barmy, does anyone do it?

[MrsBobDylan]

We have a very modest backyard and no spare money to spend on it.

We need to fathom out how to replace fencing and see if our skills extend to paving.

We can't afford seating but I am an upholsterer and have a few Ercol Modula easy chairs and a coffee table which would make up a lovely corner seating area in the only part of the yard that gets sun.

We could throw a plastic cover over it to avoid summer rain and bring into storage during the winter.

It feels like a weird idea but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work - can anyone else?

I'm having middle-class angst that the bairns are suffering without a pleasant outside space

The chairs look like this - obvs I would make some nice bright cushions to go with.

You going to put ercol chairs outside..I thought they were expensive?

the moisture even if covered will damage the wood and the joins will involve some glue which will come away. the upholstery will need to be specific for outdoors even then will mold and mildew. six months max till it looks like the dogs breakfast.

Sorry OP but I think that would look awful! Like an old sofa dumped outside. Can you get hold of any pallets and make a pallet sofa then upholster cushions for it?

Like this...

I think you've be better off selling the ercol chairs - for possibly quite a bit of money - and buying some second hand outside furniture from someone who is upgrading. My local facebook is full of people selling garden furniture at the moment - most of it just needs a good clean or a paint.

I hope everything goes ok well for you,

You just need to put yourself first for a change dear,

x

They will go manky quite quickly and it's a waste of good chairs.

Camping chairs are usually 2 for £10 in supermarkets in a couple of weeks. Kids can sit on grass, or a blanket on the grass. Pallets can be got for free and it's a big 'thing' right now to turn them into furniture. Facebook marketplace has lots of garden sets, my local one has a couple of the plastic sets for £10-£15, or wood or metal sets from about £25. People are giving away old dining room sets - it may be indoor stuff but you could paint it in gardeney colours, and it won't matter if it goes manky by the end of the summer.

Clean the Ercol chairs up and photograph them to sell. eBay is good. You’ll get good money for them if they are genuine Ercols. Enough to buy a decent garden set cx

There are Ercol groups on FB, both fans & specific selling ones, they love their Ercol...

sell the Ercol

buy Ikea
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/ingmarsoe-2-seat-sofa-in-outdoor-white-green-beige-30473597/

Sell the Ercol like others have suggested. I barely let anyone sit on my Ercol furniture, indoors!

Another idea for cheap quirky seating which works well in even terraced yard is breeze blocks with wood sleepers through the holes. My sister has these and it looks far better than it sounds!

Try freegle or Freecycle for outside furniture

is the ercol genuine? CHECK THE VALUE

Sorry, just worried you'll trash it before checking.

Pallets can be great fencing, too, and for one season, those roll up garden screens look great, if it’s a privacy issue.

I saw a wonderful sculptural fence made out of recycled car exhaust pipes, in various shapes, sticking up out of the earth, heavily spray painted and wired together.

Pea gravel or artificial turf make a reasonable tidy looking ground cover, until paving can be afforded. I have a patio with really ugly cracked paving and I have just basically carpeted it in cheap turf from Bargain Madness until I can get it repaved.

I've just been looking at fruit cages made from flexible piping, wired together and supported in metal pipes in the ground, with wire netting over it.
It makes me wonder if it might also make a good fence or screen, with climbers trained up it.

If they're genuine Ercol, as PPs have said, you'd be better off selling them and buying some actual outdoor furniture.

I hear ya! No Ercol outdoors . I buy and sell Ercol and other mid century furniture and have 12 of these chairs clogging up my storage space. I will do them up and flog 'em on but was just tempted to pop them in the garden.

I like the idea of sleepers and breeze blocks a lot. I also considered scaffolding planks to make into a bench. I have looked on Pinterest and all of the stuff I like needs money and a professional...some people have the most beautiful gardens while even the dogs don't like to go in ours

I wouldn’t.

Pallet fencing, that is an awesome suggestion! We really lack diy skills - dh does a desk job and over the years I have forced him into plumbing, tiling, laying vinyl tiles and he sands furniture for my business every weekend. Poor sod.

I could do pallet fencing and some rolls of twiggy cover and it would look ok!

I'm not sure if buying pallets will be any cheaper than getting some Ikea stuff.

I've just told dh about this thread and he has told me it was a barmy idea and I am to stop obsessing about the back garden.

Thanks for the suggestions and for not pointing out that I am a fruit loop

You are funny

Just sell the Ercol chairs, and buy some fun Ikea or Ebay outdoor chairs.

Come and join the gardening board! There will be lots of people with clever ideas to transform the space on a budget.

Pallets are free, ask a few local builders merchants for spares. You can buy cushions for them but if you're into upholstery surely you can make some