Had a rat problem more than a year ago- they chewed a hole in the soffit corner. Needed repair repaired as they pushed on original. I’m not squeamish and trapped a few (mom had babies there). Long gone by now. In old house it was raccoons that push up a corner of the soffit and raced around et al. Who knew home ownership included all this. More than just exterior landscape deer damage.
Back to outdoor furniture. By summer there will be sales and your H may come around, especially if he can try out stuff in a store.
Dagnabbit rats! We had to clean out the attic in our House2. Hired help. $1400 for a day of brutal work of 2 guys. No way I would have let Mr. handle that!!!
$500 for a set of cushions is not that bad… but it is 1/3 of the price of a decent firechat set from Costco… sigh.
They were $100 for a full chaise. Sunbrella. It was worth it. The Costco is 1.5 hours from here, but I ordered them online. We get hearing aides, glasses, Tv’s etc from there. Worth a try. They vet their products they sell and the return policy is excellent.
Years ago were Sam’s Club members when they came to town and H got it through work but dropped it after son gone- not worth it since didn’t want huge sizes. Costco (and Sam’s) where we are now (within 20 miles) but have no need of supersized purchases and find sales give equivalent pricing. Also a “BJ’s” very close but also not worth the membership cost. Costco Kirkland brand gets good reviews but just don’t buy enough to justify membership/travel.
Marilyn,
Just for kicks you should go over to Home Goods on Midway and check out their outdoor cushion sets. I just bought a gorgeous full patio furniture set there.
Cb, I suspect those cushions won’t be oversized plus I need u shaped. But I’m always happy for an excuse to visit Home Goods! Your new set looks lovely.
There were a lot of very attractive cushions but as expected, nothing close to the size seat cushion we need. So just to make the trip worth while, I bought a set of smalll shell shaped plastic bowls, small cutting board, mini fry pan for eggs, and a ceramic tray. The last is to replace the lid of a plastic shoe box, which we’ve been using under our coffee grinder for years to keep coffee grounds from the counter. I finally decided, long enough, I deserve better.
I second going into an At Home store if you have one near you, they have all kinds of shapes and sizes of outdoor cushions. I don’t think you would find a U shaped one, but maybe something you could make work. Getting custom cushions costs more than new furniture!
Unfortunately the closest store is a couple of hours away. My newest concept is getting custom made cushion fillers, then getting matching fabric from the same place we got our back pillows, then having the seat cushion covers made. Haven’t quite figured out that last step though. I do have an old sewing machine but don’t think I can handle this kind of job. Probably could find someone local via next door - or my meetup!
Sunbrella fabric is $23+/yd at fabric.com. Figure 4 yds of 60" wide. Furniture-grade foam cut to size is ~$35/seat, double that for the love seat. If you want binding on the edges, you’ll need another yard of fabric and rope insert. You’re already pushing $265. Add another $10 for zippers if you want to be able to remove the covers. This doesn’t even count labor. This is the point at which many of my clients decide $2/hr in labor is all they can afford after buying the supplies!
I have seen limited Sunbrella fabrics at Joann’s for less, but I am leery of the quality. Their foam is not particularly good, either.
So yeah, $100/cushion would be on the low end. Sorry…
I’ve contemplated making cushions for our back porch furniture for years and I can’t justify the $$ on something that will get wet, pollen-covered and grungy (we don’t live in CA where the outdoor living is marvelous!).
The specific fabric (not Sunbrella) that matches our outdoor pillows is on sale for $13.50/yard, which is why I’m considering this option. The other company that custom makes cushions can make just the filling for both chairs and the love seat for under $100. So maybe $200 or so for all materials.
I’ve got a message out to the company that has the fabric asking about having custom cushions made, i.e. if they do it or can recommend another company.
I was somewhat surprised that the company that custom makes cushions charges far more to make them if you provide the fabric than if they provide the fabric. I would have assumed it takes the same labor; since all sizes are custom it’s not as if they have everything precut and ready to assemble.
$13.50 would be a very good price for outdoor seating fabric. The upcharge may be because they might have to make adjustments if the fabric is 45" wide instead of 60" or that it may have to be handcut instead of their standard fabric being sent through a custom cutter. OTOH, they may upcharge because it’s not the kind of work they want to engage in often and hope the increased price will “encourage” people to use the company’s own fabrics (where they are able to build in profit on the fabric as well as the construction).
Update: we brought the old cushions into the local place and learned our foam inserts were in decent enough shape to reuse. They were able to make new cushion covers (with piping) using our fabric and Dacron wraps for a total of $377. I found a 10% online coupon so got the eight yards of fabric for $97. Total $474 for all three cushions and they look great. Now all we need is for them to fade enough to match our three year old back cushions ;).