My Purple Chairs 4 photos

17 years ago

I've had two Adirondack chairs for several years now. After moving to this house, I painted them purple! Not everybody liked the color, but I did, because it went with so much in my garden. I leave them out all winter and enjoyed the contrast with the snow. After many years they are falling apart and it's time to say goodbye. So here they are, say goodbye with me!

The first picture is a link. Click on it and you will go to my new web album for more photos. (This is the first time I've tried this new picasa website, so fingers crossed)

My Purple Chairs
{{gwi:632867}}From My Purple Chairs
{{gwi:632868}}From My Purple Chairs
{{gwi:632869}}From My Purple Chairs

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Comments (33)

lavendrfem
17 years ago
I just love your purple chairs! It's my favorite color, bet you can't tell. :) ...too bad you have to say goodbye... Your garden is just beautiful - I love the picnic table right in the middle.

Are you going to replace the chairs? what with?
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debbieca
17 years ago
I remember those chairs! What a shame they are done. One of my garden fantasies is to have brightly colored adirondack chairs.
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ellen_inmo
17 years ago
Maybe this will be an inspiration to do something with those chairs, rather than just throw them out.

I took this picture at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis last year. I know this isnt a "new" idea, but it may be new to you or to others. I think it's adorable! They also did a "person" bathing, by using a metal oblong shaped tub, having the "flower pot person" laying in it, wearing a shower cap and they arms on the sides of the tub, very much like a real person soaking in the tub! This is a water feature, as it has a real running shower head over the bathtub part of it and the tub is filled with water and water plants. Totally cute! If you want, I can post that picture too.

You could always repaint the chairs to a different color or keep them purple (for nostalgic reasons) and gut the seats out of them and make flower pots out of them. People are doing that all over the place around here.

{{gwi:632870}}
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goga
17 years ago
Those chairs are fabulous. I love bold colour like that. Very pretty. You have a beautiful garden too.
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ellen_inmo
17 years ago
Oops, I submitted before I was ready to, then the computer locked up. Grrrrrrrr..

I wanted to add on my reply that I intend to make these flower pot people for each person in my family, and personalize them. Such as, one for my husband would be in a chair, with his feet propped up, with an old tv remote in one hand and a bottle of Bud Light in the other. Or rather, since he doesnt drink much anymore, a bottle of Mountain Dew, and place it close to his recreational part of the yard . And to also make one for each of my children, my 3 year old twins with one on an old bike, the other holding a football or something like that. And one for myself as well.

Just an idea for personalizing your garden and reusing your chairs, which I love that purple color you had used!
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flowerchild5
17 years ago
absalutally gorgeous garden and I love the purple chairs! I found an adirondak on the side of the freeway with only one board broke on the back. My hubby is going to replace it for me. It's white but I think the purple is awesome!
Those flower pot people are a fun idea!
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girlgroupgirl
17 years ago
That first photo is really beautiful, with the chromium yellow euphorbia and the tulips which match the chairs.

Purple is my fave too, don't 'cha know it!

GGG
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natalie4b
17 years ago
What a fabulous idea to paint the chairs purple! I especially love the picture with peonies next to it.
I think garden is an expression of one's spirit. Even if others are saying: you are nuts! - so what. Celebrate Life the way you want it!
You go Girl!
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angelcub
17 years ago
Love those purple chairs! And the POT people. Too cute.

I'm going to paint my wicker deck furniture this spring. It's that common tan color and anyone who knows me knows I don't do blah beige or tan. ; ) Gotta have my color!

"Celebrate Life the way you want it!" Indeed! It's much too short to live it on someone else's terms. : )

Diana
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gottagarden
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks everyone! I am wondering what to replace them with. For one of them, I think I'll get an "arbor bench". I have considered taking one of the purple chairs and leaving it in the garden and letting vines climb over it and perennials lean on it. Not sure if it will look "romantic" or "junky". Perhaps if I put one of those pot people in it.

Chair/bench suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: My Purple Chairs Album
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balsam
17 years ago
ooohhhhhh! I LOVE those chairs!!! Too bad they have to go, but you have inspired me with your beautiful garden pics. I've been drawn to delphiniums the past couple of years and now I know just what to do with them to make a lovely little garden room! Thanks gottagarden ;)

Balsam
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Nell Jean
17 years ago
Your public albums are just a delight. After going through so many displays of one close up blossom after another elsewhere, it's a treat to see real garden scenes, displayed in logical order so one can see the progress through the seasons.

The little people at the end -- precious!

Nell
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boondoggle
17 years ago
Why not buy two more chairs and paint them purple again? Unless you're tired of them....
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putzer
17 years ago
I love these chairs and still remembered that first picture from when you posted it before-in fact, I talked about it to quite a few people, including the local nursery :)

Just gorgeous!!!
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msmisk
17 years ago
LOVE your purple chairs and they look great in your garden. For years, I had 2 lovely adironack chairs, with footstools and a table between them, under a red oak by the driveway. Unfortunately, they were in a fatal car accident . . . I had moved them to the driveway when I mowed, and when I backed my SUV out of the garage later, I ran smack over them. It was ugly. Only one chair and footstool survived.
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fammsimm
17 years ago
I love those chairs, and especially where you have them in your garden. I'm with boondoggle, I would buy more Adirondack chairs and paint them purple, just like before.

You mentioned that the current chairs are falling apart. Were they water-proofed and sealed, or are they falling apart from age rather than the elements?

Marilyn
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georich5
17 years ago
What a delight! Chairs,babies,babies and chairs.
That purple is wonderful. I was given 2 old nasty benches this summer. I was going to go red but the purple has me rethinking.

Thanks,
georgeanne
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gottagarden
Original Author
17 years ago
Nell, thanks for your kind words. I prefer photos of garden settings rather than individual blooms, for me the magic is how plants combine.

msmisk - haha! (Sorry) I had an antique child's wagon. After moving it to mow the lawn, my husband backed over it, so I know how you feel!

Marilyn, the chairs were old, and other than painting them, I did not seal them or take care of them. I'm sure if I took better care they might have lasted longer, but it's all I can do to take care of my plants. Plus now I have the opportunity for something new.

I have considered new purple chairs, but somehow I don't like to repeat myself. I want to try something new. I'm leaning towards a bench with a big arbor covered in flowering vines where you can almost hide inside and look out at the garden. Photos next year ;-)
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carrie630
17 years ago
Okay - I'm missing something, gottagarden... those chairs look pretty good in those pictures. Are they not usable?
They don't look like they are peeling, etc. I also have purple chairs in my yard - looks like we used the same spray paint - and a couple of mine are looking "worn" - yours look good compared to mine. Love your pictures!

Carrie
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moonphase
17 years ago
gottagarden,those purple chairs just belong in your garden.They are now making adirondacks in plastic and in a beautiful lavender color.I have 2 on my list for my birthday wants next mo.
Your gardens are lovely and wish I knew what some of the plants are you have.I really enjoyed your photos.
moonphase
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threeorangeboys
17 years ago
Gottagarden, your garden is amazing. I realize I can't ever post a photo of my garden when I see what you all have created- very humbling.
Your peonies and lilies are amazing- is that a euphorbia in the first photo? Wow. Totally inspiring.
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fammsimm
17 years ago
Thanks for the info, Gottagarden. I'm considering buying some wooden Adirondack chairs and wasn't sure of their life span.

I love your idea of a bench with a big arbor. It would be a great place to escape to quietly read, or to just sit back and observe your lovely garden.

Marilyn
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gottagarden
Original Author
17 years ago
carrie630 - they look better than they are, a major joint is rotted through. Little scraps of purple paint show up in many different flower beds.

threeorangeboys - In the first photo that is euphorbia with iris. I just dug up all those peonies and moved them out front to a new "peony bed". ( I know, I know, it's a sickness . . . )

Marilyn, these chairs were "foldable", even though I never put them away, so I never used that feature. Because they folded, they had a dowel for a pivot where the back met the seat. The wood holding the "hole" in the back rotted through. I think the design to allow it to be "folding" made for a "weak spot" on the chair back. So my recommendation is to get regular non-folding type.

Here is a photo from yesterday showing the slant of the back. We just had a beautiful ice storm. {{gwi:632871}}From My Purple Chairs
{{gwi:632873}}From My Purple Chairs

You can see how even in the winter these chairs still anchor the scene.
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fammsimm
17 years ago
Awesome pictures, particularly the second one!

Even if they are not safe for sitting, I hope you can find a way to keep them in your garden as a decorative piece. I really think they are beautiful and well worth re-purposing.

Have you considered putting a potted flower on the seat, and then attaching a wide brimmed hat ( beribboned and with flowers at the crown)to the back of the chair? Or perhaps a collection of brightly colored bird houses nailed to the back?

Marilyn
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carrie630
17 years ago
I would have to keep them for sentimental reasons - aside from the fact that they look great in your setting. I agree that they look great in the snow!!

Carrie
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gottagarden
Original Author
17 years ago
They probably will live on somewhere as a vine support. Now to think of where . . .

Marilyn, I actually put a birdhouse on the chair this summer to stop anyone from sitting there, but making that a feature instead of something makeshift is something to ponder.

Thanks guys!
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rian
17 years ago
Oh... I'm struck by peony envy. What is the name of the red peony in the third picture. What a gorgeous plant! I feel like Mr. Toad in the Disney version of Wind in the Willows when he first saw the motor car.
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gottagarden
Original Author
17 years ago
That peony is Karl Rosenfeld, most people love that one. I moved some to my red bed for spring color. Peonies are so easy, gotta have 'em.
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mikes_only_girl
17 years ago
Hey neighbor, I love the chairs, in purple! very cozy. :)
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FlowerLady6
17 years ago
I have loved your purple chairs, and do hope you can somehow incorporate them into your gardens until they crumble. The color is great with your gardens, even in the winter.

FlowerLady
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mrmorton
17 years ago
Like everyone else, I really like how you have incorporated these chairs into your garden. Very whimsical. Your pics are all great, but I especially love the 4th one down from the top.
Last year I started doing a simlar thing, expect with blue ceramic. So far, I have a pot, a "watering can", and a wall planter, all in the same blue color. I am now looking for the perfect blue ceramic bird bath.
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rosefolly
17 years ago
I like the purple chairs too, very much. The particular shade of purple you chose is rich and beautiful, but does not jar the eye. I like the idea of a purple chair overgrown with some beautiful vine, as though the owner had slipped off through a secret door and would come back a few moments later to find that three years had gone by. You can tell I am addicted to fairy tales.

I also understand the urge to do something new with your garden, and I like the idea of the arbor and bench. After all, gardening is a craft that by its very nature invites change. If we wanted to work in a medium that stayed done when we finished it, we would take up quilting or woodcarving or welding. And indeed, some of us do those things as well.

Rosefolly
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SandL
17 years ago
Those are pretty cool. I like how they go with the flowers. Awesome job!

Heather
0

My Purple Chairs 4 photos

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