I love arts & crafts and mission styles too so I was drawn right into this post. Since you have a budget and say you won't (ever?) have more money to put into the decor I think you need to sit down and think about how to spend the money. Which things do you expect to last "forever" and which can you see replacing down the road? Put the bulk of your money into the forever stuff. I think as long as you keep things simple you can mix art & crafts/mission with other styles with great success. Puffy recliners are no good though so get rid of that thing! Just kidding. Sort of ;-) We'd all like to a houseful of Stickley and Van Erp but most of us can't afford that. There are "no name" antique mission furnishings out there at reasonable prices (because they are no name) that are solidly built. Someone like my father, who hated mission furniture, would use them as work benches or whatever. Now they need refinishing but they're still good pieces. Keep your eyes open for those diamonds in the rough.

Ours are cedar - my DH built them. They too are exposed full-time to the sun all season. He left them natural but painted them with a preservative. Each spring he washes them thoroughly to remove accumulated dirt using a bristle brush and water with TSP. After allowing them to dry several days he applies a couple coats of wood oil. They look new when refurbished. I know he will welcome any tips others offer.

Whenever I've had to clean something before I painted it, I just wash with a little soapy (a little bit of tide goes a long way) water & make sure it's bone dry before painting. No ill effects yet but I'm not old either.

I think that is a Bessie print-I got it so many years ago. I've moved it to my guest room now. Knot holes-they still show-I wanted the ceiling to still look rustic, but they're now less obtrusive. The PO was a smoker, so I had a lot of leak thru of nicotine before I put the second coat of paint on. I was really worried about that, but the second coat did the trick. The ceiling has some 'holes, where the know holes were chinked out, but that adds to the charm of the old pine ceiling. The floor is just a low end laminate-if I ever need to turn it back in to a bedroom, I'll have carpeting put back in there, but for now, the laminate cleans up well. The chair was painted with primer for plastic, then I went over it with just white spray paint. I'm debating doing a chalk paint finish in pink, I kind of like the white. I was going to make a slip cover for it, but discovered that there was a fabric covered plastic backing, so I was able to use a flexible putty knife and push the fabric deep into the crevices-no sewing whatsoever! The arm pads just unscrewed, so a bit of stapling, hot glue and rescrewing it back on, they were done. It literally took me less than 30 minutes to recover it. So far the paint is holding up well, I specifically chose plastic spray primer. I'm going to paint the top of the desk in pink chalk paint, and wax the whole thing. A year or so ago I painted the sewing cabinet with chalk paint and I love it, so I think the desk will take it well. I did add crystal knobs to the drawers and some crystal knobs to the farm house table-my little bit of bling. I finished decorating it this weekend, and managed to get ALL my craft supplies back in, with barely and room to spare. I bought some cute glass jars to hold a lot of my crafting supplies, and I used vintage glass salt & pepper shakers to hold glitter. I have vintage pottery & silver holding a lot of my other supplies-it's just so 'me' in there.