OMG, the parentals are coming!

My mom and dad are arriving imminently for their annual visit and there’s been a sudden rush to get a bunch of things done around the house so that there appears to be some sense of progress and order since their last visit. Their last visit was somewhat shambolic as we moved house during their stay. It was far from relaxing for them or anyone else. I was so grateful to have them around though because, as any parent of two smalls would know, it was invaluable to have the kids distracted and entertained while the hubby and I tackled the usual chaos that accompanies a move. Despite the help however, there were still boxes scattered around the house by the time ‘Ouma and Oupa’ left so they should see a vast improvement regardless.

I have a fairly impressive (you could call it never-ending) list of jobs to get done around here but there was no way I would squeeze it all in before their arrival so I needed to prioritize. Two things seemed urgent: (1) fixing up our outside entertainment area, and (2) having removable covers made for my lounge suite which is starting to take a beating.

First up, the outside area. We have had our outdoor dining set for almost eight years and I can comfortably say that it’s served us well. Dubai has an extremely harsh summer and unless you are very good about having a cover-it-all-up type of thing made, anything standing outside during the sweltering summer months is bound to get ruined. We’ve had this furniture brought back to life with a good sanding and re-varnish twice in the past but this year it was looking so bad that I very nearly threw it out.

After one or two outrageous quotes received for carrying out the repair work, my hubby managed to convince me that we should tackle the task ourselves. I think he actually said, “come on, it’ll be fun, we can get the kids involved.” Say whaaaat? As if the job didn’t seem daunting enough, the prospect of managing two smalls around enamel paint and electronic tools wasn’t at all appealing, but hey ho, the next thing I knew, we were in Speedex buying all the supplies! These included an angle-grinder (which allows a beautiful shortcut for sanding), paint (we chose a enamel with an eggshell finish), brushes and small foam rollers, protective masks and goggles, and a handheld sander on loan from a friend. What followed was a few days of hard work, an hour or so at a time, whenever we could spare the time…. and everyone got involved.

Halfway through the project, I realized that the cushions for these chairs were also in dire need of a makeover and there was no way I was putting the revolting old ones on our ‘new’ furniture so I called my go-to-upholstery-guys at Sense Furnishings in Satwa and in no time, I had selected a subtle grey outdoor fabric. The new seat cushions arrived as the last coat of paint was drying and the end result was well worth all the effort. We are now ready for all our Christmas visitors and already enjoying being outside in this glorious winter weather.

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