The Picnic Table
I had an idea in my head of a beautiful space for outdoor eating on crisp, fall nights.
All we needed was a picnic table, benches and everything else to make it a reality.
One night while I was supposed to be sleeping I got looked over to the door propped up in our room as a "decoration" with lights draping down and saw our table!
So I dragged it down the hallway and found the other one that had been in our shed since we moved into the house. They were originally the doors that opened up to our "foyer".
Then I went to the store, found some outdoor paint in a color I liked (blue of course)
bought a couple of beams for $7/each and began the project.
I hammered and banged off the striped screws took off the hinges and doorknobs
sanded down the rough edges and cleaned the surfaces.
Picked a side and spray painted a couple of coats.
Next I googled the standard size of table and bench legs and cut them to size.
I asked Josh to saw the other door in half longways, much to his dismay and puzzled looks:)
And within a day we had our table and benches.
We carried them around back to the place I envisioned our "space" to be
and began mentally putting other pieces together.
The Deck/Future Pergola
Next was to gather pallets from the local hardware store and other places who were eager to get rid of their "junk". I had seen a picture on Pinterest of a pallet deck, but knew that I'd have to do a lot of board rearranging on those pallets to make it work, and ain't nobody got time for that. At least this colony mom sure didn't. So I opted for some siding board pretreated for roofing and siding. I bought 2 sheets, although I really needed 3 to cover the entire "deck", but I'm on a budget so I'd figure something else out for the extra slots on the sides. I found 2 sheets at $18/sheet.
The next step was to level the ground and pallets.
Which was a beast to do by myself (especially those heavy posts!),
but my hubby told me that leveling is sexy so I dug in my heals (literally)
and leveled that mug until it was flat, ha!
The posts were husband approved, but the deck floor left much to be desired,
so Josh volunteered to help me out, cursing the fact that I insist on using "imperfect pieces" to make my creations. I just told him to embrace those imperfections because that was going to be the thing that gave our space its character. Am I right?!
Next was the painting, which we already had on hand.
And then the FUN began!
Adding the final touches to our project.
This has happened in stages.
(remember I still am a mom and wife)
I painted 3 extra pallets to add as "floating" decks to place other chairs on
or maybe to house the grill
or even the kid's picnic table if we have LOTS of people over.
This just gives us some options
(for the times when I feel the urge to rearrange and now-permanent structure;).
Meanwhile, I had found a solution to the space-between-wooden-slats problem.
I had picked up some plastic trellis from my parents barn a few months back and wouldn't you know that it not only dresses up the space
but keeps us from breaking our ankles in our excitement to get to the table, ha!
(we still have to put some more down,
we just haven't gotten around to cutting it to fit the other sides.)
I spent right at $100 for the entire structure and table/benches.
I had some of the drapes in my home already so all I needed were a couple more drape panels and some color. I found 2 long table clothes at sewed the top to make curtains for the backdrop. Bought a few tension rods and 2 hanging baskets at the Dollar Store. I'd also been waiting patiently for a sale or clearance offer on the lights which I found at target. Two strands work perfectly to add to our space around the fire pit.
Altogether this entire project was right around $140.
Tomorrow I'll be showing some more of the details and
final touches I've added since the initial creation was built.
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