Outdoor Table With Benches

So, now that we have this amazing deck, we needed appropriate seating.  We do have 2 deck chairs and 2 deck ottomans (that the dogs chewed and destroyed), but 2 chairs isn't enough for a cookout!  My original plans for the deck included a built in seating area, but we ran out of lumber. While we do plan on adding that later on, we still needed seating for the time being.  I perused walmart.com, amazon, and craigslist, but I wasn't really seeing anything that I really wanted.

When we moved into this house, we found an old door in the rafters of the shed.  Immediately I wanted to do 23048972304710938412 things with it. :)  It was too small to be a king size headboard, I couldn't figure out where I would put it as a bookshelf...and then it hit me!  A picnic table!

My original plan was to purchase legs from Lowes (In case you didn't know, I hate Home Depot and will always and forever go to Lowes for my home improvement needs), but they're in the neighborhood of $20/leg.  Not what I wanted to spend.  Then I searched Pinterest for ideas on using pallets (we have several in the back yard just waiting to be turned into magnificent things).  What I was seeing looked clunky.  I had finally settle on purchasing lumber to make it into a "real" picnic table.  At least if I was going to be purchasing something, I would get seats out of it too.

 Then, I found this picture...

Since having gotten all this wood from the neighbor, our scrap pile has grown quite a bit! Guess what?  We had a door just waiting to be turned into a table, some leftover 2x8s and 2x4s from the deck and 4x4 posts from the fence. 

A few links in, I finally found a tutorial for that table...but it required a lot of things we didn't have.  So, we just did our own thing using that look as our inspiration.

 

The one thing we did use from the tutorial was the table height.  Being that we're not bonified carpenters, we weren't sure what the standard height for a table was.  We used the 96inches as our starting point and subtracted from there to get our piece heights.

 

Being that it is an old door, and that we had extra lumber, we added a 2x8 on each side.  Now there is plenty of room to eat, drink, and be merry!

Last, but not least, we still needed seating.  I wanted benches because you can fit more people on a bench...if you really want/need to.  Plus, they're easy to move if we want to congregate near the fire pit.

 

They were really simple, but I LOVE the way they turned out!  The table is a nice solid piece, and the benches feel really sturdy.

We haven't done any sealing kind of coat yet, but I think we will soon.

A friend of mine asked me for a tutorial, but I didn't take pictures as we went.  Shortly after posting this picture on facebook, I got a message from a friend of a friend asking me to make her one!  We're in the process of pricing things right now, but if/when we build her a set, I will definitely do a tutorial!

So, what do you think?

xoxo,

Linda

I Have a Deck!

First of all, I never would have imagined that Kody and I would be celebrating 6 months of marriage in a house we BOUGHT!  Second of all, I never would have imagined that we would be adding a whole back deck another 6 months later.

I LOVE home improvement!  I love making our home ours.  I love seeing my hubby love working on home improvement projects as well.  Its just all around amazing!

So, a little back story on the deck...

Kody has, up to this point, received quarterly bonuses for being a caseworker. We spent his first one on things like a lawn mower, weed wacker, hose, grass seed, etc. (Sometimes I feel weirdly guilty for spending money on my Hot Philosophy equipment, so when we have some extra money, I get excited that Kody is giddy/excited about purchasing these kinds of things...)  This time around, we started discussing adding a back deck.  I went online to the Lowes Deck Builder program and entered in my dream deck.  Just like that we had the plans and a $2,800 price tag. 

Umm...his bonus ain't no where near that big!

I'm not kidding you, literally THE day after I started pricing decks, we found out that our next door neighbors were selling their privacy fence (a project planned for later this year) and you guessed it, their back deck!

I guess the guy that owns the house next door was letting the family in the house live there for a minimum-no rent.  Well, he decided to let the house go into foreclosure, and his lawyer told him that anything he had put into the house himself was his to sell (the privacy fence and the deck and I guess the boiler).

At first we had just discussed the privacy fence because that is all they were taking down at the time.   We threw around a price.  Over the course of a week and a half, we were $200 off on what each of us wanted for BOTH the privacy fence and deck.  Kody and I talked about it, and we just decided we couldn't do it.  So, we told them thanks but not thanks.

I was a bit bummed...for 20 minutes.  Then there was a knock on the door.  Would we come up another $50?  Ummm...YES!

We got both a deck AND a privacy fence for just a fraction of the cost of ONE of these items!  Talk about amazing timing!

About a week and half after having loads of lumber sitting in the back yard (the privacy fence is still there for hopefully not too much longer), we have a deck!

This is the before...well, just about before.  I didn't make it out there before they moved some fencing.  It's kind of hard to explain, but there was a "cut-in" where the fencing came in.  I'm not exactly sure why it was like that previously, but we just moved it, so that the deck could go all the way to the end of the house.  (and by we, I of course mean my amazing hubby and father-in-law)

I came home from work the next day to find a framed out deck!

While I was at work that night, I received this update from my mother-in-law.  I LOVE the slanted decking.  I keep thinking that it actually takes more lumber to do it this way, but it's totally worth it!  Also, they used some of the cedar planks to do cover the underneath of the deck.  We have 2 dogs, and we don't need them under the deck!

It's so beautiful!!  We didn't have quite enough lumber to do exactly what I wanted...but it is plenty spacious and just dying to be the platform for our next cookout!  We do plan on staining it, we do have railings and our yard needs a good cleaning up, but that will come!

Right now, we are just enjoying our deck so much!  I was bummed that I didn't get to be there to help more, but I can't complain AT ALL! It. Is. Amazing!

Who is coming over?

xoxo,
Linda

Mile Marker 8: My First Link Up

I really wanted to try my hand at doing a Link Up.

Being that I am a new blogger, I wasn't really sure where to look.  I used trusty ole Google Search to find this link up, and I'm really excited to share!

I am found this link up on Weekend Doings.  I'm already loving her blog, however, the link up I found via Weekend Doings, was already closed.  But Plum and June has another one going...so YAY! My excitement is continuing!

The Link Up: A recent sewing/quilt project.

Now, the quilt pictured below, was made several months ago, but I just love it so much, and I really haven't had a chance to show it off.  It was a gift for my mom and also...my first ever "real" quilt.  I did make some smaller rag quilts for my nieces, but this was my first full blown quilt.  I don't really know that much about sewing not to mention quilting, I just knew what I wanted it to look like.  I was going for a more modern look.  I didn't follow any tutorials.  I just basically pieced together and went for it.

I got SO frustrated SO many times, but I am in love with the end result.  When I first finished the quilt, I said I would NEVER make one again (just in case you haven't heard, I am seriously lacking in the patience department and quilts just take more patience than I have), but after looking at this quilt again, I really want to do another one.  This time, for keeps. :)

In hind sight, this was a SUPER simple quilt.  I just pieced together the front, did a layer of batting, pieced together the back (not totally perfect, but you can't tell from here),  did a wavy sewing pattern across, and then did a black edge.

These pictures were snapped really quickly on my iPhone before we packed up and left for an 8.5 hour road trip, so no judging allowed! ;) jk jk.

To finish up and in honor of the newest addition to the list of blogs I follow, I would like to share a photo from my "Weekend Doings".

I was asked to do a photo booth for a non-profit that one of my college friends works for.  I haven't done a photo booth before, but I am so excited to do it!  I, for the first time, was playing with EOS Utility to experiment with the monitor feed I could get on my macbook.

In the meantime, my husband and dogs were snuggling on the couch.

I took some test shots of them, and I just couldn't resist sharing this one. :)

Now, I know that I have posted pictures of our newest puppy, Molly.  For those of you who don't know, I also have another adorable dog named Grizzabella aka Grizzy.  She is about full grown already, and still smaller than our 10 week old Molly.

Now that you've ooed and awed, I can't wait to check out some of the other sewing/quilt projects from the link up!

Have a wonderful Monday!

xoxo,
Linda

Mile Marker 3: DIY Nighstands

Good morning!

I’m sick today. My nose is clogged to the ceiling and my throat is swollen the size of North America…
My husband and I are supposed to leave for Indiana when he gets home from work.  I’m not going to lie, I’m not all that excited about driving 8.5 hrs feeling like this. YET! I canNOT wait to see my family and to go wedding dress shopping with my girl Hannah (I’ll blog another time about my magical gift of matchmaker)!

Anyway, being that I’m home sick, I figured I would take this time to post the last two DIYs.  I would like to apologize in advance for the picture quality.  These were taken indoors at night with just an overhead ceiling light…not my best work.

This last Sunday after church, Kody and I decided to hit up a few flea markets.  We found a matching set of old crates that gave us the idea to make a couple of DIY nightstands.

We have kind of a country rustic theme to our house, so we thought these would go perfectly next to our bed.

Next, we hit up Lowes to find some wooden legs to attach.  I found the PERFECT wooden legs with these little metal feet, but they were on clearance and there were only 2 left.  So, we found some plain wooden deck railing that we figured we could trim to size.

 

We measured the height of the bed and then subtracted the height of the crates.  We trimmed the wooden railing to fit the remaining height.

Next, I knew I wanted to paint the legs a navy blue, but I wanted the wood grain to show through. So, with the help of my friend Jessi, we watered down the paint and brushed it on.  Right after, we wiped it off with paper towels.
 

Next we covered them in a coat of polyurethane to seal the wood.  We let that dry for 24 hours.

Then, Kody just used screws to attach the legs.

Thats it! I’ll be honest, they’re not my favorite DIY ever, but they look great next to the bed!

We have been wanting to do a floor to ceiling headboard made from old wood pallets.  Yesterday, we finally got our hands on all the pallets we will need! Stay tuned for that in the future!

Lastly, I have been wanting to make a mason jar soap dispenser.  This morning, I finally did.  It took about 5 minutes…and then I decided to paint it, so it took just a little bit longer.

I’m not a very patient person, so I didn’t wait for the paint to dry completely before I started pumping the soap.  (Thats why the paint is smudged)  It was actually partly a good thing because when I spray painted the top, some paint had seeped into the pump and I had to send water through in order to unclog it.  But it works now!

Well, these are my latest projects! My sister is supposed to be having her baby this week, so I’m hoping while I’m home I can take some newborn pictures! Hopefully, I’ll be posting a blog on that soon!

xoxo,
Linda

Posted: 2/28/13