Weekend Project #1 - The Picnic Table

Since we've moved into our new place, we've come up with some "weekend projects" that needed to be done.  Remember the shade tree that needed a picnic table?

See how lonely that tree is?

First order of business was to move the big, wood kitchen table from the kitchen outside so we could strip it and re-finish it.  We knew that we wanted to put kitchen cabinets in the kitchen to maximize the space, but the table had to come out.  The table is roughly seven feet by four feet and weighs a gajillion pounds, because it is solid wood.

Jay and I managed to muscle it out of the kitchen and into the mudroom, but came to a screeching halt at the door.

Off with its legs!

The door was about two inches too narrow to force the table through.  Many cuss words and one amputated leg later, we were able to get the table out.

We were smart enough to buy an electric sander, but not quite smart enough to buy the right grit of sand paper, so stripping the table was slow work.  We stripped the bottom of the table and the legs Friday night, then sealed them with Thompson's Water Seal and left it to cure overnight.

The next morning, armed with 100 grit, we tried stripping the top of the table.  It took us forever and we eventually ran out of the "starter pack" that came with the sander, so off to the hardware store we went.  When we came home with proper sandpaper, the project went much faster.  I hadn't realize how well sealed the table had been.  Maybe if I had thought about it, we would have bought something to chemically strip the varnish instead of spending two hours taking turns sanding.

I love the weathered look of the stripped table, but we had to seal it.  We love this table and want it to last, so on went the water seal.

After all that work on getting the table ready to be an outdoor table, there was no way we were going to let its wooden legs sit in the mud, which meant we had to expand our project to include setting pavers.

I know the pictures make it look like I made Jay to all the work, but I really did do some.  Really!  It's just difficult to take pictures and do physical labor at the same time.

Doesn't that tree look much less lonely now?  We still have no way to sit at the table (yet another weekend project), but it's a nice place to hang out and watch the amazing sunsets.

Allie-bird got to move back in with us now that we're not living in a pet-free apartment and she spent her time surveying her new domain while Jay and I worked.