Home Decor

Building a Picnic Table in One Day

July 7, 2016 by Ash 54 Comments

When we were getting our yard ready for spring, we took a trip to our local landscaping center to look at their plants.

On their patio, they had an array of beautiful outdoor furniture. Eileen sat down at a picnic table she liked, looked at the price (a very high $450), and said to me, “I bet you could make this.”

I nodded, thinking about all of the creative things Eileen and our son do in our yard, like having backyard picnics, bubble-making, and painting.

Having a DIY picnic table in the middle of the backyard would be perfect.

Plus, I’m always up for a good woodworking project.

Researching Picnic Table Plans

I did some research online for how to build a picnic table and ended up choosing the first one that came up – PopularMechanics.com.

It seemed simple to construct and the design plans were of a high caliber. The best part was that this picnic table plan called for using composite decking for the tabletop and seats.

This eliminated any concerns I had about having to use pressure-treated wood in close proximity to foods, or having to spend time staining or sealing the surface of the DIY picnic table.

Cleaning the composite decking on the picnic table would be a cinch too. It was a little more expensive than using real wood, but it was worth it.

The rest of the wooden picnic table (legs and supports) would be regular pressure-treated wood, so costs would still be low overall.

The specifics of how to build a picnic table is outlined pretty well in the source website, so I’ll just recap my picnic table building experience.

Overall, it was quite a fun project to work on, and best of all, I accomplished it all on a Saturday (albeit a long Saturday from morning to night).

DIY Picnic Table Material Order

I printed out the materials list from the website, and then I placed order on Lowes’ website for in-store pickup.

I normally don’t like doing store pickup for lumber because you are at the mercy of whatever employee is selecting your wood.

This usually means a random assortment of quality, with crowning knotty boards.

Money-Saving Tips

However, I found an awesome deal on eBay for multiple $15 off $50 Lowes coupons, and they were valid online only.

Using an Excel spreadsheet, I distributed all the materials across 4 separate orders to total just over $50 each.

Then I purchased 4 of the coupons on eBay for a mere $4 (coupon codes were emailed to me immediately after purchase) and placed four Lowes store pickup orders. Just $4 on eBay saved me $60. Not bad! The Lowes guys didn’t mind when I went to pick up the order either.

Here’s my car full of wood after the lumber excursion to Lowes (ignore the concrete and the pipes – they are for an upcoming shade sail project):

I did have to get some wood cut in the store for the picnic table. I ordered several 12 ft pieces of composite decking and I knew that wouldn’t fit in my car.

So I had an employee cut them in half for me. Having the store cut your wood is convenient, but it’s not always worth it.

Their cuts aren’t that accurate, and sometimes you have to wait a while to get help.

Additionally, there seems to be a trend starting in stores to charge you for too many cuts.

Always thinking of how I can save money, I brought a measuring tape and a handsaw in case I decided to cut the picnic table wood myself in the parking lot.

As it turned out, a thunderstorm appeared out of the blue when I got to Lowes, so that forced my hand and I had to have them cut it for me. They usually charge 75 cents for the cuts, but they waived it.

How to Build a Picnic Table

The first step in my how to build a picnic table project was to cut all the wood. So when I got home, I spent an hour cutting all the wood according to the plans. This hard work resulted in the picture below.

Doesn’t it look like a kit just waiting to be put together?

The next step in building a picnic table is to put together the picnic table’s legs:

Here comes the tabletop support:

Next up was the pair of seat supports for the DIY picnic table:

Here are the five pieces of the picnic table project that would soon come together to form the table’s skeleton:

I clamped some of the pieces together and picnic table project was now three dimensional:

With the seat supports attached, it was starting to look like a picnic table now:

Here I used a diagonal support beam to prevent the picnic table’s legs from shifting inwards:

Here I had to reinforce the structure with some 3.5″ galvanized carriage bolts to support the weight of people and tabletop loads:

It wasn’t too early to take the DIY picnic table for a test drive. Here I am taking a break from the work:

Finally, the crowning moment of the project came when I attached the composite decking on the DIY picnic table.

I highly recommend using a countersinking bit for pre-drilling the holes for the deck. I believe they make special screws for composite wood, but I didn’t have any.

At first, I used regular deck screws, and without a countersink bit, they did not look good after the head penetrated the wood.

Unlike real wood that compresses under the screw head, the composite material made a really ugly blemish on the surface.

After trial and error, I found the countersink bit did a wonderful job carving out a notch for the screws.

I used my router and a round-over bit to smooth/bevel the edges of the deck wood:

Finally I completed the DIY picnic table. Eileen helped me move it into the backyard. It was extremely heavy, but that was just a testament to its quality.

Here’s what the picnic table looks like in its element (notice our garden planter and rain barrel in the background).

The total cost of this professional quality DIY picnic table ran us $140, but that’s after a $60 discount via the $4 eBay coupons.

I estimate a pre-built picnic table of this quality would have cost a few hundred dollars in the store and even more at the landscaping stores!

If you are thinking about buying a new picnic table for your yard, instead learn how to build a picnic table with these plans and tips. We are absolutely loving the DIY picnic table, especially the composite tabletop.

Our DIY picnic table is already getting a lot of use and is sure to be a hit at our next BBQ.

How to Professionally Paint an Old Wooden Desk

May 31, 2016 by Eileen 30 Comments

Years ago, I painted an old dresser white with turquoise knobs. It looked really cute, but it was apparent that it was painted – the surface wasn’t anywhere near the quality of the furniture you would buy from the store.

There are so many tutorials online about painting furniture, and so many say that you can skip sanding or priming. Here’s my advice – don’t skip sanding, don’t skip priming, and use a high-quality paint.

Lately, I had been in the market for a new desk in my craft room. I was determined to find a good deal on an old wooden piece and then figure out how to paint the desk like a professional would.

You see, my current desk was an old kitchen table. Ash was in the process of updating my craft room with beautiful built-in bookshelves and a window seat, so it was time for my kitchen table-desk to get the boot.

I didn’t want to pay $200 for a new, modern-looking desk, so I scoured a few flea markets and thrift stores. Finally, at a Habitat for Humanity thrift store. I found a brown wooden desk that I could work with. It was originally $40, but with a 50% coupon – I paid $20.

Being that my craft room would have mostly white furniture, I decided to try my hand at learning how to paint a desk like a professional.

How to Paint a Desk White

Below is a picture from before I started painting the wooden desk.

It’s not a great picture. It had only been in the garage for about two hours, and Ash had the desk covered with tools and wood from another garage storage project. (I should have taken a better picture, but I am always so excited to start my projects that I forget.)

Preparing the Wooden Desk

Before painting the desk, the first thing I did was remove the drawers and knobs. Then I cleaned the desk really well – wiping off dust and anything else that had collected on the surface.

The next step of the desk makeover was sanding it down. To sand, I used a random orbital sander with 80-grit paper. This got the desk down to the bare wood quickly. However, even though the desk was smooth to the touch, I probably should have gone over it with 220 grit paper afterward for a more fine finish.

Here is the desk after the sanding and before painting. Notice I put the feet of desk on pieces of wood to raise it up, so I could easily sand, prime, and paint the desk’s legs.

Priming the Wooden Desk

After I was finished sanding, I wiped the desk down again to get all of the sawdust off. You can use a cheese cloth for this or even paper towels. Next, I was ready for the primer.

Priming Materials

I had a 2-gallon bucket of indoor/outdoor primer leftover from painting the shed last summer, so I was all ready to go.

I used a large roller brush for the desktop. Then I used a small roller brush and a 1-inch brush for corners and tight areas.

In addition, I used an 1-inch foam brush for the rungs.

If you are wondering what the most challenging part of how to paint a desk is – it was painting the rungs. The rungs on this desk were in such close proximity to each other.

As soon as I would paint one side of the rung, paint would build-up on the bordering sides.

I would then smooth this, and once again, the bordering sides would have some build-up, continuing the cycle.

Thus, I had to very meticulously spend time painting the desk rungs, being careful not to use too much paint and being conscientious about going around and around to smooth everything.

If your furniture has a design like this, be sure to leave lots of time (and have plenty of patience).

Also, since the foam brush put on such a light coat of primer, I knew I would have to do at least two coats on the rungs of the desk I was painting.

After two coats of primer on most of the surfaces (I did 3 on the top of the desk as well as the rungs), I was happy with the results and continued on to painting.

Painting a Wooden Desk White

After priming, I was ready to start painting. I was already happy with how the white primer was looking and was excited to finish up the project.

Using a High-Quality Paint

For this, I used a high-quality enamel paint (urethane acrylic satin).

This type of paint differs from regular paint in that the paint pigments are floating in a urethane solution so it dries to form a very hard, protective surface – much like how polyurethane dries.

It is expensive (about $50 a gallon), but its recommended for furniture that gets a lot of use. (Also, I only used about 1/3 of the can painting the desk, so I had a decent amount left for future projects.)

Applying the Paint

To apply this special paint on the desk, I used a foam roller brush.

It is recommended to use a foam brush with this type of paint to give it a smooth finish.

If you use a regular nap roller (like the ones you use when painting walls), it will soak up and waste a lot of the paint, and it leaves a textured finish.

In addition to the foam roller brush, I also used a 1-inch foam brush for the rungs and tight areas.

I applied a thick topcoat on all of the surfaces of the desk, taking my time with the rungs.

After it dried, I put a second coat on the top of the desk only. This provided extra protection on this surface since it would get a lot of wear and tear.

Also, this probably goes without saying, but if it’s a windy day, paint your furniture in the garage if you can, so particles don’t blow and stick to your piece.

Here’s how the painted desk turned out:

The White Painted Desk

The surface of the painted desk had a nice protective enamel that made it easy to wipe, and it looked professional painted.

However, the painted desk still looked like there were ridges in the wood; it wasn’t a sleek, smooth finish like the brand-new furniture you buy directly from the store.

Don’t get me wrong, I was still very happy with the way the wooden desk turned out. However, in hindsight, when I sanded the desk down to the bare wood (even though the wood felt smooth to the touch), I probably should have gone over it with 220 grit paper for a more fine surface.

The 80-grit paper quickly got the old finish off, but the 220 would have given it a smoother seal.

I still loved the way the painted looked – it was a welcome addition to our bright, airy craft room, and I learned exactly how to paint a desk.

Here’s a side-by-side view of the before and after pictures of how to paint a desk. Not bad, right?!

Time & Cost of Painting a Wooden Desk

The time span of painting the desk was the course of a week – including dry time and airing out time. The paint fumes were not strong, but a little extra time never hurts.

The total cost came to $70. The desk was $20, and the paint was $50. We had previously purchased the primer and the painting materials, so that wasn’t a cost for us.

And, there was primer and paint leftover for the next project 🙂 If you are wondering how to paint a desk like professional, these tips and tricks should definitely set you on your way, keeping you loving your professional-looking piece for longer.

Refinishing an Old Telephone Table

May 15, 2016 by Eileen 25 Comments

With the warm weather, Ash and I have been working on so many projects – a built-in bookshelf in our sitting room, a planter box for our garden, painting an old thrift store desk, transforming a kitchen desk area to a cabinet, and refinishing an old telephone table.

Today I’m sharing how Ash and I refinished our old telephone table. I found it for $20 at my favorite flea market years ago and feel in love with its charm. I’d been wanting to stain it dark for years, but it fit in pretty nicely at our old house.

However, in our new house, our family room is much more modern looking, and this old telephone table stood out like a sore thumb!

Preparing the Telephone Table

I was excited to finally have a chance to redo this old telephone table.

My plan was to use wood stain, as we redid my nanny’s coffee table years ago with wood stain. It turned out beautiful.

The first thing I did was wipe it down really well, getting rid of any dust. Then I started to sand down table.

Here’s where I made my mistake. I didn’t sand it down to bare wood. I just did a light sanding, enough to give the stain something to stick too.

Mistakenly, I then moved onto staining the piece, and it was turning out horribly. Since I didn’t sand this old, weathered piece down to bare, there were lots of little knicks and grooves in the surfaces. The stain was filling these in, turning them almost black. So, the surfaces were looking spotty and uneven.

I figured that I now had three choices: I could switch gears and use gel stain like I did on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, I could paint the table, or I could start over again and sand it down to bare wood.

I decided to sand it down to bare wood and start again. Here’s where Ash helped me. We decided to leave the rungs as is – they looked fine with the first coat of stain, and we were hoping they would blend in well with the second application of stain.

To begin the sanding, Ash started with the random orbital sander and 80 grit paper. However, the existing finish on the table proved to be very challenging to remove. The sander was doing its job but very slowly and burning through lots of paper.

After some experimentation with different tools, Ash found the best one to be the oscillating multi-tool.

Using a flush-cut saw blade, running the blade against the surface at the right angle scraped off the thick, difficult finish. It did leave behind a very ragged surface due to the oscillating action of the blade, but he sanded it down smoothly after with the orbital sander.

One caution about using the oscillating multi-tool is that Ash had to be careful to pull the blade versus pushing it through.

When he pushed the tool, it would sometimes snag a groove and start cutting deeply into the wood. The pulling action worked out best.

I made sure to wipe off all of the sawdust – using a combination of a cheese cloth and Ash’s Shop-Vac.

Staining the Telephone Table

Next, I re-gathered my materials for staining:

Dark Walnut Wood Stain – Minwax
Polyurethane – Minwax
Pre-stain – Minwax
Four rags (two per coat)
Foam brushes
Gloves

I prefer to stain wood using rags because the stain rubs into the wood better. You have less excess and build-up; however, I keep the foam brush around for hard to get to places.

Also, I grabbed our can of pre-stain since the wood was now bare. I used the pre-stain first, brushing it on with a foam brush and waiting about 20 minutes before starting to stain.

I used the first rag to rub on a nice coat of stain. Then, I started with the seat and worked my way around.

Since I was working in the hot sun, the wood was absorbing the stain faster than usual. So, I needed to wipe off the excess before I finished the whole piece. I used the second rag for this, lightly brushing it along the surface. Don’t skip this step – or you will end up with globs.

Also, make sure to do a good job removing the excess around tight areas – like where the rungs meet the table. Otherwise, you will end up with ugly, globby lumps.

Even though I used the rag for most of the staining, I took out the foam brush to get the really tight corners or spaces. Be careful with the foam brush because it holds a lot of stain and drips easily and messily.

After I was done staining and removing the excess, I did a quick scan to make sure I didn’t miss any drips. I let it dry until it wasn’t tacky anymore.

Then, I put on another coat.

Sealing the Stain with Polyurethane

After I was done with the two coats, I was pleased with the results. So, Ash put on a coat of polyurethane.

He used a foam brush, going along with the grain of the wood, and carefully making sure there were no lingering air bubbles on the table’s surfaces.

He let that dry overnight and then did another coat. The refinished telephone table was almost done.

Completing the Refinished Telephone Table

The last step was choosing a new knob at Home Depot and screwing it into the drawer.

We let the refinished telephone table air out for a few days. Then, we moved it back into our family room.

Here’s a before and after picture of my charming newly refinished telephone table.

Since we had all of the wood staining materials in our garage, the cost of refinishing the telephone table was $2. Just the cost of the knob. 🙂

The time of project spanned about a week or so, due to the dry time between coats and the couple of days we let it air out. While the refinished telephone table was drying, Ash and I had other projects we were working on – like a desk update.

Overall, the telephone table update was quite an improvement. The dark stain modernized the old table perfectly. I’ll be on the lookout for my next flea market find 🙂

How to Transform Thrift Store Chairs

April 1, 2016 by Eileen 67 Comments

Every time I go to a flea market, a thrift store, even Home Goods, I come home with chairs.

I just love chairs. They can dress a space up, accentuate certain colors, bring back a classic look – they just bring so much personality to a room.

And, I love how easily you can redo them. With a little spray paint and new fabric, you can easily bring a chair new life.

When we were planning to move out of our old house, we had accumulated so many things that Ash told me I wasn’t allowed to bring home any more chairs (or books but that’s a different story).

He was right, as we had enough seats in our house for a Sunday mass.

Before chairs were off limits, I cleaned up a few flea market finds that are now household favorites.

Here’s Ash and I at one of our favorite rummage sales, sitting on the two chairs I later fixed up.

Each of these chairs cost less than $10, which was a steal!

Below is a better picture of the two chairs. The one on the left is an ice cream chair with a wooden seat. Although white, the chipping paint revealed that it had previously been red.

My thinking was to bring back the red with a cranberry color. My grandma had ice cream chairs in that color, and I love little reminders of her.

The one on the right was a purple-ish tan with an old, dingy cushion.

My plan was to make this more modern looking, as I wanted to use this chair for my make-up vanity. I was thinking a dark bronze color.

Preparing for Painting

I decided on spray painting the chairs. It would be easy and spray paint comes in so many colors.

First, I took the seats out of the chairs pretty easily by unscrewing some bolts.

Then, I put the chairs back together without the seats, in order to spray the whole chair.

When painting, I threw down an old shower curtain.

Spray Painting Chairs

After preparing, I applied one thick coat of spray paint on each chair.

The vanity chair looks darker than actuality in these pictures. It’s more of a deep bronze than a black color.

While the paint was drying, I went to work on the seats. The ice cream chair seat was an ugly and uncomfortable wooden circular disk. Here’s a reminder of the what the “seat” looked like:

Choosing New Fabrics

For the ice cream chair, I chose two fabrics that I loved from Joann Fabric.

They were very different patterns because I wasn’t sure which would look better. (I’m very visual and need to see how things would look. It probably would be weird if I carried the chairs through the store holding fabrics up to it – so I just bought my two favorites.

So, I decided at home that the navy blue paisley pattern on an off-white background was the winner.

I loved how the cranberry color contrasted with the navy in the pattern on the finished product.

Here’s a close-up:

Replacing the Old Fabric

To attach the new fabric, I put the current seat on top of the fabric and cut a large square around it.

When cutting, I gave myself about three extra inches around the seat.

Then, I wrapped the seat loosely with the fabric and added stuffing – the white fluffy cushion material (pictured on the floor below).

Next, I pulled the fabric over the underside of the disk and used my staple gun to give it a tight wrap. After screwing the bolts back in, I had a brand new looking seat!

Here’s a before and after of the ice cream chair. I was so pleased with it! My grandma would have been too 🙂

As for the vanity chair, I chose a turquoise and ivory pattern that worked well with the dark bronze spray paint.

This chair already had a cushion, so that saved some time.

In putting this chair back together, I simply wrapped the fabric tightly around the existing seat, used the staple gun to secure the fabric, and then screwed the seat back in.

The chair was looking good – and it worked perfectly with my make-up vanity.

Here’s a before and after of the vanity chair.

Time and Cost of the Chair Makeover

The total cost of making over both chairs was less than $30, including the chairs, stuffing, and fabric.

The time spent working was less than two hours. The longest part was the dry time.

I love how both of the chairs turned out – especially the ice cream chair.

It’s a piece of furniture I will definitely chair-ish 🙂