Yes, it’s only in our own yard…but the amount of neglected and untamed vegetation makes us feel like it might as well be the jungle. Poison Ivy vines as thick as your wrist were the first to get the machete…and with each successive pass through…more and more clearing out to make our first “nature trail”. It winds from the driveway through the woods up to the back of the house. It also allows us to access the side of the house that currently can only be reached by what I call “the steps of death”.
We had to have a few more dead trees taken down, and instead of hauling off the chips, we had them dump them so we could use them to floor our new path. It’s free for them to leave the chips, and they even said they’d bring us more anytime we wanted for no additional cost – nice. We’ve made pretty good progress all in all. If it ever stops raining, we might even get it finished.
I found this coffee table in Fairview for $30 and just knew, despite its problems, I could make it work. It was covered in rings from drink glasses and had what appeared to be some ink in the wood as well. It didn’t have to be perfect since I needed it for the playroom…and it would get treated harshly. From Uno to Lego, this table would provide what we lacked so now…how to get it cleaned up? I somehow sensed that sanding alone would not solve my problems (and it didn’t) so I turned to the net for answers.
Oxalic acid is what I needed….4 out of 5 DIY dorks like me seemed to think that this stuff can take the stains out of almost any wood. I could order it online….but was determined to find it locally. I head out to Lowes and start reading labels…I was about to give up when I spotted the deck cleaning section and, lo and behold…Deck cleaner is primarily composed of…..oh yeah, oxalic acid. I grab a gallon and rush home with unrealistic visions of having it finished by nightfall.
Having already sanded it the day before, all I had to do was:
1) apply an acid/water solution to the stains
2) let sit for 30 minutes
3) then rinse, and seal once the wood dried back out.
Well, in the end I treated the stains with 4 different solutions of acid to water, strengthening it each time until I finally just put the deck cleaner on the stains neat. THAT finally did the trick..but to be cautious, I’d spent hours getting to that realization. To seal the table, I had bought both tung oil and linseed oil and decided to go with the linseed in the end. The wood looks great and I’m probably going to put another coat of linseed oil on in a few days after the other coats truly soak in. Well worth the effort…I think the Playmobil knights and pirates agree.
sandingmore sandingone of many marks still showing post-sandingready to rumblesecret weaponswaiting
What timing! I just had to point out the Tolix Trestles in this afternoon’s post on Remodelista. $595 v. $50 for 2 trestles (posted earlier today). Yes…theirs are chic, sleek and French with no bolts showing..but the legs don’t adjust from dining to coffee table height, now do they?  Both are powder coated steel. If I’m paying $1200 for a complete table…I don’t want it to look even CLOSE to something that might get done for $75. There is always this danger with an industrial chic look. Designer v. Down and Dirty… you decide…just sayin’.
I’ve bemoaned my current outdoor living situation…or really, the lack thereof, before. Until now…we only had 4 small chairs and 2 of my water heater tables on the small deck outside the kitchen. We hadn’t reassembled the back deck yet since Phil/lipa is STILL on the prowl (don’t EVEN get me started.) The point is, we had ample space, but nothing organized for outdoor entertaining. I had houseguests coming for a week and the weather here was unseasonably pleasant for late August/early September. We HAD to have a place for us all to hang comfortably outside and I only had a few days to get it figured out.
Since we were not yet sporting a new deck or patio…I needed to make one…fast and cheap, because anything I do will be bulldozed when the real landscaping begins. There was a flat area just beyond the deck off the kitchen that was nothing more than mud and stones with a few weeds thrown in. This, was the perfect spot for my poor man’s patio.
I bought 15 bales of pine straw for about $65 and started spreading it around to create the floor of my “patio”. I sprayed some weed killer before I put it down (and it needs another round already.) I loved it. It kept the mud from getting tracked in, and made a kind of “soft” floor for us to enjoy. I didn’t have an outdoor dining table anymore and we were adamant that we dine a-fresco in the glorious weather. I figured it was time to go for the industrial approach.  Material list – very simple: Powder coated metal sawhorses ($25 each-adjustable height legs a MUST) and plywood picked up from Home Depot. My Crafty Counterpart connected 3 pieces of plywood together to get the length we wanted and bolted it down to the sawhorses for stability – they come undone just as quickly for disassembly.
In order to hide the lovely plywood, I get a big roll of chocolate brown burlap from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. I’ve been using burlap for outdoor table coverings for years…cheap, easy and customizable. If you buy a bolt of it ($3.00/yard) then it doesn’t matter how long your table is…just keep rolling it out and cut to size. If you want to get fancy, fray your edges by pulling out the last few rows of thread..it gives it a much more finished look. I ran out of time, so no fancy for me this round.
I found some chairs at the flea market last spring for $7 each and they’ve been sitting in the garage, waiting for their debut. They came from a church in Evansville, Indiana and they were perfect for the Regal Beagle’s yard. Plastic seats, metal legs and surprisingly comfortable – SOLD. I bought all 11 he had. Some have paint spatters, but luckily, I didn’t need that many right now so I could save that project for another day. That’s it. Instant dining area.
I had some furniture that needed work, but was still usable with a few cushions. I scrounged in the attic to find some old cushions to throw on the broken metal Woodards and then, we were ready to chillax in the yard. And chillax we did, while watching our friends the owls do a little evening hunting. It’s not pretty…it’s more like the Regal Beagle goes Redneck, but it was just the ticket. Sometimes function simply must trump form. As we sat out in the moonlight, listening to the cicadas in the forest, I didn’t care how ugly it was…and neither did my guests.
small amount of seating on deck
"patio" to be right under that tree at the topstraw over mud
spreading it outplywood and sawhorses
all securedburlap and candles then ran out of time
So sorry the posting has been so light….I promise next week will be better…recovering from a bad cold (H1N1 jokes directed at me are plentiful right now), so I couldn’t focus on the screen for awhile. I’ll just give a sneak peek of what I got up to before our houseguests arrived…..
So, ever since I saw the latest Readymade, I can’t get that astroturf couch out of my head….with my noggin so far into the landscape situation..I don’t think I can resist giving it a whirl. I’m thinking more like an astroturf Mies daybed….not the traditional style Christina and Elspeth used. Once again…this idea would have horrified me before I moved into the Regal Beagle here, but I think I can make it work if I do it right….Have I lost it? Maybe. We’ll see!
