Sit your butt down

Even the best table isn’t worth much without anything to sit at it with, so after my table was done I got to work putting a bench together. Thankfully, I saw some inspired posts about putting together an outdoor bench and got to work sketching out one of my own. Matching the color scheme makes it easier to overlook the fact that the table and bench are from radically different designs.

Before I start, I should mention I bought two bar clamps from Harbor Freight in an effort to save a few bucks and it turned out to be an awful decision. One clamp didn’t even last overnight, and it’s no longer ratcheting to tension so it’s basically worthless. It's unfortunate b/c I bought a bike stand from there years ago that's held up great so I would give HF another chance. But it's not a good feeling to walk into your shop and see a new tool in pieces on the floor. Remember, a poor man can’t afford to be cheap. Get quality tools.

Anyway, this bench came together with a simple mix of 1x4s and 2x4s, mostly glued together with some screws on the outer 2x4s at the top. Going off the table, I wanted it at a height of 18 inches. The legs are made of alternating 14.5” 2x4s with 18” 1x4s as spacers between. The seat of the bench is 5 2x4s running across the two legs, they’re about 70” and juuuust fit between the table's legs. I glued the legs together in an alternating pattern and clamped everything overnight. Then when they were done I painted them the same blue as the table legs, and stained the long 2x4s individually before attaching them to the legs. The outer ones got screws, and the inner ones all were glued even though they probably weren’t going anywhere anyway.

Morning donuts count as a picnic.

Some wood filler and some sealant and we were ready to go. I was actually so antsy to have seats for the table I put it out there without sealing the filler and had to go back this weekend to put it on. But it was worth it, I like how it came together. Two evenings in the shop, give or take, and an extra trip to get some extra patio chairs and we’re ready to dine al fresco. 

Off to a good start

So, amidst all the excitement of selling, moving, buying, closing, moving (it was complicated) of all the things I wanted to do in a new house the first was build a patio table. A big shiny one, that you could sit and drink around for hours on summer nights with plenty of your favorite drink cold and within reach. Why, with two kids who keep the wife and me up all hours of the night and too tired to drink anything if we ever had the chance, this project got stuck in the top slot was beyond me. But as the clouds parted and it started to look like we'd actually close on a new house in mid-December of '15, I started making plans...

And a scarce 4 months later, my brother-in-law and I were carrying this beast out of the garage and up the steps of our deck. And thank god too, b/c it was one of three projects I had in there at the time and I needed the space.

Ta da!

Although it was at the top of my list this wasn't quite the first thing I ended up doing. There was the moving in and getting settled, finding a new home for our mounds and mounds of boxes, all the good stuff that goes with moving in less then 10 days before Christmas. By March, things were actually together to the point where I had room in a garage to work and I thought I was ready. "Thought." Most of it came together in a day with additional time spent slowly getting the sanding done, then staining, then sealing, to the point where I finally finished it just before we had a bunch of people over for the boy's birthday party.

First day, March 7th, w/the beginning of a console table too

I say "thought I was ready" b/c it looks good (it looks great) now, but there were some questionable moments in getting it finished. This seems like a good time to mention I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to wood working, power tools, building or fabrication of any sort. I saw this project and my brain just wouldn't let go until I finished. My wife, bless her, was more than happy to let me work on this with the agreement that if she was not pleased with the final result it was not going on the deck and we'd be purchasing our table. There were a few moments starting out where the likelihood of that happening seemed pretty high. But eventually, when I got the legs on and flipped the whole thing over, I knew we were in good shape.

March 20th, legs on and about to get trimmed for a straight edge.

The legs were actually one thing that changed; initially I planned on using 4x4 timbers but they were so bad looking at Home Depot I ended up just using 2x4s glued and kregged together. I don't think it hurt things structurally but it definitely tells you the thing was DIY.

One thing that surprised me was this project's ability to spiral into more and more purchases to get it done. Of course, I had to pick up some basics to get started. A kreg jig (love it), circular saw, clamps; basic tools that help you get any job done. And I justified it by saying I was saving hundreds by building a set that would cost us a ton with $100 of lumber. But then there was sanding. And stain. And sealing. And each of those was a purchase/design decision with the potential to derail the whole thing. Initially all I wanted was to see if I could do it. By the time I finished I wanted things as close to the picture in my head as possible.

April 9th, 4 coats of seal and ready to move.

So now it's on the deck, with a matching bench (also from the shop) and new chairs, and we ate outside last weekend and it was great. We need an umbrella, b/c it was hot as balls on an amazing 80 degree Sunday, and I can't imagine every having enough people around it to warrant 60 inches of planters in the middle to fill with ice, but for a first DIY project this one hit it pretty much out of the park.

Welcome welcome

Ah, the changes life brings us.

My name is Jeremy. I'm a married father of two with a new house in the 'burbs. We've just moved from Chicago, where I was mostly happy riding a bike to work and enjoying the little things in life like having a go-to liquor store and walkable trips to daycare. But when a homeless man grabs your stroller and threatens to throw your 15-month old into traffic, or you just realize your little yard is too small for two rambunctious toddlers who both need their own room, the suburbs start to look awfully appealing.

So fast forward 15 months since my last post, and things are quite different. New job, new house, no dog (RIP Payton); eventually I might discuss the nightmares of moving into your in-laws house for 7 weeks after you close on a condo sale without finding a house, or how to move into a new house a week before Christmas and not lose your sanity. But mostly I'm thinking I'll be documenting whatever DIY or house-care project I've been working on, which is good b/c since moving I've already had a few projects come together that I can start with.

Where did all this energy come from? Beats the hell out of me. It's not like I have a lack of things to focus on. Any energy I saved by not bike commuting pretty much gets instantly spent on getting the kids ready in the morning and home at night. But I mostly find myself working on things in my very little spare time to A) save money, and B) see if I can. And so far it's worked out okay. So far I've put together:

• a patio table with planters rigged up as cooler in the middle
• a matching bench, or at least a bench painted to match
• a console table for behind the couch in the living room
• a covered sandbox that folds open to benches for the boy's fourth(!) birthday
• the first of two lounge chairs for somewhere in the yard

Eventually, I'll post about all of these as well as go over what else I have planned and anything else that comes up as we get used to the new house. Plenty of chances to gripe about contractors or anything else that comes up. For now, I'll stick with welcoming myself back to sporadically blogging and trying to come up with a new close that I like as much as I liked the beer-scale.