This summer's big project

Just one post a month this summer? I guess it's a lot harder to do work around the house without Friday's off and a dissertation to write. So what's been eating up all my project time this summer? A new cooler box, or as I liked to call it the worst project I've ever been dumb enough to take on.

This started so innocently. Our neighbors were moving, and offered us their outdoor bar set for a halfway decent price. A bar/cooler with six bar stools for $40. Like an idiot, I said okay.

It sat in the yard as I wondered what I had done. 

Sat and collected a shit ton of rain water. 

The bar was just a big plastic cooler they had screwed some boards to and built a shoddy bar jutting off the top. And it was on the rustiest rack of wheels I had ever seen. One day into having this crap in our yard and I was feeling pretty damn dumb. 

First supplies run

But I was pot committed at that point and with a $100 home depot card burning a hole in my pocket I thought I'd try to make the best of it. Demo'd the "bar" off, took the wheels off, and muscled this plastic piece of crap up to the deck on my own.

These looked square at least. 

Getting this piece of crap up the steps convinced me it still needed wheels.

Without the wheels it was too low for a bar, so I built a frame to attach to the bottom on casters thinking I'd want it pub table height. But with all the rain we got through May and June, that collapsed as soon as I tried to move it around. It went back on in a much shorter fashion.

I thought 30 5" cedar pickets would be enough to wrap the damn thing, either my math or the board lengths were way off b/c I needed 15 more. Thankfully they still had some out at home depot after the initial trip. For all four sides, this meant taking off junk that was screwed onto the plastic, and putting something else on to use as a contact point for the boards to get glued/screwed to.

It stopped raining and got hot as balls at this point. 

With the cedar on it's not looking too bad, and I thought hinged lids would be easy enough to make to keep it functional but also good for storage. I was thinking tile but the wife suggested peel and stick to keep the weight down, which I thought was a good suggestion.

Mitered and routered to fit a 1/4 plywood panel. 

Again, doesn't look too bad. 

Of course my math was off on that too, and I needed to order a second set of supplies. 

Bought 15, ended up needing 25. Dammit. 

For weight these are fine, but there's not as nice as real tile. 

At this point I was ready to burn the fucking thing down. But the peel and stick wasn't hard to work with once I had enough. Getting the lids aligned right to put the hinges on was an adventure too, but at that point I was beyond taking pics and just wanted to be done. Thankfully all I had left after that was a quick run of caulk to tie the thing together and it was done. I'll have to stain it in the future with the same stuff we used on the fence but that can wait. 

It's already full of crap in this picture; two coolers & a tub of outside toys.

Whew. Now that it's done I don't mind it, but that was one of the most painful projects I've done around the house. The extra storage is nice, it's holding our two coolers and a few other odds and ends, and it does actually make a halfway decent bar top with people over. I might want to epoxy over the top in the future, but that's going to wait until I build my patience back up. 

fixing the bar cabinet

Over the holidays I noticed the bar cabinet door wasn't staying completely closed. I wondered if it was cold enough in the house to cause some shrinkage, but actually, the bottom shelf had too much weight on it and was sagging!

I had my post-Super Bowl Monday off, so out came the bar clamps and an extra wood screw or two.

Viola! One square cabinet again.

It felt good to be productive, even if I was fixing something that wasn't quite holding up as well as I hoped it would. I was glad to have the time at least.

The dog was a little confused but she appreciated being able to get this done with a minimum of machine noise.

Staining and the finishing touches

Is that a pun? I think it's a pun.

Getting some time to work this week, I stopped taking photos and just got going. Finished sanding everything, got the legs and door on, and stained. After thinking, I probably should have stained the door and then put it on, but live and learn.

I left the door two-tone to create some visual interest. I'm not sure how I like it but at this point it's done and I'm moving on. Hopefully it takes attention away from some imperfections in how it fits at least.

What I did really like was the legs. The wife isn't a huge fan of hairpin legs but I am, and thought if I went small enough they wouldn't get overruled. They're only 4", which were hard to find cheap enough to fit my budget, but I think they make it look more finished. And the whole thing is so much lighter than anything else I've made, I guess that's what happens when you figure out what to actually do.

Decent looking miter at least. I seem to be learning.

This is a dark walnut stain, which duh, but I ended up thinking it's a little dark for my liking. But it's going behind a black couch so it should match pretty well. I think there's about 5 coats of poly on at this point. Can't do too much to try and protect something from abusive wiener kids.

Put two hardboards on the back and viola, one behind the couch console table with wine glass storage. Two years ago when I built the first one I was so excited I brought it in and set it up by myself as a surprise. My enthusiasm is a little tempered at this point, it waited in the garage until I could get help. But it's getting high marks from everyone in the house so far.

It certainly got junked-up quickly enough. There's just enough room for all the movies we have and a rack of shoes both on the shelf and below it; you'd think I planned it that way (I did not). But I guess a behind-the-couch table has become pretty critical to our storage and space usage.

Whew! You'd almost think I planned that (I did NOT). 

My favorite part is the bar cabinet for sure; not only do the t-racks work perfectly, there was room to get my whiskey into a more sensible area. Now I just have to put a magnet clasp on it and hope the kids will listen to me and leave it alone.

The old one's going downstairs for now under the tv until we decide if it's too big for the space or not. But man is it ugly to look at versus this one! For now, I'm basking in the glow of really liking how this turned out. At least until I get my next project started, or better yet, until I clean up beforehand.

Patio table 2.0

Here it is in all its glory. Just in time for Memorial Day!

Just imagine it later in the day with plates and garbage all over it.

Honestly, we probably could have gotten another summer out of the old table. It was hard enough to tear down and get rid of that it absolutely had enough left in the tank to survive a little longer. But the more I thought about living with the warping joints, and useless covered up planter troughs the table just had to go. It's in a better place now, and despite the stress of a new job and school, we have a much nicer table I'm very happy with right now.

What I'm not happy about is our current weather; We might have gotten lucky over Memorial Day but as soon as it was time to finish the top and get it together things turned to shit. It spent the past few days covered with half the umbrella stand in:

So sad.

Despite the shitty weather I love how it came out. I hope the finish holds up and lasts a long time. It's a little more aesthetically pleasing and definitely a little lighter so we'll see how the summer rain and fall winds treat it. Fingers crossed.

The good news is I already have a few more projects lined up. I wanted to redo the couch table, but the wife wants a cabinet for the garbage cans so that takes priority. And that's an outdoor pizza oven hiding under the table in that first shot; that's just dying for a little brick-top table to put it on. Either way, once I find more time I'm happy to have the rest of my summer projects lined up.

Oh joy, time to pick a finish.

Feeling good about how the legs had come together, I figured it was time to pick a finish and get the top installed. Unfortunately, I got delayed when I forgot to charge the drill's battery and had to wait to get the umbrella hole done before staining. Whoops.

Nothing like not being able to fix something you've worked so hard on.

With the hole done, I put in a support strut directly beneath it. This table looks nicer but it's also a lot lighter, and even the old 2x8 table broke when high winds pulled the umbrella out. I thought some support would help, we'll have to wait and see. I screwed it in across the table, and carved out a little cover to hide the screws.

That's a tight fit with the umbrella pole! It works though.

In terms of finish, I decided to start with a semi-transparent deck stain. I liked the cedar as it is and didn't want to change it too much. But I also wanted something low maintenance capable of standing up to the elements, hence semi-transparent cedar toned deck stain. It looked good, and there's plenty left over to try out on the fence posts later this summer. Good times.

First look, before & after. That'll work. 

Out of habit, I put a coat of poly on just to give it a little extra protection. With that on, I got some help to carry it out (even thought I carried it by myself at one point), and popped it on the table to finish drying. Of course, it proceeded to rain the rest of the week, so I could have timed that better. Whoops.

Once I get it attached and put the umbrella in it might be time to throw a dinner. But until then I'll just hope the rest of this week's weather takes it easy on it.

Still cleaning

I'm trying to be a little better about keeping things clean as I work on this table so things don't get quite so out of hand. That's been a little easier with the bike off the trainer and up on the wall, but now that it is I'm wondering how exactly I'm going to keep the dust off it when I get to work building the table legs. Whoops.

Pretty much right in the line of fire for dust collection. 

But even as I worry about keeping it clean this is a sight that makes me happy. Plus a little shelf for my helmet, maybe my shoes, I like where this is going.

I swear I'm going to try a test commute soon. I was just telling a coworker about the two accidents I had bike commuting in the city (2 in 10 years, not terrible) and all it really did was make me want to ride more. It's time.

In any case, getting the table ready is starting to take shape in my head. I just have to get those steps to happen in real life. So far I have:

-Get some pressure treated 2x4's, trim them straight and build the legs.

-Pick a finish, get the table sanded and stained once it's able to sit on the legs.

-Don't forget to cut the umbrella hole.

-Carry both pieces to the porch and put them together.

That's it, just four more steps. Maybe five if I don't lump the finish steps together. It's so close in my head, let's see how much I can actually get done this weekend. Hopefully it takes less than a month to make it happen!

They didn't stay planks for long

Yeah, having those boards lined up together meant they weren't staying un-joined for long. And now I'm happily finding a few spare minutes to see if I can make a better table top for this summer.

I'm doing this in part b/c I feel like I've learned a lot in two years since I put the last one together, but not enough that I wanted to join these together with something other than kreg screws again. I'm just a man after all.

Much cleaner than last time but still not perfect.

But as long as you have the tools you can get to perfect. 

However, I thinking about trying something something different with the breadboard. We'll have to wait and see how things flatten out to see if I'm up for something new. But hey, if you've got the tools you might as well put them to use. You just have to find the time. 

Putting the desk together

Okay, all the pieces are finally done and I've cleared out the old writing table in the office. Time to move everything in and set up the desk for the start of classes.

Carrying that top out of the garage and up the steps might have been the hardest part of this project. But points to me for leaving the legs off and moving everything in pieces; even if that wasn't the initial plan it made it a lot simpler to maneuver through the hall and into the office.

This room feels smaller with all the pieces out...

Ooops, probably should have sanded down here too. Hopefully felt helps.

With the back legs on I attached the top to the shelves with a handful of L-brackets, inside and on the back. I think that should do it; I was going to glue it down, but being able to take it apart without wrecking it if I ever need to move it meant no glue.

Ta da!

One last silly issue, the power strip came with screws but they were silver vs black. Not a huge deal but why not match it to the surface of the plate? I saved two of the bracket screws to use there instead, and think with that this build is a wrap.

One last touch.

Like a glove!

Man this room really needs to get painted. And the built-in shelves probably have to come down; they're too small to hold any real books. A project for another time. But I love how this desk came together, and it turns out the shelves are a nearly-perfect fit for the textbooks I've picked up. I'm not really crazy about having classes back in session right now, but at least not having proper work-space is not an excuse I can use. Now I just have to wait for my chair to get delivered.

Okay, let's just call it part 10

Start to finish, here's about five weeks' worth of work.

 

Five weeks, and how much did it end up costing? Roughly, we're only talking about $150.

$10 for the 1x12 across the front.
$50 for 6 standard quality 1x10's.
$20 for 2 18" drawer slides
$5 for the cabinet hinges
$5 for the 3/4" plywood for the drawers
$13 for the triple coat poly
$45 for the 2x2's I didn't end up using 75% of (dammit)
$5 various other brackets and felt footings

Not the biggest project I've worked on but definitely the most involved, and I learned a lot on it. I liked being able to make builder-quality pine look a little nicer, at least nice enough to have out in the living room with the right kind of build. If I had more budget I would be up for working with nicer wood, but this way I'm not worried too much about messing up at least. I'm going to miss having something to keep me so distracted on my down time as the school year gets ready to start.