Garden Bench and Table

The owners before us left an assortment of things in the house and the garage, of varying quality! A lot of it went on freecycle/gumtree as we would never make use of it.

A few gems in disguise though, including a garden table and a garden bench. Both had seen much better days.

To be honest, I made the table worse by using it as a work table for a few weeks!

THE TABLE

I started with a wire brush on the wood to get rid of all the algae sort of stuff that was on the table top. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but it seemed to do the job. Then a sand and I was pretty much back to bare wood.  I did this with a sheet of sand paper wrapped around a block of wood - this was pre mouse sander days!

The base I brushed down with a wire brush, and gave it a bit of a clean.

The base I primed with red oxide paint. I only did this because I had some in the garage, but as I was using hammerite direct to rust paint it probably wasn't necessary. 

Then two coats of hammerite black paint.

The top I used teak oil, which I did three coats of using a brush.

Having lived with the table for a good few months now, I'm a little disappointed with the top. It has tired very quickly and looks like it needs of a spruce up again. That will be another job for next spring.

THE BENCH

The bench had many similar processes.

I had to throw all the wood away as it was all rotten and one of the slats was missing.  I had to saw the old bolts off as they were rusted in place.  I tried spraying with WD40 in advance of undoing them, but no luck! And I prepared and painted the metal in a similar way to the table, although I skipped the red oxide primer this time.

The slats were a bit of a decision for me.  Hardwood would have been ideal, but pretty expensive - I would have been looking at £50ish to replace all the slats.  A bit out of my budget.

Instead I went to B&Q (I did go to the wood reclaim shop first but didn't find anything appropriate), and bought some softwood lengths that were the appropriate thickness and width.  I only needed 4 lengths (which I would saw in half), but it was cheaper to buy a pack of 6 for £12.  I also bought a tin of stain (opened and therefore discounted to £6) to protect the wood.  I know the softwood probably won't last as long as hardwood would have done, but I'm pleased with how it's turned out.

I cut the softwood lengths in half for the slats and did two coats of stain.

I had predrilled holes in each slat too to make sure that the stain protector got in the holes too.

Some new bolts were necessary, and the job was done!

Dining table rennovation

So for years we have used my university desk (a second hand Ikea desk bought from eBay about 6 years ago) as our dining table.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the dining tables from Indigo Furniture from Matlock (where our bed, coffee table etc. are from) but with finances stretched already to get to where we have, an Indigo Dining Table is just not an option.

We went to Indigo Furniture to drool over the furniture in mid September, and I promised my lovely husband that I would achieve something similar, by Christmas, with a budget of £50.  Challenge accepted!!

Anyone that knows me will know I'm a huge fan of Freecycle, Gumtree freebies, Preloved etc.  I managed to score a farmhouse table on Freecycle but unfortunately the top was rotten (I think it had been left in the garden for sometime).

Table as advertised on Freecycle

This table lived under our carport for months while other projects took precedence and for inspiration to strike on what to do with it.  The trip to Indigo spurred me into action however.

I took the old top off which left me with the base and legs.  The pine stain was a bit nasty and orange and the legs were looking very tired.  I sanded the base right back to the bare wood.  I ummed and aared as to whether to wax or paint the legs.  In the end I decided that the chances of me getting wood for the top that would wax the same finish as the base were slim so I went for the paint option.

Sanded down

Primer coat on

This project was budget focused so I tried to use all paints and materials that I already had.  So I used primer, base coat and a white eggshell paint that I already had in the garage.

I wanted the ability to extend the table so I cut two small squares out of the end without the drawer for my grand plan.  All will be revealed later.

For the new table top, I went to a community wood reclaim shop in Derby and sourced some old scaffold planks:  http://www.eastmidlandswoodrecycling.org.uk/.  It's a fab shop, run by some lovely people, and they even do cuts for a small fee.  For people like me with just a hand saw at home this is a massive plus!  I got all the wood I needed and cuts done for £20.  The planks were dirty and tired though, and certainly needed some sprucing.  Next stop, B&Q to pick up some super rough sandpaper for my mouse sander - £8 investment required here.

Can you tell the difference?! Top sanded, bottom not.

The table already had brackets to attach the top but I added a few more to make sure it was really solid.

I then waxed the top with Fiddes Supreme Wax in Light Pine colour (already had a tin in the cupboard).  I used a firm toothbrush to get into the nooks and crannies, and a microfibre cloth to apply it on the large flat sections.

And the main table was done :) Looking very good.

I had a break for a few weeks before returning to do the extension.  I had to go back to the wood shop to get some more cuts done as I had incorrectly measured the first time around - doh!  I used two lengths of PSE that I had in the garage leftover from the bathroom renovation for the extension supports.  I screwed two lengths of scaffold to the supports and followed the prep that I had done for the table (sanding, wax etc), and voila! an extra 18 inches of table.  Just need some more chairs now!

Total spend = £30

(Total investment was actually less as I sold our old dining table/desk on Gumtree for £12 so overall a bit of a bargain!)

Total time spent on project = approximately 3-4 days.