Thursday, August 12, 2010

The End Tables (and I need your help!)

I finally got around to building my end tables for the front porch and then painting them up. When I bought material for them, I didn't have a plan, other than I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them. I found a piece of pine that was the right width and double the length that I wanted for less than $1 at Menards-SCORE! So then I picked up two furring strips, each 8' long thinking 2' for each leg. I found a gallon of Behr exterior paint on the oops rack at Home Depot in "Sonoran Sands" for $5 and that will be more than enough for this and many, many other projects!

So, I had my grandpa cut the piece that I was going to use for the top in half so I had two square-ish pieces. Then, I realized that by simply cutting 4 legs for each table was not going to make it very sturdy because there would be no bracing. 4 kids = the need for bracing. So I scoured the internet for ideas, picked my daddy's brain, and my BIL's brain. Didn't find anything that I really thought I wanted. So, I took bits and pieces from all 3 places and came up with these tables.


For one, I realized that 24" is too tall for the space I wanted. 12" would be plenty tall. So, I had my BIL cut me 8 pieces 12" long. Then, I laid two pieces on the board flush with one side and measure the amount of space that was left and that became the length of the piece that is the bracing section. In my case, that was 8 1/2" and I used 4 of those for each table.


Now, I could have lined the braces up so it made a square around the legs, but I didn't like that look. So, I put two of them high and two of them low and I love how it turned out.



While I was in the store picking up some screens we had made for our back door, I found a paint sample that I fell in love with. But it was interior paint . There was an easy fix to this problem...have them mix me some exterior!



The plan became to paint the legs the sonoran sands Behr paint and the tops were this gorgeous Pollination from EcoLoco. The only problem is I think it might be a smidge too bright and that creates other project possibilities....do I paint the table between the two chairs to match the new end tables and/or should I paint the frames of the white chairs the pretty green? Let me know what you think! Last night I had the brilliant idea of using some white bed sheets (the unfitted ones) to make floor to ceiling "drapes" for out there that we could close to create some privacy and/or to keep the bugs out/down. Not sure about that, yet, either. Anyway, that's the long and short of it. Hope you like the tables and I can't wait to hear what you think about my other potential projects!

4 comments:

  1. They look great Jess!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice! I think you should come to SD & help with projects. The thought of painting wood makes we twitch just a little (but your tables look really nice). I'd probably just paint the legs of your chairs (they look metal) the bright green but I'm kinda boring. I have some scrap fabric that looks like it would make a nice tablecloth for you.

    Loie

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great space! Wish I had somewhere like that to curl up with a book or just to hang out with friends. I think I'd leave the chairs all white, with the green accents they look so fresh. You sure have a talent for all this decorating--HGTV anyone!?
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute, cute cute! You're so crafty!!!! Love it

    I tagged you on my running blog! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment....I comment back! :) I do allow anonymous comments, but please, if I know you, leave some sort of identifying info. Thanks so much!!