I have made a table-ish thing!  Actually, I did most of the making last year, but I wasn’t able to finish it or use it until this month, for reasons that will become clear.

First, though, I should say that I kind of only have two build-project speeds (for really any definition of ‘build’ that you like).  The most usual project speed begins with “I want this to be nice”.  And so, as a result, it takes me weeks and months to actually design and make the thing.  Sometimes (often) things will get interrupted midway through and then it will take me years from when something was started to when it’s finished (if it gets finished).  I have so many projects that I want to be nice, and not that many ‘nice’ projects actually completed.

(Aside: Sometimes for ‘nice’ you might substitute in either ‘elaborate’ or ‘requiring technical skills Anna does not yet have’ and these also usually fall into the ‘nice project’ speed of things.)

The other project speed starts with “I just need something that works!”  If I’ve got the technical skills required, and I resist the urge to design something ‘nice’ (‘elaborate’), I can actually turn something out in a few weekends or so.

(And no, I really can’t turn something out in a few days.  If it only took a few days, then it almost certainly wasn’t a project (or else I’ve actually been thinking about it for a lot longer than a few days before I started).  Or, if I think ‘this should be doable in a few days’, then it’s very simple and I’m liable to forget about it before it’s done, so if it does get done, then it still takes longer than a few days.)

Anyway, all this to say, that although I started my table-ish thing last November and finished it this March, this was actually done very quickly and (physically) over the course of a few weekends, because it was in the “I just need something that works!” category of project.

The thing that I needed to work was a sort of long, sturdy bench/table to put in the living room and help address some of our storage needs for the stuff that just lives in the living room (most notably, my husband’s weights, which I don’t much like tripping over nor finding taking up a seat on the couch).  We are not the sort of people who are terribly good at putting things away, particularly not if it seems likely that we’ll just be taking them out again within the next day or so.  So, if I want tidiness in our house to be even maybe achievable, then, as much as possible, I’ve got to bring the storage to where the stuff gets used.  The bench/table-thing was/is part of a two-part storage plan consisting primarily of storage under the bench/table + stacking one of those cube-organizers on top of the table (you’ll get a picture of the whole thing at the end, and then you can judge me for how untidy it still looks (but really it’s so much better!).

The other common denominator when it comes to “I just need something that works!” projects is that I’ll usually build them, as much as possible, out of whatever’s already on hand.  In this case, I have an old pile of lumber that lives under our back deck.  Actually, we used to have a two-sides-of-the-house wrap-around deck, and now we have this old pile of lumber, some random wooden pillars with very deep concrete anchors, and more room for experimental gardening!

So, the first hurdle (this was in November) in getting this table thing made was getting my husband to help me rip the old lumber into boards of a useful size (and of course I neglected to get a picture of actually doing that).  Interestingly, we wound up with boards all slightly curved.  But! consistently slightly curved, so, as long as I put them together in the right orientation, they could actually be joined into a table top.

There was a lot of clamping involved.  Although…the real reason there was so very, very much, very determined, clamping was because one of the boards (from the old under-the-deck lumber pile) was bowed.  With clamps and cross-braces, I was almost able to convince it not to be bowed.  But I did let it sit in those clamps and glue and cross-braces for a week – hoping – before I dared to take those clamps off.

When I did, I magically had something that already looked sort of like a table (if I clamped the table legs to the each-end cross-braces).

If only it truly were that simple I really could do projects quickly!  But, of course, lots more to do yet, including picking which pieces of scrap-lumber boards would go where to actually function, and figuring out how to actually, properly put the legs together.

I did almost forget one very important thing about one of the legs before it was too late!  (My house has random, built-in-bits that like to stick out from inconvenient places, in this case, a heater vent.)  Band-saw to the rescue!  (And thank goodness the legs weren’t actually attached yet.)

That sorted, I then actually put the legs together.  (I had them clamped together like a pretend table earlier so I could get everything lined up without a built-in wobble.)

Then add cross-braces.  (I’ve been told I went overboard with the cross-braces.  But, dang-it, I want to store weights on and around this thing.  Sturdy is the goal.)

And last—construction-wise—add a nice lip around it.  For this we are grateful for the existence of pocket screws! (At least for the front band.  And yes, I know I went overboard on the screws when wood-glue is truly the main thing.  But a) under-the-deck-lumber, not necessarily that straight, and b) screws are hardly going to hurt the structural integrity of my table, now are they?)

Ta Da.

Oh, yeah, then you’ve got to sand it.  …I guess I’ll get around to that…

And stain it.  (Lucky we had such a warm winter for hanging out in the garage?)

And seal it. 

…That one’s the problem.  It does need to be actually kind of warm to be out and about wielding polyurethane with anything like success.  We’ve had a warm spring though, too, so.  March it is!

And so, at last, I have a table-ish thing to put in my livingroom.

What do you think?