This is the first spring in our new house, so I have grand plans for the backyard! Since we have a pool, I really want the patio space to be awesome, and as we are starting with NOTHING, our budget is pretty small, which means I'm building things and redoing thrift store finds. The first project I decided to take on was the patio table. I wanted something super sturdy and substantial, I designed this table with the knowledge that I had limited tools and money at my disposal. it's 3 ft by 6 ft and standard dining table height (28inches high). Below is the tech drawing I made to start with, and stayed true to as I was building. Other than one bashed up finger, it all went pretty easily! Total cost, about $100, time, one weekend. Full instructions are detailed below.
Materials:
- 10 Pressure treated 2in x4in x12ft I bought I had about 6 ft left over
- 1 Pressure treated 4in x4in x12 for the legs- only need one
- 4 Leg brackets (they are with the deck construction materials at home depot)
- 4 L-Brackets
- Stainable Wood Filler
- Outdoor Wood Stain and Protector
- 1 box of 2.5 inch long nails
- 1 box of 2.5 inch long screws
Tools:
- Chop Saw (you could use a hand saw if you wanted to get a REAL good workout and spend about a month cutting wood, I highly recommend power tools for this one)
- Palm Sander (again, you could sand by hand, but you'll be happier if you get an electric sander)
- Screw Driver
- Hammer
- Spackle spreader
- Paintbrush
Directions:
- Cut lots and lots of 13 inch long pieces of wood with 45 degree end cuts (the top and bottom side of the parallelogram is 13 inches long) you need about 60 of them, and then little pieces to fill in the rest of the frame.
- Cut outer frame, and screw together using L-brackets, then screw in cross structure pieces about 1.5in down from the top side of the frame so that when you set in the top pieces they are flush with the edge of the frame.
- Line up first full chevron and nail into each cross piece of the frame, continue up until they are all in (you may need to trim some pieces as you go for a better fit)
- Cut remaining pieces to fill in the frame
- Fill all the cracks with stainable wood filler (this is where I stopped day one so the wood filler could dry over night)
- Sand the whole top smooth!
- Cut corner brackets for the bottom and screw them into as many parts of the frame as you can. Attach legs with leg brackets
- Stain the sucker and you're done!!
