Let’s Have A Picnic!

When we closed on our farmhouse, we agreed to let the previous owner’s stay an extra week to finish packing and moving out.  It was the nice thing to do, and we figured “what’s one more week.”

On the day we took ownership, got the keys and sent the previous owners on their way, we heard them yell out as they drove away, “we left you the picnic table for you to enjoy.”

We were psyched.  We didn’t even know a picnic table was on the property.  Of course we should have a picnic table — totally fitting for country living.  But this is what the picnic table looked like:

Gee.  Thanks.

The table is 12 feet long and perfect for entertaining, but in the shape it was in, it was far from pretty.  But we made due.  We found a flat board and put it on top, and covered the whole thing with a huge tablecloth so guests wouldn’t notice all the rot.

The table finally got to the point where it was completely unusable.  We had to rebuild and throw out the old stuff.

We started rebuilding the top.  Sean attached all new pressure treated boards and it was looking pretty good.  One of the benches needed to be replaced, so he replaced with a pressure treated board as well.

But then we turned the table over so I could start to prime and paint, and we saw that every last board needed to be replaced.  So that’s what we did.  We used the old boards as templates and cut the new boards to fit.

Now I could prime and paint.  I used a standard grey primer, and I chose Behr exterior paint in the “Espresso Beans” color.  In my opinion, Behr has the best paint on the market.  It’s a primer/paint combination; it paints on so smoothly and it is almost odor free.

And we’re in business.  We have a brand new picnic table for our country living that doesn’t need to be covered up.

Our picnic table is ready for a picnic.