Outdoor Table Reveal

Check this out!  The table is finished.

I am very happy with it, especially with the chairs.  I think they are perfect for it. They were purchased at Walmart.com and are from their Better Homes and Gardens line.

Figuring out how to make the turnbuckles work for the industrial look was not easy.  I finally figured out a way using an S hook to join them, since no matter what I did, I couldn't make it work like the ones in the ana-whitediy.com plan.

I really like the added metal corner brackets.  I couldn't find the ones I wanted so I bought these steel ones and spray painted them black.

The same with the threaded rod, washers, and nuts.  Zinc holds the paint better than steel or galvanized, but they all took the black spray paint pretty well.

I learned some things I should have done differently and a couple of things I would have changed.  I've made an offer to some of my friends, if any of them want to buy this table for what I have in it, they can IF they give me four hours of their time to help me build another one.  

What I'd do different?  I'd make it 1/2-1" shorter. It sits at 30" which is a normal height, so I don't know if it is the chairs or that I'm just short. I had the same problem with our wicker dining set.  I feel like a kid sitting low.  The other thing, I'd go ahead and make the top about 4" longer.  It's a tight squeeze on the sides for three chairs. For 4 more inches it could easily seat 8 but not look bad with just six as shown or three on each side.

I have a terrible habit of taking shortcuts and sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it.  I only sanded the top. If I do it again, I will sand the rest of it, and work harder at getting the top boards to align.  Having someone to help would make that so much easier.  I'd also use a different finish.  I wasn't too happy with the Minwax Polyshades.  I think I'll just do a regular matte stain, then finish with polyurethane or maybe varnish. Not use the two products in one. And I'd finish all of it alike.  So far, on this table, the top got two coats, the rest only one.  I haven't even done the underside yet.  I think I'll wait until it cools off before I tackle that......unless I sell it before.

Anyway it really wasn't too bad to build it.  I feel very accomplished and enjoyed the process immensely.  I looked at tables to buy similar and they were anywhere from $500 to $2500.  So for my $85 in wood, and hardware, I'm very happy!