Patio Refinishing

I have a stamped concrete patio that's been neglected for twenty years (by me). Its color had faded from bright red to a spotted pink-and-gray mess.

Before

After researching several options, I settled on using Surecrete Eco-Stain and HS 240 Acrylic Sealer. The first color coat was Kayak, followed by a coat of Oak. Once that was dry, the sealer was sprayed on.

Here are the photos.

Plastic sheet to protect the house and deck

First coat: Kayak

Second coat: Oak

Sealed with HS 240

After

Myrtle Beach

This year we decided to do what, it seems, everyone around here does for summer vacation. We spent a week in an oceanfront condo at Myrtle Beach.

The view was wonderful and it was really nice to be able to eat in, watch television from the couch, and live somewhat normally for the week.

Our typical day had us getting up, one at a time, from 6:00 - 10:00 AM. We'd eat breakfast, get dressed for swimming, and head to the beach and pool. After spending about an hour at each, we'd head back in for a late lunch. Then we'd do something else in the afternoon and have a nice evening walk on the beach.

We visited places like Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing, which are practically the same thing. We went to the Myrtle Beach State Park to walk trails and the boardwalk. One evening, we went to the Pirate dinner show. That sort of thing.

Mostly, though, we relaxed.

For us, this was a little different than most of our vacations where we try to pack in a lot of activities and sightseeing. When it was over, we weren't quite ready for it to end. That, more than anythng, is the mark of a fun vacation.

Wall Hanging

Okay. I give up. I admit being wrong about myself.

I will swear, up and down, that woodworking is not a hobby of mine. I'm not that good. I don't care to become very good. I just make things out of necessity and to give me purpose during the winter months.

So how do I explain this?

After a couple weekends doing nothing I had to make something. My winter project was done. It was too blustery to do much outside. Flipping through a magazine I saw something hanging on a wall and thought, "I can make that." I was a square frame housing pieces of carpet tiles.

I have carpet tile pieces.
I have a two-foot-square of unused plywood that has some water rot along one edge.
I can frame it with solid wood.

So off I went to the BORG to see what I could find. I could make the frame from pine and paint it. I could make it from poplar and stain it. Or I could make it from oak or...walnut. Walnut. That way, I don't have to stain it (always a plus) and it would look really nice. We don't have walnut, so this is an accent piece. It will help tie dark mahogany piano with the finished basement.

Construction was pretty easy, really. Here are the photos.

Materials: 1 x 2 walnut, 2 x 2 cherry plywood, carpet strips

Pocket holes around perimeter

Sand the bottom

Mark the solid wood for cutting

Cut pieces to length

Dry fit pieces to make sure it will come together correctly

Assemble frame

Polyurethane the frame

Then it was merely a matter of gluing the strips in and hanging this thing on the wall, between the piano room and the basement.

My wife is tolerant of this. I won't go so far as to say that she likes it. But I did remind her that I've seen worse. I've seen a bunch of broken dishes and cups glued to a board that had all been spray painted black hanging in a museum, so there's that. I remember the framed piece of graph paper titled "Tree" that adorned a museum wall. So just call this "Rainbow Field; Jungle Highway" and pretend to be a modern art snob.

Scrap Tables

The project after the project was making a couple tables out of the scrap hickory. I made an end table and a task table.

My wife was happy with them, and I'm glad to have used up the remaining wood so there's less clutter in my shop.

Very simple design. Just cabinet-grade plywood, edged with solid hickory. Hairpin legs screwed into the bottom face, and that's it.

Yes, the grain goes the wrong way. The edges are made from the most bowed and warped pieces I had. No one cares because they look better than the pieces they replaced.

TV and Coffee Tables Done

This winter's project has been completed. On to the after-project project, which is making more furniture out of the scrap.

Anyway, here are the coffee and television tables.

And here are the construction photos for those who enjoy them.

The process went as follows.

I drew up the plans for the tables to figure out what materials I needed and what my cut sheet had to be. The materials got here around Christmas. Two sheets of cabinet-grade hickory plywood broken down to my specifications (character side up) and several lengths of solid hickory for the table edges and feet.

Each table top received a light sanding and pocket holes on its underside. The solid wood was cut to length with mitered ends. The top edges of the tops were covered in tape to catch any glue seepage. Spacers 3/16-in thick were taped to the top side to provide a stand-off for the edging.

Going proud on the edging was an important consideration. No piece of wood is ever straight and true. I don't have a planer and a joiner, so it is what it is. That small lip is the trade-off.

With the table top held off my bench by the spacers and with the edging held flush, I glued-and-screwed the edging to the plywood, making each table top.

Legs were made by cutting the scraps in four-inch lengths and joining them with wood glue and finish nails driven with an air nailer. Those legs were attached to the bottom using pocket hole screws. laid flat, the feet elevate the bottom table by about an inch. With the feet inset, it gives the appearance of the thing floating above the floor.

Before finishing I thoroughly cleaned my shop, which gets dusty with all the cutting, drilling and sanding.

Each table top was covered with two coats of an oil-based polyurethane. Acrylic (water-based polyurethane) is clear and raw hickory is very pale. Using an oil-based poly results in a yellowish coating, which looks better and matches the flooring. It's smellier, though and requires mineral spirits for clean-up.

Once everything was dry, the tables could be assembled.

I brought the parts into my family room for assembly, since the finished pieces would be too large and heavy for me to drag up the stairs. I used I-Semble steel brackets to tie the tops together, using a scrap cut off as a guide to keep the spacing correct.

The finishing touches were grommeted totes from Bed, Bath, and Beyond to act as storage. We also bought a large television with all the trimmings - which was the point of all this, actually.

I have to admit, though, that I really love the idea of having furniture that you can't buy.

Now, the remaining dark oak end tables in our family room look out of place. That means that there's more to come. Still, I met my goal for this year.