Sunday, August 11, 2013

Our picnic table in the back yard has had more makeovers than the Oprah show. 

Hubs built this 12 foot table with treated wood and a steel picnic leg kit from the hardware store, back in the eighties.  We let it "dry and cure" for a year or two and it got ugly.  So I just HAD to paint it. And I have been doing it every couple years since.  Its a big heavy table so it takes the weather, hot or cold, burning sun, rain, sleet, ice and snow out there.

This week, The Hubs stripped down the old pic-a-nic table in the back yard and slapped a couple coats of primer on it.  I just painted it last year but I didn't take the time to prep it well and it does have to sit out in the snow all winter.  The paint always takes a beating and it has so many kinds of paint on it, it peeled really bad this year.  Paint alone on this table weighed a ton!  I figure it was pretty well indestructible!

So it looks like this at the time being... A blank canvas.. beckoning me to make it colorful...

 

Last year, I bought this really cool watermelon at a charity craft show so I painted the table to go with it.  Like I said tho, I probably didn't take the time to prep the surface before I did it, (I scraped it, and slapped a coat of primer on it, but didn't sand or really work at it.  Just took off the loose stuff)

 

The paint job before that was for the sports teams in the family.  

The time before that, I had extra paint after doing the house... so it matched!  It was like that for many years! Good ol' housepaint!

 

And the time before that, it was just a random paint job that lasted a couple years with just craft paints.

 I had it done with slices of watermelon all over it once, but don't seem to be able to put my finger on the picture, 

And it was done with: Sit Long Talk Much Laugh Lots" Or something scrawled up the benches, (I think there were flowers all over it then too of some kind) Those designs were way back in the eighties!

This picnic table has been through a lot in its almost 30 years!  Its been through neighborhood parties,  birthday parties while the kids grew up, construction workers, (remodeling/construction a couple times, actually),  a couple of graduation open houses, loaned out to friends for their parties,  halloween pumpkin carving, and family reunions!  I love thinking about all the friends and family that have sat around this table with us through the years!  Its like part of our family.

So we'll slap another coat of paint on her and dress her up for the next shindig, whenever that will be!  Just got to come up with a design first.  Stay tuned!