Linen and Twigs

Hello, hello!!! I hope your week is going well! I’m back today with our big side board reveal. The last we talked about this, My Guy and I were turning our pile of termite food into an awesome custom built side board to use on our back patio. Okay, seriously, you should have seen some of the wood that we were working with. I was literally picturing the little termites holding hands to keep that wood together. Old barn wood is so hard for me to throw out because it is so chunky and full of character but if you let it sit around too long, it becomes a buffet for termites. Anyhoo, we were able to salvage enough wood to make this hunk of goodness.

Once the table was constructed, it was time to put the finishing touches on it. I started out by sanding down all of the rough edges that were made from cutting the boards. I also knocked off the sharp corners on the table with my sander to give it a more worn look like it had been around for awhile…and if you ask the termites, it had been. (cringe)

I lightly ran the sander over the rest of the table to get rid of any super rough spots just so there wasn’t any sharp pieces to get poked with.

Once the table was somewhat smooth, it was time to address the newness of some of the wood. Most of the wood we used was pretty aged but the some of it wasn’t as old as the rest therefore it was much lighter in color. I wanted to try to blend it in more so I used my go to stain color, Weathered Oak, by Minwax.

Making sure that I mixed the can well, I applied the stain with a brush and allowed it to soak. I was careful to make sure that there were no drips. I went back and added a second coat to the areas that needed a little more darkening.

(You can see how much newer the wood looks on the right and where we had cut the ends of the boards.)

Once it soaks in, it gives new wood an aged look.

I love this stuff on pine!!! It makes the new wood look like barn wood!

Do you see how the wood blends together better? I’m in love.

Since this piece is going to be outside in the weather, we needed to protect it from the elements. We chose Thompson’s Water Seal.

We applied the sealer and allowed it to dry according to the manufacturers directions.

Unfortunately, after we applied the sealer, the wood that we had stained with Weathered Oak didn’t darken up as much as the other wood.

So we went back and applied Minwax Provincial Stain and Sealer to those boards rather than Thompson’s Sealer to darken it up so that it would blend with the rest of the wood.

It was time to call this project done. We wheeled that bad boy across the yard and onto our patio. For a brief minute, I thought I could hear angels singing…turns out that if you’re wheeling faster than the guy walking backwards, you might just run over a toe.

All digits are accounted for and this project is now complete! I’m ecstatic with how it turned out! It’s time to break out the grill and give it a test run.

Oh, and do you remember how I said that fall makes me want to make a fun “to do” project list? I’m thinking a matching outdoor farm table and benches would look lovely, don’t ya think? I’ll ask My Guy after the throbbing goes away in his toe.