DIY Rustic Industrial Garden Table

I do like doing a good garden project. Big or small they stimulate the creative and logical parts of my brain. So with a Sunday at home I had a free day. Now my initial plan was to do some inside work, but in my true distractible and fragmented style I ended up having an outside garden project day! And anyway, the inside work can wait … as it always tends to!!

So this is how it all pans out.

Steven has coffee in hand … Steven begins his morning wander around the garden … Steven thinks of sitting and relaxing for a while … Steven instead has a bright idea to sort the pile of left over oddments of timbers from previous projects in an attempt to declutter … Steven thinks of making a recycled garden project … Steven has an idea to make an interesting wall hanging that of course would include boxes for plants to grow in … Steven loves this idea … Steven has another idea to build a potting bench … Steven loves this idea too … Steven notices the small metal table frame and thinks of making a rustic industrial garden coffee table that of course would include a box for plants to grow in … Steven loves this idea even better … Steven’s mind often gets distracted and fragmented when creative ideas come … thankfully Steven copes well with this … Steven ponders … Steven makes a decision … the rustic industrial garden coffee table is the winner!

And there we have it. The day is now blissfully filled with project time. Steven starts twitching with renewed enthusiasm. The power tools come out of the cupboard. The oddments of timbers are gathered and laid out. Steven is off and running. The vision is going to be fulfilled.

Now anyone who has used old pieces of weathered timber knows that they can be prone to splitting if one is over eager and doesn’t use clamps and go at a measured pace, and so that is what Steven did, despite just really wanting to do it quickly. With no suitable flat surface to work on, a remnant piece of plywood from a previous project is pulled out to provide the flat surface (and again, yes oddments from previous projects do really come in handy!). And slowly but surely each piece of timber is clamped and screwed together.

Then Steven has a mid-project bright idea. This often happens. Not only will the table have a small red inbuilt box for plants to match the garden, but it will also have some red painted timber slithers in between the old weathered timbers. Steven is very happy with this idea and proceeds.

Once all of the timbers were fixed and the hole prepared, it was time for the red box to be made. And like magic it fitted and was fixed together.

Now for the planty treats. Steven wanders around his garden to see what he can raid … or perhaps selectively prune. Steven decides to raid an existing pot of Echeveria ‘Golden Glow’ and plants them all into this new project.

And there we have it. A successful garden project day with a project actually completed within the day it was started. Steven positions the table in the garden … Steven cleans up and packs away all the tools … Steven makes a Gin and Tonic … Steven sits in front of the new project and proceeds to admire his efforts … Steven is suitably content.

Not all of the timbers from that magical pile of oddments of timbers were used today … that is okay … there will always be more garden projects for them to be used on!