Week 12 Assignment - The Finishing Touches...Mother Nature Willing!!

According to my iPhone, the weather this week is supposed to be sunny and warm.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mother Nature cooperates so I can put the finishing touches on my new outdoor dining room and the Hubs' outdoor cigar lounge!

First on the list, sanding and staining the daybed and coffee table.  The Prudent Baby Tutorial suggests using an outdoor poly, but everyone I talked to about it warned me against using outdoor poly because it begins to peel and chip over time and you have to sand it off completely before you can reapply.  I have absolutely no intention of sanding these pallets more than once, so I opted for a penetrating weatherproofing stain I found at Home Depot.  It comes in Solid, Semi-Transparent, and Transparent and I chose Semi-Transparent in Cordovan Brown.  It was the closest match to my original plan of staining it using my trusty Espresso Stain.

The best part about this stuff is if you do need to reapply it over time, you don't have to completely remove what's already there like you would with a polyurethane.  Just rough up the surface a bit a reapply according to the Depot.  I like that!!  Even better...Tracy offered to help sand and stain!  Let me just say that if you don't have a Tracy you really should get one!  :)  I definitely couldn't live without mine!!!  She's a great friend and inspiration, and kicks a$$ with power tools!!

Next on the list, assembling my new outdoor dining room.  I'm going to take an idea from a wedding Tracy and I went to last year and install globe strand lights between the house and fence to create a little ambiance and add some much needed lighting.  I think it will be MUCH more inviting than the motion flood light that's currently lighting the space!  :)  I found some at Party City and think they will fit the bill.  I'm also going to scrub our teak table and chairs to make sure they sparkle.  I'm using Tracy's tried and true technique of scrubbing the heck out of it using Simple Green!!

And in my spare time, I'm going to make bolsters for the sides of the daybed to cushion the pipes.  I found this pattern at Connecting Threads and bought two 8" x 30" bolster inserts on eBay.

So keep your fingers crossed that the rain is over!!!  See you next week!  :)