It all started a couple of months ago when Sam shared a photo on Facebook of an outdoor sectional that had been made entirely out of old wooden pallets. I liked it's kind of "rustic endustriality" and also the fact that you can find pallets pretty much anywhere, for free. We have a little set out on the front patio that is usually shaded, so if we are going to eat a meal or study outside, we'll usually go out there. But I've been wanting to utilize the back patio and entertain a little bit more, and as far as I could tell, this was the perfect idea for us! So, I called him out and he said that he was up to making a little set for the back patio within the next couple of weeks!
June rolled around, along with the Summer Semester at Yavapai College, and Sam was taking 3 classes. The last thing I wanted to do was nag him about building furniture when he was drowning in work and homework, but one day he agreed to drive me over to the warehouse for the shop he works for, and we'd see if there were any good pallets there for us to bring home with us. Lo and behold, we found 4! We loaded them into the back of the van, grabbed some nachos to take with us, and headed back to the house.
We really had no idea what we were doing, but we had some pictures in our minds of what we were going for, so we just leaned one pallet against the wall and put one down on the ground and figured we'd just screw them together! Sam was in the zone, running around the side of the house every 10 minutes to grab a new tool from the garage. He was sweaty, covered in sawdust, and had a pencil cocked behind one ear...I love a man that's good with his hands :)
It took a couple of hours on a Tuesday evening, but we ended up with the cutest little love-seat I've ever seen. He ended up using some of the heftier pieces from a third pallet for the legs and arms and then made a coffee table out of the 4th. He made them completely from scratch without measuring or having a guideline for what he was doing. I loved it!
That weekend, I ended up out on the patio (it was 99 degrees and ridiculously humid), staining the set with some "Rustic Cedar" polyurethane we had picked up on clearance at Walmart. It was much harder to stain than you'd think, and I ended up covered in red/orange stain. It was on my shins, my elbows, my face, the tops of my feet, in my hair...it was everywhere...and it stayed everywhere for an entire week. I was so embarrassed because as it began to turn brown, I realized that it just looked like I had been living in the woods for a few weeks and was in desperate need of a good shower. I concluded that it must be a good product because if it could make it through my sweat, the pool, showers, shaving...it will make it through the monsoons just fine.
Well, the monsoons came, and the furniture did just fine, but the rest of the patio did not. One Monday afternoon, I was sitting in the kitchen studying for my up-coming Spanish class when I heard a series of nerve-wracking sounds. I immediately ran back and found that the umbrella had blown over and crushed several of the large terracotta pots that were around it. It was storming raining and blowing like crazy and there were little succulent nubs rolling around in the dirt. I tried to scoop up what was left of them and stuff them into the only pot that hadn't shattered. Then next morning, I had to go out and do damage control, and luckily, only the pots were really damaged, so we made out quite lucky.
A couple of weeks later, we reconvened for a second building session. This time, we hopped in the van, drove over to The Home Depot, and grabbed our pallets (and a rogue Bougainvillea plant that had been carelessly thrown by the wayside) from there. It was a Sunday night, and it was threatening torrential downpour, so we decided to bring everything that had been staying dry just inside of the back patio door, into the garage. The only problem with our plan however, was that it never actually rained, and we were in the sweltering garage with no air movement whatsoever. It was roughly 102 outside with 60% humidity, so just imagine what the inside of our garage felt like. Every time I had to run outside to grab something, a cool, crisp breeze would greet me at the edge, and I would bask in it's glory for mere moments until I had to go back into the furnace. I have to say though, there is something kind of therapeutic about just sweating your guts out and being covered in sawdust and rocking out. You eventually reach the point of no return, where you just drenched and stinky and completely covered in nastiness...and I kind of like it. Plus, then you get to take a long, cool shower and slip into your crisp, white sheets at the end of it all, and somehow, sleep more deeply than you've ever slept before :) That night, Sam finished a chair and started a second love-seat!
This last week, we finally finished the second love-seat, and I made a bar out of some of the scraps. I think I'm starting to get addicted to the aforementioned funk-factor. I had a very tumultuous week between work and studying for my Spanish final. Let's just say I was pretty emotional and stressed out. Well let me tell you all something: There's something about building a piece of furniture with your bare hands and some super-powerful tools and getting that instant-gratification that we all crave every now and then. There's something about the ear-splitting sound of a chop saw (who's blade was dangerously dull (I like to live life on the edge), spit out sparks (safety goggles are for pussies), and burned the wood as much as it cut it, making for the delightful aroma of, basically, a camp fire) and having sweat drip off of your chin and not having a care in the world besides what's right in front of you. There's something about creating something from nothing. I'm hooked.
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| Such a flattering photo...I told you all I was sweatier than hell! |
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Today, I finally finished staining the pieces. I've decided that I hate nothing more than staining. It's official. Sam and I woke up early and went out to breakfast, and then I came home, got myself comfy, cranked up some music, and went to work. Once again, I am covered, head to toe in stain. I guess I shouldn't say that I "finished" the pieces - I got about 1/4 of way through my bar and threw in the towel...I was so over it. I'll finish it one day, but for now, it looks good enough :) I put out a trellis that we've had in the garage since we moved in, cleaned up a couple of lounge chairs that my boss had given me last winter, and moved a couple of pots of succulents from the front of the house to the back because the sun was just too intense up there and they were frying. I'm thinking after year or two, once all of the plants start to get a little bit bigger, it's going to be pretty nice out here!
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| In a couple of months, my Russian Sage plants should be pretty well established and double in size |
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| My little succulents certainly seem happy in their new spots...they are thriving without the intense sunlight |
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| Some of them are even getting ready to bloom! (Tell me that these little things aren't the cutest ever...I'm obsessed) |
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| I can't wait for our first board game and bonfire! |
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| My happy little Bougainvillea I rescued and the Bower Vine that I'm hoping will bush out and give us some much-needed privacy from our very nosy neighbors...it's already sucking up to the stucco so that's a good sign :) |