As I mentioned in my previous post, I have 20 people coming over for a party this Saturday, and if it isn’t raining, I hope that many will enjoy the outdoors. It will make it much easier for the 100-year-old birthday honoree to hear with fewer people talking nearby.
So, as I’m trying to find an easier way to pick up gum balls (I try vacuuming them up with the mower – but that doesn’t work very well), I realize that my old picnic table is in pretty bad shape (notice how easily I can be distracted from gum ball pick-up). I use it for working on my art during the summer, so it is covered in various shades of paint; it is pretty green with moss; and there is a great deal of damage to parts of the wood.
I decide to see if I can clean (and patch) it up enough for folks to use without having to purchase anything new.
Step 1: Clean the table as best you can. I used a scrub brush, water and a little bleach. This is messy, so if you attempt this, wear something you don’t care about. I now have little bleach splatters all over one of my favorite pair of sweat pants.
Step 2: Rinse with clean water (I used a hose with an attachment that let me get a hard stream of water). 
Step 3: Let it dry in the sun. Once it is dry it looks so much better.
Step 4: Patch the wood. Since I don’t have a gallon of wood putty laying around, I decided to use construction adhesive. I generally have this around because I use it in my cultural artifact art.
I used an scrap piece of wood to give me a flat surface to spread out the adhesive into a nice even area. This needs time to dry.
Step 5: Now to paint. I had some green semi-gloss paint left over from painting the trim last year.
Step 6: For the part of the picnic table that was so badly damaged…
I painted the damaged part as best I could, then covered it with a planter.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Wow! that looks really good, I love the colour too.
Great post. It gives such a good feeling of satisfaction when you tackle a task like this. You’ve not only restored an old friend, you have saved yourself a packet of money.
Margaret
Isn’t it great to look at this and think “I did that”!
Wow! What a transformation! It’s beautiful! There’s nothing like do-it-yourself projects that turn out awesome like that and leave you feeling proud.
what a difference and I bet a lot of people would have just thrown that out.
If you can sew you could even make a long cushion and tie it on the benches and that would cover the bad bit as well……
Gill in Canada
What a difference. Great job!!
Very nice job, and great instructions for others.
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