from a pallet of wood

As part of our planning and purging in preparation for our Vermont move (ha!), we let go of many, many things that didn't make the "do we want to move this to Vermont?" cut. Our deck furniture was one of those things. It wasn't beautiful. It came with this house when we bought it and served it's purpose (in an early 90's hunter green sort of way) while we were here. We felt no need to bring it with us though... to the swap pile at the dump it went!

It feels liberating to get rid of stuff that you don't find to be beautiful or useful, especially big stuff! There was no love lost with the absence of our hunter green deck furniture... until we realized that we were not in fact going to be moving at this time. Hmmm... where do we sit?

Where do we have dinner from May through September?

The deck is our secret place here in the city. The front porch is pretty, but the deck is tucked away out back and is really the only private feeling spot we have. It gets a lot of use in the summer.

We searched tag sales, roadsides and flea markets for 3 1/2 months for the right second hand outdoor dining set to make it's way home with us. We had no luck, nothing could be found. Finally, we broke down and purchased three red adirondack chairs. It was a start to reclaiming our precious outdoor space, sitting on the deck (literally) was getting old.

Then, Emily thought we should have a little coffee table to go with our new chairs. Something that we could rest our iced tea, projects, or even our feet on while we hung out on the deck. Refusing to buy brand new for this idea, I remembered Rachel's pallet table that she made and showed it to Adam. Using the idea of repurposing a free pallet (thanks Willards!), he set to work...

Two hours later we had the perfect, outdoor, don't care if it gets rained on, wooden table for our deck! He used fallen maple tree branches for the legs (peeled the bark off) which I think are so cute, though he probably wouldn't say they were cute. It is sturdy! And so much more us than a predictable glass topped, metal framed table.

In the end, we have a table that is the perfect size and height for our little sitting area out back. We are still holding out on purchasing brand new for our dining set, but I don't know how much longer we can wait, August is just about here already! Until then, if you ring the doorbell and we don't answer - come around back and you'll find us here. I'm sure we can rustle up a tall cool drink for you.