Outdoor Table and Benches

We were in need of an outdoor table but couldn't find anything that we could both afford and liked. Fortunately, I was able to find some free lumber and just built a table that fit our needs. A few months ago I noticed that a family about a block away from us had replaced their wooden swing set. The old swing set had fallen apart and the wood was sitting just outside their fence. I had been thinking for some time that I should ask if I could take the wood off their hands. Well, my parents and younger brothers came out to visit us a couple months ago and one day as I was driving by the house with my mom I told her that I had been eying the wood. The owner of the home was in her yard so my mom said, "Well pull over and ask." So I did, and in a matter of a few minutes my dad and brothers hauled it all to our house. I was unsure what I'd use it for but then thought of our lack of seating/dining furniture outside. So once again I turned to Ana White's web site.

I liked the simple outdoor table and bench plans found here and here. I modified the table top and made a few adjustments for the size of wood pieces that we had, but otherwise, I just followed Ana's plans.

Below are a couple pictures on how the table top is constructed.

After assembling the table and benches, I then puttied and stained them with semi-solid deck stain. Although they're far from perfect since there were a few warped boards, I'm pretty happy with the results. The total cost of the project to a whopping $19 (cost of outdoor screws and deck stain). If I were to do it over again I would use caulk (instead of wood filler) and a solid deck stain (instead of the semi-solid stain). The wood putty expanded a little meaning the holes I filled were no longer flush with the adjacent surface (maybe this is because I used the sandable putty which actually contains bits of wood making it more likely to expand/contract with varying temperatures??).