When we moved in to the house our sellers offered to leave us their garden furniture - and as we had none of our own, saying yes was a sensible decision even though it had clearly seen better days. As it turned out - two of the four chairs were pretty much fit only for the tip, which was fine as we only needed two anyway, and the table was far bigger than we needed, but was “OK-ish”. Fast forward to this winter, and we decided that a smaller table was a must as we want to fit an additional water butt - we already have one which collects the water from the office/shed roof, and the giant blue bucket deals with what comes from the log store roof, but there is a huge amount coming off the back of the house and the extension which is currently just going straight into the drain. The search started for a replacement table that was the right size, the right height, and not extortionately expensive. Let me tell you, it was not a successful search!
After an awful lot of “too big!”, “too small!” And “we’re not paying that!” we came to the conclusion that what we wanted was something roughly the size of a standard pallet, at a height we could use for seed sowing and potting on but also for just putting a beer on when we are sitting outside relaxing - but we also came to the conclusion that this didn’t actually exist…which was when our eyes lit on the pallet we happened to have lying around, and a plan was hatched.
Obviously there was a little more needed than just the pallet - but a quick scout through the shed revealed that in fact we already had timber for legs (gained when a store cupboard at my work was being cleared out) and screws are something we’re never short of- we found that all we were likely to need to buy was four right angle brackets to brace the legs to the tabletop. Having confirmed we were all systems go, we cracked on with measuring and cutting legs, then getting all the various components rubbed down and painted - in the same “Cornflower” paint we’ve used for the office and shed walls, of course!
The pallet was one of those with quite open slats which wouldn't really be ideal for a table, but handily we had another one which could be cannibalised so filling the gaps proved to be as simple just drilling and screwing them in place. Attaching the legs in a way that would ensure that the whole structure was sturdy enough was the biggest challenge of the project really- the screws we had weren’t quite the ideal length - but we couldn’t get anything longer in place as there wasn’t space to get a screwdriver in with a longer screw. Thankfully some very meaty right angle brackets saved the day.
Our other main concern was whether the base of the legs would rot as a result of being in contact with potentially wet ground through the winter months at least - it felt like it would be a shame to put the work and time in only to find that it didn’t last because something as silly as that. That problem was solved when I suggested a small piece of timber screwed to the base of each leg effectively as feet, and MrEH went a step further by cutting a square of plastic to fit between the two pieces to prevent water being drawn up from one piece of timber to the other. As and when the feet do rot, we will simply cut and attach new ones.
Once all assembled we really were quite impressed - I mean yes, it looks like a pallet on legs, sure, but that’s what it is after all! It’s good and sturdy, exactly the height we wanted, AND it should easily give space for the war we butt to be fitted alongside it. Most importantly it looks far nicer than what was there before, especially with the addition of my two wine-box herb planters on top!
A new garden table for £7 plus a bit of time and effort? That will do nicely!
Robyn
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