Project

We live in Washington's wine country. We have done some wine tasting at some of the many local wineries. At several of the wineries we saw some patio furniture made from old wine barrels. Some wineries also sell used wine barrels.

Last year we bought a wine barrel, hoping to make a patio table. Thanks to my older brother, Jared, this project was finally started and finished! I'm so glad to finally have a patio table! This was how we spent our third of July, 2011:

We started with the table top, which was the top
of the wine barrel.

It needed to be attached to something sturdy
because without the pressure of the barrel
it would separate over time.

This may have been overkill, but all those screws will
certainly keep it from warping or separating.
The plywood you see here is the only part of the
completed table that didn't come from the barrel
besides the screws!
The next step was to make blocks to attach legs.

While my brother was busy measuring, cutting and
fastening, I was sanding and sorting.

Barrel slats, sorted according to width
down to the nearest 1/8".. although now I wish
I'd used millimeters, so much more precise!
(not that it really mattered)

Attaching the legs (now my dad is helping too)

It was harder than it looks to get those support pieces
in the right spots and even. It took my brother,
my dad and Blake.

It's getting there! Legs on, and
support pieces in place!

Nearly finished! Just needs the metal band.

Construction complete!
This is my fantastic and quite handy brother
:)

I was project manager and design consultant
up until this point. Now I got my hands
dirty and did some staining.

Late that night.. FINISHED!

The table top - still bears the branding that tells us
the barrel company (Kelvin), type of oak (American Oak,
as opposed to French), and the amount of toasting that was
done before it was filled with wine (med +).

We will also make stools from the remaining barrel slats, but that is a project for another day/weekend/year. I'm so excited to sit outside and enjoy our balcony. I look forward to things like enjoying my morning coffee, reading on the balcony and dinners outside with food straight from the grill!

Here are a few pictures of the table in it's new home:

Out on the balcony :)

I had to move it to the corner because..
It's HOT out there! Even at 6:30 am!
I'm loving this table. It makes getting up
early for a QT and coffeee a little sweeter.