I never really understood the whole blog thing, that is until I voluntarily became unemployed, moved country and back in with my parents. The end result….a serious amount of free time and understanding that a blog equals a way to fill that time.
The reason for all this upheaval? We were getting bored of Dublin and decided London might be a bit of fun. Unfortunately the London plan is on hold until jobs are found.
I decided to take full advantage of all this free time and embark on a few projects, preferably ones that would take at least a full day if not even longer.
The first project was the restoration of a rotten, rusted old bench hidden in some bushes in the garden. Unfortunately I did not think to photograph the bench before i started and therefore don’t have the great before and after shot. A description will have to do on this occasion. The wooden slats were not only a fairly revolting dark wood stain colour but were also all completely rotten. Some were so rotted they had broken in half. The metal base, although sturdy was dirty and seriously rusted.
First job was to head to Homebase and pick up some new wood and some paint for the metal frame. This is where I discovered my first mishap with the tape measure. I nearly ended up going home with only about half the wood I needed. Somehow I had taken half the measurements in cm and half in inches. Second was to strip the bench. Considering how rotten it was I made the mistake of thinking this would be easy. A chisel, a hammer and a bit of elbow grease got rid of the old wooden slats fairly quickly. However the bolts holding the wood and metal frame together were completely rusted and refused to budge. I’d say i spent a good thirty minutes trying to loosen the bolts with various tools. In the end i gave up and used a little saw to get rid of them. I then used a power hose to wash the bench, waited for it to dry, sanded it down, washed it again and left it to dry. Once that was all done i set about painting it and then left it out in the sun to dry again. Rather than sit and watch paint dry, I used the time to prepare the wood. After another mishap with the tape measure (the first plank was cut to completely the wrong measurements) I got the wooden planks cut to the correct size and holes drilled for the screws.
Once the paint was dry it was a simple job of slotting in the wooden slats, bolting it together and sanding the edges. This really should have been the simple part but unfortunately another mishap with the tape measure meant the holes on the bench and the holes on the wood didn’t match. The solution, pull the bench at either side until the holes matched up.
The final product, even after all the tape measure mishaps, wasn’t too bad.
The reason for all this upheaval? We were getting bored of Dublin and decided London might be a bit of fun. Unfortunately the London plan is on hold until jobs are found.
I decided to take full advantage of all this free time and embark on a few projects, preferably ones that would take at least a full day if not even longer.
The first project was the restoration of a rotten, rusted old bench hidden in some bushes in the garden. Unfortunately I did not think to photograph the bench before i started and therefore don’t have the great before and after shot. A description will have to do on this occasion. The wooden slats were not only a fairly revolting dark wood stain colour but were also all completely rotten. Some were so rotted they had broken in half. The metal base, although sturdy was dirty and seriously rusted.
First job was to head to Homebase and pick up some new wood and some paint for the metal frame. This is where I discovered my first mishap with the tape measure. I nearly ended up going home with only about half the wood I needed. Somehow I had taken half the measurements in cm and half in inches. Second was to strip the bench. Considering how rotten it was I made the mistake of thinking this would be easy. A chisel, a hammer and a bit of elbow grease got rid of the old wooden slats fairly quickly. However the bolts holding the wood and metal frame together were completely rusted and refused to budge. I’d say i spent a good thirty minutes trying to loosen the bolts with various tools. In the end i gave up and used a little saw to get rid of them. I then used a power hose to wash the bench, waited for it to dry, sanded it down, washed it again and left it to dry. Once that was all done i set about painting it and then left it out in the sun to dry again. Rather than sit and watch paint dry, I used the time to prepare the wood. After another mishap with the tape measure (the first plank was cut to completely the wrong measurements) I got the wooden planks cut to the correct size and holes drilled for the screws.
Once the paint was dry it was a simple job of slotting in the wooden slats, bolting it together and sanding the edges. This really should have been the simple part but unfortunately another mishap with the tape measure meant the holes on the bench and the holes on the wood didn’t match. The solution, pull the bench at either side until the holes matched up.
The final product, even after all the tape measure mishaps, wasn’t too bad.
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