The Decoration

...for picnics, that is!

While I'm all for laying out a blanket on the lawn, gathering together with the kiddos and eating big slices of watermelon, sandwiches, chips and drinking Capri Suns, my husband is...well, not so much for it.

He is much more fond of actually sitting at a table to dine!

Go figure.

I've been asking my resident carpenter for several months now to build us a new picnic table. Just a simple one - planks of wood for the top and crossed legs for the base and the benches.

He's resisting.

So I went searching for inspiration last night to convince him, and I stumbled upon this table from Wayne Of The Woods...

Perfect!

It is exactly what I want!

And the best part - the building plans for it are FREE!

(This is a very big deal because my husband's one complaint is that I almost never have plans for what I want him to build. Ok, "almost never" is giving myself entirely too much credit. 99.9% of the time, I give him a picture from a magazine or a drawing that I've made with rough measurements. I leave all of the "planning" to him! He's not so fond of that...)

So, the way I see it, it's a win-win for everyone!

I get the table I want and he gets to build it with plans that someone else has already made!

Here are a few pictures that I am going to use to convince him:

This first one being my favorite...

Even Pottery Barn has their own version of a simple, plank top, crossed leg picnic table...

To dress it up a bit, all you need is some fabric to drape over the sides...

So pretty!

I LOVE the casual, relaxed feel of this style of picnic table.

It seems to carry with it a sense of age and history.

It's rustic and charming and can take on the exact look you're going for by washing it with a coat or two of stain or paint. Or simply, let it age naturally.
It screams low maintenance, which I will admit, is undeniably appealing!

And just in case I wasn't convinced enough that this was the style of table that I wanted for our backyard...

Just as I was about to load up the kids and head to the grocery store this morning, I got a phone call from my mother-in-law. She said she had two magazines for me that she was going to leave on the table on my front porch - Country Living and Coastal Living.

Awesome! My favorite!

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the cover of the June issue of Coastal Living...

As far as I'm concerned, it's a sign!

Meant to be!

Somehow I doubt my carpenter will see it that way...

But I will certainly keep trying!






photos courtesy of CountryLiving.com, PotteryBarn.com and CoastalLiving.com