Have you been to the lumber store lately to buy wood? HOLY CANOLIES people! The prices are out of control. The wood, screws and the few other supplies the HH needed to build an 8 foot picnic table for our deck came to a whopping $270!
That is crazy! What would have cost maybe around $80 to build a year ago, now costs $270. We knew prices had gone up, but not that much, and it kind of makes me glad we didn’t install wooden garden boxes this year and just went the natural raised beds route instead. ¡Ay, caramba!
Note to self: Plant trees.
The HH, he’s got some carpenter skills and can follow directions to boot {something I’m not so great at!} and so knocking this little project off our my home improvement wish list only took him about half a day to complete.
He found the plans to build an 8 foot picnic table online for FREE from Construct101 and said the instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow.
I tend to leave him alone when he’s building stuff so those are the only details I have {because seriously, who wants to be interrupted with a million questions when they are working on a project? I know I don’t}.
But, I thought I would share the photos I snapped as he progressed with building the picnic table in case you want to talk your husband into building a picnic table for you too. 🙂 He said it really was an easy project, way easier than the chicken coop or even the little vegetable stand I had him build me a few houses back.
And so there you have it. Our new picnic table. I think he did a fantastic job and I can’t wait to try it out with our next round of guests when they arrive at Camp Butterfield in a few weeks. 😉
Here’s to a wonderful {and productive} day,
Peace Out.
~Mavis
Tamara says
Your husband did a good job on the picnic table – very nice! My husband built ours 40 years ago and it continues to serve us well. However, because of my severe arthritis we are in the market for an outdoor table with chairs as I just cannot get inside the picnic bench anymore. The rest of the family enjoys it though and it is great for cookouts.
MEM says
Mavis, you and HH are so incredibly talented! I feel like such a slacker. Excellent job on the picnic table. Is it safe to assume that you did the painting?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes! 🙂
Lynn Y says
I heard that it is not the timber that has increased the price of lumbar but the mills have bottlenecked. Once they get going at full capacity, the price should start coming down. We can expect shortages (read increased prices) in various commodities in the next year in which we see prices sore and then come back down (or so I have heard).
Lynn Y says
Oops . . . lumber not lumbar, unless the cost of my back pain (lumbar spine) has increased.
Linda Practical Parsimony says
Last year, I priced a picnic table at $350. I wonder what it would be this year. I did not buy the one last year. Good job on the project!
Lana says
I feel ya on the lumber prices. We had to replace some water damaged siding. Seven pieces of siding was $149.
My hubby built our picnic table 24 years ago and it is still going strong.
Jules says
It looks great! Building a picnic table is on my list of want to dos this summer, but I’m going to look for salvaged wood
Stacey says
It’s gorgeous! And even better, handmade by your HH. My husband and I aren’t handy, so I am double impressed.
Katherine says
We are putting off our kitchen renovation, basement build out and other home improvement projects on our new house due to the price of lumber. At least I can concentrate on getting many of my garden projects completed.
Rosaleen says
Lovely job on the picnic table!
Yes, pretty much all building materials have sky rocketed. Every part of the supply chain was impacted by Covid. We can only hope that things calm down, but I’m doubting that they will go down to pre-pandemic levels. At least we might start being able to find more items instead of bare shelves. S.T.A.R.T. & M.I.G.H.T. I think this is going to take time.
Sue says
My daughter is in house renovation and is shocked at the prices that are going up daily. The whole universe is a mess.
You have a treasure, that HH is a keeper.
Patti M. says
Great job!
Nancy says
My sister is having her one car garage enlarged to a two stall. The price doubled between the quote and the build!
Dianne says
Fantastic job! He even got it painted! So lucky that you have a HH that is a “Jack at All Trades, but Master of None”! Best kind to have. My HH is the same. Sometimes it is amazing how nice projects do turn out. Much joy to you and Camp Butterfield guests that get to sit on that new picnic table!
Debi says
Your husband did a great job building the picnic table. I’m sure you will enjoy it for many years to come. The lumber prices are crazy. Our plans to trim around our front windows and make shutters are on hold for now because of the cost.
Jamie says
We also wanted to build garden beds this year, but the cost of wood and other construction materials made that non-viable. Instead I took a suggestion from one of your old posts and scrounged for free containers for a container garden. We are also in a new house, and this ended up being the best solution for us as we can move the plants around to the yard to find the best placement with a good sun/shade ratio for a given plant type.
Carole says
You got a deal. I got 4 4X4 and ONE sheet of plywood for $223!!! This is loony tunes.
TRACEY K says
That looks amazing! Thank you for the source of the plans…hmm. Mavis, are you going to plant wildflower seeds in between your deck and the water? It would look stunning