The Rooster Ice Cream Table...Finally!

This is the third installment of the continuing Red Rooster Ice Cream Table Set saga. It's kind of like the end of the Return of the King...once you think it's finished, there's more!

The reason why this project took so long to complete is because I didn't measure. It's plain and simple. Measuring would have saved me time and money.

Once I had cut out new seat bottoms from plywood, I stained and sealed them. The time had finally come to put the chairs back together. I put the seats on and found out that I had cut them out from plywood that was way too thick. I couldn't fit the bolts in their respective holes. I was totally crushed.

I'm not being dramatic. When you pour time, effort, and energy into a piece and do your best to bring it back to life, small mistakes like this absolutly crush you when you realize that you're not actually finished.

So I walked away for a little bit and came back when I was more "collected". I measured the thickness of the original plywood seats and found that they were 1/4" thick instead of the 1/2" thickness I bought first.

Lesson learned - measure first.

After a quick visit to the Home Depot (and my parent's basement for another round with the jiggsaw), I had 3 (properly sized) new seat bottoms.

I stained them with General Finishes Shaker Maple to match the tabletop.

Makes a huge difference, doesn't it?

After a few coats of Exterior 450, my new seats were protected from the elements and ready to be enjoyed indoors or outdoors.

And the Rooster has finally arrived!

This set is ready for dinners on the porch, iced tea with mint sprigs, and long conversations as the sun goes down.