DIY Redwood Patio Table
Late one Friday night, I was scrolling through secondhand furniture forums looking for an outdoor table and chairs. My partner and I had just started renting a new home which, unlike our previous apartments, came with an outdoor space big enough for some furniture. I grew up with a screen porch that would host Saturday barbecues and Sunday morning coffees, and I always aspired to create an outdoor extension of my house for gatherings of loved ones.
I didn’t want to buy a cheaply manufactured table from a big store, both because I generally like supporting small businesses, but also because I wanted something that would last through multiple homes over multiple years. I didn’t want to contribute to a landfill the next time we packed up and moved because we inevitably decide that what we bought was too cheap or broken to be worth moving with us.
So, that left me with (what I thought were) only two choices - either splurge for a high quality, well-manufactured wood patio table. Or, scour Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace daily (sometimes hourly) for an affordable alternative in good shape.
Given how expensive nice, new patio furniture is (think thousands), the latter was my preference. But, summer in northern California meant that patio furniture was in high demand. Every piece we spotted online initiated an adrenaline fueled few minutes of frantically messaging the seller and coordinating our calendars to determine when we could go see it. We would confirm with sellers, only later to be told someone else got too it first. Mostly though, we wouldn’t even get a response.
That Friday, after months of on-again, off-again searching, I got a spark of inspiration to pursue a third option. Over the last few months I had been getting served lots of woodworking content via my TikTok algorithm, mostly of women who flipped wood furniture. I was initially intrigued by furniture flipping because I am a sucker for anything that turns would-be trash into something beautiful, and more importantly, useful. These people would take furniture left on the street with water damage, broken drawers, or otherwise ugly injuries, and make them into stunning works of craftsmanship.
If there’s one thing to know about me, its that I am desperately impulsive and highly confident when it comes to initiating new creative projects. I had no prior woodworking experience, but was convinced that I, too, could flip furniture. This kicked off many months of picking up furniture off the street, weekend trips to the hardware store, and sawdust pretty much everywhere, at all times.
Anyways, furniture flipping is a story for another blog post. All that to say, I had DIY on the mind when hunting for patio furniture. I had a thought that the tables I was seeing online didn’t actually look that complicated. And thus, a seed was planted. All of a sudden, lying in bed at 10pm, I was determined to build us patio furniture.
Fast forward to the next morning. Home Depot opened at 8am, and you better believe we were there right at doors-open.
Wait - Home Depot? you’re asking. Didn’t you just say you like to support local, small business?
Yes, and I am not proud of it. Truth is, the excitement of the project got the best of me, and I am still learning about sustainable wood sourcing. Home Depot was easy and close by, and I fell prey to their seductive, DIY targeted advertising. We’re all works-in-progress.
Side note - huge shoutout to my partner, who not only supports my impulsive and disruptive craft projects with gusto, but who also wheeled around a cart of 8 feet of redwood in the store for 3 hours while I gathered the supplies I needed.
To delve a bit into wood-choice. I chose redwood because, as many much more highly qualified wood specialists will tell you, it’s naturally rot-resistant and weather-resilient. Since outdoor furniture is by nature exposed to the elements, it makes a lot of sense. It also looks pretty.
As for wood choice, a lot of the pieces had natural imperfections, knots, splinters, etc. I leaned into it! I knew I could sand these down and protect them with finish, and they don’t compromise the table’s structure. Plus, they create a more natural look that lends itself nicely to a high-quality, sustainable patio table.
Ok, now onto the build. I looked a lot on Pinterest and read through various blogs about how to DIY a patio table. I had a look in mind, and was constrained by the simplicity of my tools (or lack thereof). Ultimately I ended up adhering roughly to the design outlined in North Country Nest’s blog post, with a few alterations. I liked the wide beams on this one, and all the wood angles were 90 degrees, making it pretty simple to build. Huge shoutout to them for a great article!
If you want to build a table like this, you should definitely read their post. I won’t get too deep into the design specs or tools since they are outlined in there, but I will talk about sanding, staining and finishing of the wood, and generally my experience and learnings from the process.
A note about tools - you can always buy new tools, but you should also explore options for tool rentals, especially if you are price or space conscious. The easiest place to check for tools is with neighbors. It’s free, and a great way to connect with people who live nearby. Use your community! There’s also lots of official tool rental programs in most cities.
The first thing we had to do was cut all the pieces to our desired length. We used a circular saw, some clamps, and a little foldable worktable. Even though we had the tools and space to cut, often times there are people or places who will cut wood for you if you bring them measurements. Home Depot does it for wood bought there. My brother found someone with a workshop via instagram who cut some large pieces of wood for him!
The next part of the build was sanding down all the wood pieces to get them all pretty and ready to stain. This was definitely the most tedious. Sanding is kind of a black hole of time, because the standard of “finished” is really up to the interpretation of the sander. I’m not super picky. I mainly wanted the paint/chalk marks off and the wood grain to shine through.
I used a circular power sander for most of it. I do NOT recommend sanding by hand if you don’t have the power sander, unless you want to never woodwork again due to the physical pain in your hands and the mental and emotional damage from putting yourself through that (kidding!). But actually, use above mentioned tool-rental methods to save yourself time and sanity.
A few other sanding basics, really all you need to know for this project:
Go from low to high grit. I did everything in 80 grit, then went higher to 120, then 180, finally 220. Honestly, on some boards I forgot to do the higher grit and it turned out fine. But start low, it will get the grossys off.
Wear a mask. Protect the lungs, people.
Be ready for sawdust everywhere. I mean everywhere.
4. You’re done whenever you feel like it! You’re the one who will look at this table every day, so it’s up to you.
Next up should be staining, but of course we messed some stuff up that we had to fix. Mainly, our table leg cuts were pretty uneven. We had 4 inch thick wood legs and a circular saw that only cut 2 inches deep, so we had to make multiple cuts while rotating the legs. You can imagine that this turned out pretty unevenly, so we stacked all 4 legs next to each other and sanded for a really long time to make them all the same height.
actual footage of this painful process
See, most problems can be fixed with some creativity! Expect to do some things wrong and learn from them. Aim have fun with it, and stop if attitudes are getting bad. Continuing on when frustrated is what leads to angrily stopping projects in the middle and never picking them back up again. If you are getting more and more upset with a project, always ask yourself if you are hungry.
Next up is staining. I pretty much just asked the internet for help, and tried to find an article that wasn’t an ad (harder than you’d think these days!). I settled on Cabot Australian Timber Oil in “Jarrah Brown” which this blog recommended. I generally really like how the color turned out, but it did have some variation in darkness that apparently is pretty common with this stain. This article has some good pointers on how to apply. (I used a pre-stain wood conditioner for this, by Minwax).
I usually find it easiest to use a clean, microfiber cloth to apply oil-based stains. It helps get into nooks and crannies and you don’t have to worry about brush bristles getting stuck in there. I did one coat and, as recommended, kept everything wet as I applied. Layering when it dries is what leads to unevenness. Wear gloves!
Before and after. Look at the grain pop!
Finally, onto the finish. You should ideally let the stain dry for 24+ hours before applying the finish. I got a bit impatient and did some early application of finish which mostly turned out fine.
To pick a finish, I referenced my trusty blog post again and opted for the Marine Seal-Once finish. I loved this stuff. It went on super clean with no streaks (a problem I’ve had with other finishes in the past), and dried fast. I did 2 coats with a clean paintbrush and it looked incredible. Remember to seal the ends, or water can get in.
As for timeline, the whole sanding/staining/finishing process took many weeks. In comparison, the build took a couple of days, max. We followed the design from North Country Nest with a few measurement adjustments (we’re tall!) and some design adjustments (like gaps between the top slats so water can drip off between). The gapping was uneven between slats because the wood had warped a bit since being cut. It’s not something we minded, but for any perfectionists out there it’s something to mentally prep for.
Finally the table was built! Except there was one problem. I didn’t realize that 8 foot long boards from Home Depot aren’t perfectly 8 feet long! Who knew! Anyways, we ended up with something like this:
Peep the uneven ends! I debated leaving it be, but I knew every time I looked at it I would think of those uneven ends. So I made a decision to try and cut them even. It went… okay.
The circular saw wreaked some havoc that damaged the stain and finish on the ends. As mentioned above, when re-staining wet Australian Timber Oil on top of dry, it gets significantly darker. So when I went to re-stain and re-seal the damaged bits, it ended up looking a bit darker than the rest of the table at the meeting point between old and new. I decided I could live with it, re-sealed the ends, and called it a day.
So that is the table! It’s been almost a year and it still looks great. We moved out of that house and took it with us to our new place. We also picked up some patio chairs in great condition from a secondhand store in Berkeley.
It’s been raining like crazy here, and the table has held its own though it all. We never cover it or keep it inside during inclement weather, and so far I haven’t noticed any fading or water damage. I did clean it once with water, a scrub brush and some Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner, although I don’t really think the cleaner was a good idea. Everything I’ve read online says just water, or gentle soap.
Overall, it was quite a wild few weeks with a back deck covered in wood and sawdust. If you have been wanting to get into woodworking, or just think it would be cool to build stuff, this is your sign to just start! I had literally no experience in woodworking before starting this. Expect mistakes to happen so you don’t get as frustrated by them. And always, always, always stop and have a snack when you feel like giving up!