Farmhouse Cement Plank Patio Table, Part 2

Our family is growing.  I'm not getting any older of course.

What started out as a couple of young newlyweds building a life, turned into a large family of eight.  Six kids - four boys and a couple girls.

The oldest two flew the nest, and then the family grew by a daughter and son in law, and eventually two grand kids arrived.

This August another little peanut will debut as #1 Daughter and that son in law I mentioned start their family.

Also recently, daughter #2 became engaged, so when the newest baby arrives this summer it will bring our current total to 14 wanting a seat around the table.

And it will only keep growing from there, right?

So when we decided to replace our temporary spool patio table we knew it meant building something ourselves to get the size we wanted.

An 8 foot long custom cement plank table (you can read about the DIY by clicking the link) was built not only to withstand the elements, but to fit as many bodies around as possible when the chow hits the middle.

The top has texture and some color variations, it won't hold water, and if it gets messy after the wild ravenous animals dine, all I need to do is unreel the hose and spray it off.

It won't blow over either.

The center of the table, that currently has plants in a left over window box type planter, was designed to hold a container of ice chilled beverages, and there is also a grid that fits in the center when we just need to put food there.

On hot summer nights or cool autumn evenings around the fire, I won't even have to get out of my seat to refresh my drink.

There's a lot of concrete and stones in the patio area and I wanted to brighten it up a bit without introducing more colors.

Our other patio chairs are gray and black.  I set out on an internet search for some affordable chairs, minimum of six, that didn't clash with the new free standing patio umbrella (a post for another time).

While searching I got it in my mind that I wanted white chairs of the non plastic variety.

I found many, but at upwards of $80 bucks a chair that wasn't going to happen.

Then in the image search on my computer I spotted some simple mesh chairs........ at Target....... on sale for $21.00.

The page said "in stores only, in stock", it didn't say how many.

I was giddy as I announced to the famdamily that I would be making a quick shopping trip and said..... buh-bye.be.back.soon.

HA!

The good news was when I got to the closest Target - 20 minutes away for reference - I could test drive the one solitary white mesh chair they had left, which was also the bad news, only one chair.

I sat on it and found it comfy, and looking at it I decided I did indeed want 5 more to go along with it. 

Then I spied even more good news....... all the patio furniture was on clearance, and the mesh chairs were now only $10.49.  WHAT!?!?  

I sat on the lone white chair to guard it as I googled phone numbers for all the other not so local Target stores. 

The next closest sold out that morning. 

The next was out before clearance. 

The next one put me on hold twice for way too long so I hung up. 

My last option was only about 30 minutes from where I was, but my drive home would be close to an hour.

I called and spoke to a girl and asked her to get an actual visual on how many of the chairs they had in stock.........10.

Bonus - I only set out for 6 chairs at $21, now I could buy 10 for $10 each.

I flew down the highway hoping no one was on the same mission as me, myself and I.

I walked in, told the first red shirted worker I saw that I needed a loading cart back in the patio furniture.

$100 dollars later - because I used my Target card and received an additional 5% off - I left the parking lot with all ten of the white mesh stacking chairs, quite possibly the only ones left in Minnesota.

I arrived home close to three hours later and ten chairs happier.

It wasn't the quick trip I thought it would be, but mission accomplished.

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