Logs

The hubby and I have put a lot of work into our back yard patio, and after building some patio furniture I felt the need for something more.  I needed some logs on the patio.  Luckily my favorite sister has some land at her new house and has a lot of extra logs.  When Carrie and Jeremy bought their land and moved into their house I quickly claimed this.

Not the dog, just the log.  Though I wasn't quite ready for the project this log brought, I quickly put my stamp on it telling Jeremy to save it for me.  When I was ready for the project Jeremy borrowed his Dad's chainsaw while the hubby and I were down for a visit and about 15 minutes later the hubby was happily satisfied that he was able to operate a new toy and I was thrilled about loading my new logs into the truck.  Through this whole process the hubby and my Mom thought I was a little crazy for being so anxious about a dead tree, but after a little love to the dead tree, they now understand.

So once home I sanded the logs first with a low grit (I think 80) sandpaper, and our handy little mouse sander.  Once I was satisfied I smoothed them out with a higher grit sandpaper (I think 120).  I must say I was quite lucky that the logs had already lost the bark so they were pretty easy to sand down.  It was super messy, but actually quite therapeutic to sit out on the patio and just sand away knowing I was going to have some sweet logs.  After the sanding was done I did a little research on some different types of finishes I could put on them.  I decided on a high gloss spar urethane.  We went with the Helmsman brand because the container bragged that it was ideal for outdoors and provided flexibility for the changing climate, which we all know we have here in St. Louis.  I ended up applying 3 coats to the logs, and absolutely love how they turned out.

The last two pictures are of the container of spar urethane that I used on the logs

Initially I had planned on using them as stools for added seating, but since it is usually just the hubby and I entertaining ourselves on the patio we have quickly found them to be super useful as tables and foot rests as well.

Oh yeah, I have to give a shout out to the best part of this post, Ziggy.  That's the adorable little chocolate lab puppy my niece Chloe got for her 5th birthday.  Ziggy and Stanley have become pretty good buddies despite their size difference.  No worries though it won't be long until Ziggy and Stanley are on a more level playing field.  Isn't he the cutest little pup ever?  Well second cutest.  I mean look at Stanley as a puppy.