Table Straightening

2013-07-20Uncategorized Standard

[Written 9 August 2013]

Our expandable kitchen table has been shaped like a U for a long time, sagging more and more in the middle with every elbow push.

We’d been meaning to fix it for a long time, but nothing happened until Holla and Óli showed up for brunch one Saturday morning.  It must be because Holla and Óli are masters of doing stuff, and Óli in particular has done a lot of wood-work over the past few years.  It’s not just that we’re so laaazy that slugs fall asleep on us… 🙂

Anyway.  Finnur and Óli took some measurements, and then headed out to the lumber yard and got some timber.

Óli by the up-side-down table.

Óli by the up-side-down table.

The boys screwing.

The boys screwing.  It took two tries to really get the table-bits aligned and pressed together, but they got there in the end.

Meanwhile, Holla played baby-charmer.

Meanwhile, Holla played baby-charmer.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Cleverly striking the iron while it was hot, we decided to sand the table down the very next day because it was discolored due to use.

Cleverly striking the iron while it was hot and dry outside, we decided to sand the table down the very next day to make it pretty again.

The sander Finnur bought finally coming in very handy.

The sander Finnur bought finally coming in very handy.

Table all sanded and back inside.

Table all sanded and back inside.

Emma duly impressed by her parents. Not. But seemingly able to turn her self from her back to tummy consistently now.

Emma duly impressed by her parents. Not. But seemingly able to turn her self from her back to tummy consistently now.

I totally helped!! I didn't do any sanding, but I was on 'get the sawdust off of the table so that Finnur could see what he was doing'-duty. This involved a lot of beating the table with a tablecloth. And got me very dusty.

I totally helped!! I didn’t do any sanding, but I was on ‘get the sawdust off of the table so that Finnur could see what he was doing’-duty. This involved a lot of beating the table with a tablecloth. And got me very dusty.

... aaaand last but not least we covered the table with white mineral oil, courtesy of Ikea. (Taking a photo with hands covered in oil is non-trivial!!)

… aaaand last but not least we covered the table with white mineral oil, courtesy of Ikea. (Taking a photo with hands covered in oil is non-trivial!!)  Since the table had been previously doused in mineral oil, we’ve only applied one round for now.

Seeing how our dining table was non-usable, we headed out to Grillhúsið for dinner.

Seeing how our dining table was non-usable, we headed out to Grillhúsið for dinner.  That place offers consistently average food, and we were not disappointed.