No firepit, no worries

Of course, I plan to get a firepit before the temps start dropping for evenings in the driveway.  Until then, what to do.  With my niece and nephew visiting and a personal desire to impress them in my imagined awesomeness, I decided we should do smore's.  What to do?  Pinterest saves the day. 
Did you know you can toast marshmallows (or kebobs for that matter) over a 10" terracotta pot lined with foil and filled with charcoal briquettes?

you can.  and it works great. 

Deck Sectional DONE!

So as promised, here is a completed pic with a bonus....me enjoying a cup of coffee.

The little inserts are my creation.  I may build two more as they work great for end tables, mid tables, coffee tables, foot rests, or another place to sit.

And they are working out great.  My wife's parents are in town and we are finding ourselves hanging out on the deck.

Again, construction is super simple and I can provide plans for the small inserts.

Deck Sectional update

Last night I finished the 5th section and built a end table to match.
Leah made a great point that the cushions look like they would fall through. They do.  So I built in two vertical pieces to combat this.
I have to add these vertical pieces to the other four, and build one more endtable.

Bonus, the end table can be used as a foot rest or another place to sit.

For those that are interested.  These are super simple to build.  Start to finish, it takes me about 2 hours.  A drill and a miter saw is all you need.  

the photo is a little grainy.  I took it this morning and then lightened it a bit in Photoshop.

Deck Sectional; Phase 1

As you may or may not know, Ryan built us a 14' x 12' deck off the morning room.  Until now, only a grill has occupied the space.  I have been wanting something...anything out there.  The deck is shaded until early afternoon and would be a great place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.  But where to sit.
So with kudos to AnnaWhite.com, I am almost done building my deck sectional.  AnnaWhite has plans for the armless and armed sections.
Behold,

Here's a pic of two of them together.  What the photos or rendering below doesn't show are the back supports I still have to add to help keep the back cushion from falling through.

I built this out of Red Cedar found at the closest Menards for $4.60 per 8' stick of 1x4.  I had to modify Anna's plans as it called treated pine 1"x (which is actually 3/4").  I used Cedar 1"x (which is actually 7/8").  My wife found the cushions at Improvements.com.

So I said phase 1.  Here's why.  We have one more cushion set to use and I am almost done building the 5th section piece.  Then I have modified and made my own design for a end table/stool to use in the set. 

 You can see the smaller piece inserted between the sections and then used back to back as a coffee table.  I have the wood to build those and will have them done by the time my In-Laws fly in this Saturday.

Stay tuned for more pics.