Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

The first few days of rain here since we moved.  I'm assembling a dresser the wife wanted and bought at this place called "Ikea" or something where everything comes in a box and needs assembly.

Boy what fun.  Cheap, she said.  The stuff at least fits properly.

My issue with Ikea is that you have to walk the entire damn store to get anything.

It's not the walking, mind you. I enjoy long hikes. It's the damn people who like to walk 0.5 mph three-wide in the narrow lane they have in the place. 

I don't think I'm ever going to step foot in an Ikea again. It's not worth it.

I also like that we have a Cable thread where we discuss HOAs as a political model; and a Weather thread where we discuss Scandivian furniture chains.

Why have the Offseason thread?

The furniture escapades have been very wearing.  The wrong stuff comes, or doesn't come at all, etc.

We just bought some tiered serving stands for the wedding reception, and the Monday before the reception (when we finally opened them to look at them) we saw that the three stands--which were all supposed to be rose gold--were all different colors. One was silver, and the other two were rose gold but not a matching shade. All were from the same vendor.
The vendor actually did us a solid and sent us advance replacements overnight shipping at no charge. I asked them to physically open them and confirm all three were the right color. They didn't do that, and of course one of the sets didn't match the other two (at least they were all rose gold).
Luckily since it was an advance replacement, I was able to mix and match and between the first and second shipment, was able to construct 3 stands that were all a matching shade out of the parts and ship the company back three full sets that didn't match.
But that was quite annoying.

i'm building a bar and cooking pit (outdoor kitchen?) currently... using untreated douglas fir 4x4's for the bones... I like doing these things, but i don't even attempt to perfection... some call it sloppy, i call it 'rustic'.  i like rustic.  

i'm doing something i've not seen before by using 6 parallel 4x4's for the bar surface... I'm going to run a router down them for joints- a kind of t&g if you would, then use an all thread rod every 2' and pull them tightly together, counter sinking the bolt/nut and finishing them off with a dowel.. should make for a substantial surface and something that wears nicely outside so long as it remains oiled after the planing and sanding.  i've considered an epoxy on the surface that appears as 1/4" of glass, which would fill any voids and offer a perfectly level surface- but then i'd have to go back and do all the surfaces like this... and that, folks, ain't gonna happen.  that stuff is $175/ga, and it would take 3 just for the bar surface- not to mention "dust free and dry environment for the 7~10 day cure time"... 

all this is to be done by june 9th, when there will be quite the party.... 

i wish like hell you could buy what i needed and bolt it together, but that ain't happening... it wouldn't last, even if it was available. inside? maybe... outside? nope... 

the lower counters will be concrete.  that stuff has worked out for me in the past, and knowing now what i didn't know then should turn out even better. 

all this started about two years ago... i had a 50' wide 135' deep lot beside me i'd been trying to buy for years- but the owner wanted it to be attached to the lot behind me, so to provide the square footage required for septic of a 5 bedroom house (which no fool would build such a thing in my neighborhood).  she finally sold it to a client of my wife's, and i immediately offered him... there is a utility easement between my lot and the lots behind, isolating the lot in question- making it useless for anyone other than me or the people adjacent me on the other side of the lot.  Got it cheap ($10k) when the tax assessed value is $40k.  

clearing it cost a small fortune.  

grading it was tricky- too much for a power rake, too small a lot for heavy equipment... finally got it taken care of though... slapped a 30x28 steel building on it, that has a 12' steel awning running the 30' length of the back... on the corner of the awning covered section i'm building the bar, and just off of it (under what will have something akin to a pergola covering it) the cooking pit will be built.

right now i'm waiting for three things (i hate waiting)- one, the power company has to run their trench for the underground service that will go through the pass between the bar and the pit... no sense doing anything until that's done.. second, sodding... I put down 12 pallets over the weekend, and there are at least 7 more to go (selected bermuda due to the dog traffic- fairly tough stuff, and St. Augustine or zoisia isn't available right now- back to that june 9th thing again)... third: inspection.

at any rate, more in response to your comment @bwarbiany , the pit will be L shaped- the side parallel to the bar will have 2 (maybe 3) 4x4's fashioned the same as the bar's, and for serving.  the lower counter between the server and the served will also be concrete (matching the bar)... the longer L will have a griddle (28" already landed still boxed) then the ecoque gen2, then a small stainless (3 burner) grill, then a sink, and then a propane burner for the massive ss pots used in low country boils or Brunswick stews.   in the apex of the L will be an island with the same surface as the bar and serving area, but used like a butchers block.  I plan on decorative/functional pebble ground with wooden walkways, which should allow for better drainage of the inevitable spills.  the ground is a sandy loam to begin with and swallows water quickly.

between this and the two head kegorator i just landed, the beverage cooler i've yet to select (got it down to three choices, though), a full size fridge the neighbor gave me and a 55" 4k i plan on connecting via information gleaned from the 'cut the chord' conversation- i should have, after all the work is completed- a nice hang out...

i was going to do a built in grill, griddle, ect, until i saw the price of those things.  i'm happy making it modular and able to be separated/swapped as needed- though tied together nicely. 

Good question.

tradition, y'all.