Yardstick Love

Why does one fall in love with an ordinary object?  I'm talking about a yardstick - as Webster's describes it, "noun: a graduated stick or rod one yard in length, used in measuring."  Or, the "ruler" one grabs when one has to measure more than 12 inches.  One normally finds the yardstick hanging in the laundry room, or the garage, or the pantry closet, and if lucky to have, a sewing/craft room.  It's a little forlorn, a little rough around the edges, marked with pencil, and paint splattered perhaps.  But...it is ready to do the job whenever you are - no buttons to push, no levers to switch, lay it down and it's good to go. 
I remember when my crush began.  It was a magazine photo of a half-bath with the walls on the bottom half covered - not horizontally mind you - but with side-by-side yardsticks.  Yep, that was the fall.  What a graphic colorful room!!  I wonder if people entered the room, and forgot to come out - too much to read vertically!
The crush was fed by the blogging world!  Yardsticks are being used for covering footstools, folk art, boxes and so on and so on.  Hmmmmmm, maybe I'm not alone....
So my husband and I got busy.  We started collecting yardsticks.  I was surprised at the number I already had tucked away.  My first project was to cover the tops of two metal yard tables.  
I was ready to play house on my outside, covered patio.

First I had to enlist the help of Larry's cousin, Bob.  You see Bob has this fabulous woodworking shop.  It's full of saws and machines and smells wonderfully of sawdust.  Bob is a master with working in wood; he's created tables, frames, flag display boxes, and pedestals, to name a few items.  Larry and I dropped off our yardsticks and tables, and Bob did his magic.  The tables in a word are "awesome."

 
Not only did he create the tops out of our yardsticks, but inserted pieces of special kinds of wood and framed the top. 

To point out a few of the sticks -
Handy Dan - long gone home and garden center in Dallas - years before Home Depot and Lowe's
Baton Rouge - where I went to LSU and my dear friend, Louise, still lives
The Best Rule is to Save - need I say more??

2nd table
Park Cities Baptist Church - where my marriage occurred
Yardbirds of Texas - another pre-Home Depot store
The Royal Standard - favorite shop in Baton Rouge

Here's a side view - the metal legs were sprayed painted black by Larry.

This transformation happened back in December.  The tables were better than I ever could have imagined.  Thanks Bob!!!  The tables have been waiting for spring to arrive to be placed on the patio.  Their intended purpose is no longer to measure, but to provide a colorful, graphic place to rest a drink.  

PS - The pieces of yardsticks leftover? - stayed tuned - another project is brewing.  

Theresa