Monday, August 5, 2013

My DIY Farmhouse Table

Are you wondering if you read that right? YES you did! I DIYed a farmhouse table and I am so proud of myself! I had a little bit of sweet hubby help but I made this for him for Father's Day (supposed to be for Father's Day but I only finished yesterday) so I didn't want him doing the heavy lifting on this one.

If you are wondering why I made him a table- I will explain. Remember how he very thoughtfully got me this table for Christmas?


I started refinishing it and we got it in the dining room only to discover that it was just too low. It was about 3 inches lower than a dining room table that is made today. While 3 inches may not seem like a lot, it made it very awkward to sit and eat and the hubby HATED it. While I was sad that he was not enjoying the table because there are so many things to like about it- the legs are just lovely for one!- my goal with this house is to find things we BOTH like.

 Since we had just spent money on a table I didn't want to spend a lot of money to replace it. The idea just kind of sat in the back of my mind. I really wanted a farmhouse table but legs aren't cheap and I didn't have much confidence in my building skills. Then I saw a post by City Farmhouse about how to build the easiest farmhouse table.


Basically they took a wood trestle table and added the plank top. I had one of those lightbulb ah-ha moments. I figured I could do that. I just needed a table base. I am not real big on trestle tables but I figured I would scour craigslist and just see what I could find.


I had trouble finding something that I could just use the base and when I found one I liked it was far too expensive to just use it for the base. I was really looking for something under $50. The less money the better. Then I found it! (I saved the picture from CL but when I tried to but it on here it was too small.) Someone was selling a table with a metal/wrought iron looking base with a faux marble top. It was missing the piece of glass out of the middle but for only $30 and they lived 5 blocks away. SCORE! I took the faux marble off and put it on Freecycle to get rid of it.That left me with a great base for a farmhouse top. I started scouring Pinterest to see if I could find anything close to give me some ideas. My favorite was this one.


 My base wasn't this pretty but I knew I wasn't crazy for thinking I could do it! I also found this 

That isn't a farmhouse top but it's wood with the metal base and it has a bench which I would love to have in our dining room.

Then I started looking for plans to build the top. I knew I liked the farmhouse tables with the breadboard ends like this one.



Ana White is an amazing woman who makes plans for all kinds of furniture. Her site is AMAZING. I followed her Farmhouse Table plans. This is the updated version using pocket holes. I bought sweet hubby a Kreg Jig for Father's Day last year so I knew I could do it. 

I would love to tell you that I took all kinds of pictures showing my steps but really I was just praying I could get it to come together before our company arrives today.  I put this on hold when my MIL was coming to visit because there was just too much going on and even though we have been really busy the last few weeks I wanted this project completed! We haven't done any other work on our dining room but I feel like this is a great jumping off point for me! Drum roll please..... my table!





I made the stain myself! I will tell you about it in another post but it matched my cross back chairs perfectly! The other chairs at the table were also a CL find.


They were only $40 for the pair! I LOVE this table. The hubby loves this table.. and neither of us can quite believe I did it. I keep looking at it and maybe petting it a little. The kids even like it! is it perfect? No. But it's sturdy and pretty and I made it myself!

I am off to clean! We have the hubby's best friends staying with us for a week and then 2 Chinese exchange students for four days. I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me but I just had to share.

Anyone else do a big project they are crazy- proud -of recently?

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