Walkin’ the Plank: Our DIY Farm House Table

For years, I have wanted an old farm plank style table. I like the rustic look, and I really love how like wine (or a good Wisconsin cheddar) it would just get better with age. Also, since I’ve been hosting these Sunday dinners with my family once a month (mentioned here) I needed something that could seat 10-12 people. That way, I could at least have all the adults in the dining room together.

So, I started some research, and WOWSERS, old looking tables are expensive. Also, the size I was looking for added some serious coinage to the price tag. These are some of the tables I had my eye on (waiting, hoping for them to go on sale, and by sale I mean 99% off).

http://darvin.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=-2001460134&ItemNum=5397-42%2b2x84b%2b3x85b%2b96

 

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/solomon-rectangular-extension-dining-table/?pkey=csquare-rectangular-tables

 

http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1606015&categoryId=cat1537023
After seeing how much these tables were, I then, started looking at GoodWill, garage sales, craigslist, and came up with nada. I was starting to feel a bit of a time crunch too as Sunday Dinners were getting crowded, and I was sick and tired of setting up my portable banquet table every month.
Cue Pinterest! After seeing how many people have built their own tables, I convinced Brian to build us one. It didn’t really take much convincing because Brian was excited at the prospect of buying and using power tools.
So, we went from an old kitchen table with a six foot plastic banquet table covered with table cloths…
… to Brian becoming the next Norm Abram.
We found the plans for this table on www.ana-white.com After reading a bunch of other DIY blogs, and doing a little bit of research on measurements and ease of building, we went with these plans because a.) we’ve never heard anyone complain about anything Ana White builds and b.) it was the perfect size and look we were going for.
Off to Home Depot we went. Ana White makes a very easy buy list to follow, and with the help of some people at Home Depot, we picked out the best pine pieces we could find. I liked the idea of a soft wood like pine so that it could get dinged up and look aged over time.
Brian with the help of a friend were able to build the table in about five hours on a Saturday, which isn’t too bad for a first time build. Here are some pictures of building day.

 

 

Then came time for staining (another first time project). I’ll share more about that next week.
Now that I know Brian can build things, and use power tools, his “Honey Do List” is getting quite long. In fact, my friends have seen the table, and are giving Brian orders for their own tables too.

Author

6 comments

Leave a Reply to nikkirm Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *