Farmhouse Table DIY

Last fall, when construction on our new house was nearly complete, A.J. used some vacation time to build a farmhouse table for our new dining room. He started with these plans from Ana White, but made some modifications based on some of the brag posts from her website, and on our own ideas and needs.

I liked the look of the original plan, and of the farm tables from Restoration Hardware (this one and this one), which were our original inspiration, but we wanted something we could pull up chairs to all the way around and not have crossbars in the way of feet and knees at the table.

We wanted it to fit 8 comfortably,  but not be overwhelmingly large in the space, so we decided on 7 feet x 3 feet. It ended up about 83" x 38."

The materials cost about $175 all together, including the stain, brushes, etc. The bulk of the cost was $65 for the 4x4 douglas fir for the table legs. The rest of the wood is all southern pine—very inexpensive but needs lots of sanding and has some bad knots.

We did all of our shopping at our local hardware store. We used Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner, ZAR stain in Modern Walnut, and ZAR polyurethane in Clear Satin.

This is not an low-VOC product. We left the table in my father's shed, where A.J. did the finishing, and then on our porch to off-gas as long as possible. And when we did move it inside, I kept a fan blowing over it toward the door. But it looks nice and went on smoothly. A.J. did just one coat of stain (we didn't want it too dark) but did several coats of poly, especially on the table top, for durability.

Now some iPhone pictures of the table in progress...

Leo loved being daddy's little helper.

The project definitely took over the screen porch, but it only took him a few days. Someday A.J. will have a real work shop and place for all his tools. :)

Sanding took forever. Louisa helped make sure he didn't miss a spot.

AJ attached the table top after the table was in place at our old house, and removed it to move it to our new house as well.

I'm am so grateful for such a talented husband and for having a nice place to sit and eat with guests! Thank you, Daddy!

p.s. The black chairs are DWR Salt Chairs, which I got on sale before we moved. They are small but pretty comfortable. I'm still looking for arm chairs for the ends.