Farmhouse Table Complete

I've been dying to own a rustic farmhouse table for what seems like forever. I love the charm and rustic appeal they bring to a space. Farmhouse tables are not cheap however. I've seen prices from $600 to upwards of a $1000. That is just not in this girl's budget, especially with 3 kids at private school this year. I've been eyeing DIY plans for one over at Ana White's blog for over a year. Why I waited so long to take the plunge is beyond me. I think I was nervous and I wanted to make sure the hubby was on board. After selling off a bunch of kid stuff this summer during the great summer clean out, I finally had enough money to get the lumber.

Let me just say there is nothing like the smell of fresh cut lumber. We purchased the lumber at one of the big box stores and my husband cut the lumber with his table saw. You can have them cut the lumber for you at the store, but I wanted to make sure we were as accurate as possible so we decided to cut the lumber ourselves. The lumber along with screws, a countersink drill bit, wood glue, wood putty, sand paper, stain and a brush was just under $130. Much more budget friendly.

We used the plans found here minus a couple of modifications (like not using a middle stretcher):  http://ana-white.com/2013/04/plans/happier-homemaker-farmhouse-table . The size was perfect for our smallish space while still giving us plenty of room for the 5 of us to spread out. It took about 2 weeks to build. We started with gluing the end stretchers and letting them sit for 48 hours. We only have 2 large clamps so we had to work in sections.

And yes, we built it in the kitchen. Our garage is too full of other "projects" there just isn't enough space. It ended up working out just fine though.

For the top, I picked out the lumber with the most knots and rustic charm I could find. After we built it, we moved it outside so we could sand and stain. I used a stain and poly in one which I hadn't used before. It went on really well and wasn't as runny as a traditional stain. I chose a Dark Walnut color to match with other pieces I have done in the house. It took 3 coats to achieve the color I was going for. The stain dried relatively quickly and I did end up applying 2 additional coats of wipe-on poly to the top just for added protection from my 3 kids.

I also refinished the farmhouse benches that came with our old table. The tops were in bad shape and were not the right color. The cherry colored top just wasn't working. I bought more lumber and built the new tops. Here's a before:

And here's an after (before I painted the bases white):

I love how the bench tops and table tops match now.

This table is everything I had envisioned and more. It will be treasured in this house for years. I'm so glad I finally took the plunge. It looks fabulous in the room...now to redo my kitchen cabinets and the space will be perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!
Shara