A DIY Dining Room Table

Brooke Bowman
by Brooke Bowman
4 Materials
$75
4 Hours
Medium
For years, I had been asking my husband to create a farmhouse table like the kind that were so popular in the home decor and remodeling shows we love to watch on television. Though he’s not a carpenter by trade, I knew that with a little bit of time and elbow grease, he could figure it out. Besides, the ones I had my eye on in the magazines and on the internet were way above our price range, anyway. Though he doesn’t mind doing home projects, he had a good reason for holding out. He wanted the table to fit our little cottage perfectly and until we knew where we wanted to put it, he didn’t want to work on it. We finally finalized the dimensions for our dining room last fall, and he created the ideal family dinner table. Since then, it’s seen many family meals, homework sessions, crafting times, and more. It’s truly one of the focal points of our home, and I’m so proud of my husband for doing such a great job.
First, he made the frame for the table. We measured the space in the dining room to determine how long and how wide we needed it to be. He simply created a rectangle using hardware store lumber, then added six horizontal beams for center support. He used a drill to nail these pieces of wood together.
Then, on top of the frame, he nailed four long pieces of lumber, securing them to the frame with three nails on either side of each beam. We used 1x8s for our table.
This was what the project looked like in the middle, with the top board secured to the frame.
The next step was to add the four legs. We spent a little bit of time sitting down at the old church pew in our dining room to see how high we wanted the table to come. We knew that since the pew was an investment piece that had a ton of sentimental value, we’d likely be using it for quite some time. So, the table needed to come up to waist height while we were both sitting down on it. We measured that and cut the four legs to fit. Our legs were 2x4s.
We have a completed table! The next step was to stain it. I love the look of a walnut finish, so we bought a can of walnut wood stain at the hardware store. It took about three coats for the stain to look the way we wanted it. We followed with three coats of clear varnish to protect the surface. We wanted to take as many precautions as possible to ensure adequate pest control, as we live in a 70-year-old home that could easily be prone to termites. You can get more info here about other ways to secure pest management if this is an issue in your home as well. As you can see in this picture, we ended up putting wooden chairs from our church’s former fellowship hall on the other side of the table. Thankfully, the height we chose was the perfect size and now, it’s a comfortable gathering spot for everyone in our family, young and old alike.
Suggested materials:
  • 1x8s   (Hardware Store)
  • 2x4s   (Hardware Store)
  • Screws and Drill   (Hardware Store)
See all materials
Brooke Bowman
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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