Farmhouse Table

My wife and I really love the farmhouse look and feel. We saw one of these tables at a furniture store for $2000 with no chairs. I had already bought the Kreg Tool, something that I cannot believe I have done without for so long, when I went to build some $10 Shelves that Ana has on her site. My wife asked me how hard it would be to build the table and I told her I have never done anything like it. I also told her if she didn't like the end project, we could use it as a picnic table outside. It was fantastically easy with the plans and Kreg Jig. Thanks to Ana for all the helpful tips!

Now to the build. We decided that the table needed to be a bit wider and longer for our needs, so I adjusted the plans. It came out to 90"x48". The center board is a 2x12 with the other 4 being 2x10s. The end pieces are 2x8s that I had from building garden boxes. The benches that I also built were from scrap lumber, they are not pictured here as they need one more coat of stain and then three coats of polycrylic. They are 52" long and go on the ends where the kids can use the cross beam as a foot support.

Building this project was rather quicker than I thought. Of course, borrowing a radial arm saw helped out a bunch with the legs. Once it was all together, I sanded the table three times. I used 80, 150 then 220 grit. The palm sander got a real workout over the space of about a week and a half.

Finishing the project, I decided to follow the plans and went with Minwax Weathered Oak and topped that with Minwax Polycrylic. The legs and underside of the table received 2 coats of each, but the top I gave 3 coats of stain and 2 coats of the Poly with a very light sanding in between each coat.

The table then sat completed in the garage for 3 weeks as I had to find enough help to get it into the house. This is one heavy bugger. If we ever sell the place, it stays! There are ~150 screws and all but 12 of those had pocket holes.

Fantastic build and now I am going to build the farmhouse king size bed. And a murphy bed. And more shelves. And a shoe cubby with coat rack. And a wine rack. And a greenhouse... the list goes on and on...