I wanted to say thank you for the inspiration.
I took the general idea, made it bar height and my own preferred size and beefed it up by doweling together the top pieces.
Given the size, I made the top removable with threaded inserts as well as the removable support beams below.
For the benches, I wanted something sturdy and a look that was similar to the table. I added in a nickel support rod for the foot rest for both strength and a nice look.
All in all this project took a lot of time, probably more so with my perfectionist ways and wanting to make the finish perfectly smooth. It's like glass, which I just love against the dents and dings of the wood.
Some of the challenges were wood that warped. After putting together the bench tops, the wood warped quite a bit, nothing that a few clamps couldn't undo but a pain nonetheless.
Using black stain really brought out a nice look and I'm taking that same look to the new trim and door that are going into the dining area as well.
I've not seen a bar height (not counter height) table in a full dining table size before, it's what I wanted and I couldn't be happier with the results. Was it worth all of the time? That's hard to say, I really love it, but it took a long time to get it to be exactly what I wanted it to be.
Thanks!
Pre-stain, one coat of stain, wipe after 5 min, three coats of poly using steel wool (00) between each coat.