How to Build a Farmhouse Table

(the anti-climactic big reveal)

So I had hoped to have a grand ribbon cutting for the big reveal of the table....complete with chairs around the table filled with happy guests, new (old) furniture in the room, our bookcases painted, art and photographs neatly hung on the wall......but come to find out, all that takes more than a few weeks! I'll keep you posted as we add to the room.....so for now, here's brand new (but old looking!) table.

We started out with a good solid base--our OLD TABLE, bought 4 years ago at the Global Baazar Target clearance ($50!).

We are so green for using our old table. So green? Or so cheap....you decide.

We then got our wood (see here)....just from Home Depot, nothing fancy. I looked for the planks with the most knots and best grain.

Let the sanding games begin.

We (he) sanded off all of the black finish from our Target Wood table. Target wood= I have no idea what kind of wood it actually was, and believe it to be a combination of many woods fused together to create a super breed. Super weird.

It was then my turn to distress the planks. I LOVED this part. It was like art.... a little here, a little there. Dents, scratches and scuffs. And then sanding each down for a smooth and worn look.

I beat, I mean BEAT down on the ends with the hammer and the chisel, and then sanded against the grain to make it look extra worn. I also chiseled away at the legs of the table, so they weren't so perfectly square.

The stain. The most interesting part. I wasn't loving any of the stain colors I was finding. I did a little research on how to re-create weathered wood. The answer: soaking steel wool in vinegar. I found that 24-36 hours of soaking gave me the color I liked. Soak it for a few days and the steel wool rusts, giving you a redder color.

I loved the grey tones it gave to the lighter parts of the wood. And it was DIRT CHEAP. We're talking dollars to stain the entire table (one coat) The legs took 5 coats to finally get some color...that Target wood is weird stuff. There are splotches that would take NO stain at all, but I think it adds to the look we were going for.

I just used a rag to apply the stain, and let a stain soaked rag sit on a few spots for an hour or two, to add some splotches to the wood.

Robby then used his man skills to attach the planks to our old table (screwed them in from underneath). And cut an inch off off the legs with a chop saw so the table wasn't too high (we're little people around here). I sealed it with 3 coats of polyurethane (which unfortunately took away a bit of the dusty grey look we loved so much, but it HAD to be sealed)
and.....

there you have it. All for under $75.

For now, we have no chairs....one step at a time.

*this special edition sunday post is brought to you by me being bored out of my mind on Super Bowl Sunday