Everytime we walk into Restoration Hardware, we want to buy everything. Anybody else have that problem? But have you seen the price tags on the furniture? We seriously have no idea why we even bother to walk in there anymore.
When we were getting ready to move in together, we knew we would need to furnish the place and quick. One piece of furniture on our list was a dining table. Having two big families, we realized we would need to be able to fit as many people as possible at the table and yet, fit the space we have to work with. We are both really into the rustic/farmhouse/vintage style and thought a farm table would be perfect for us. We shopped around — on Amazon, World Market and elsewhere — but we couldn’t find anything we loved for the right price.
We moved in and still didn’t have a table. Shortly after, Begad, being the innovator that he is, came up with a brilliant idea: “Why don’t we just build one ourselves?”
“We can design the shape, pick the color and it’ll be cheaper than everything else we’ve seen,” he said.
How can you disagree with that?
So we went for it. We browsed some pictures on Pinterest and came up with how we wanted it to look like — the finish, the color, the texture, and then it just became a matter of how to make it come to life.
It took us a couple weeks to gather all the materials we needed, but once we had everything, we were ready to start building.
Here are the materials and supplies we used as well as the steps we took to create our very first farm table:
Materials:
- 6 2×10 non-pressure treated wood cut at 55 inches (surface)
- 4 45-inch 2×6 pressure treated wood (support band)
- 4 30-inch 4×4 pressure treated wood (legs)
- 2 1×3 non-pressure treated wood cut to 45 inches (cross beams)
- Matte white trim paint for legs and support band
- Water-based, water-proof stain (your choice of color, we used weathered gray for the surface)
- 24 1-inch deck screws
- 16 3-inch deck screws
- 16 6-inch ⅜ lag bolts
- 16 ⅜ nuts
- 32 ⅜ washers
- 12 1-inch L brackets
Supplies:
- Drill
- ⅜ drill bit 8-inch
- Power sander and sandpaper
- Paintbrush
- Staining pads
Step 1: Purchase the supplies and materials you need.
Step 2: Put the wood in the place where you want your table to be. This will allow the wood to acclimate and not expand or contract after building the table. This should be done for at least a week.
Step 3: Drill holes in the support band and legs.
Step 4: Sand all the wood.
Step 5: Paint the legs and support band with white trim paint, or a color of your choosing.
Step 6: Stain the 2×10.
Step 7: Secure the support band to the surface using L brackets inside the band.
Step 8: Place the cross beams inside the support band and secure them directly to the surface with 3-inch deck screws.
Step 9: Install the legs in the pre-drilled holes with the ⅜ lag bolts.
…and you’re done!
For us, the process really didn’t take that long. We broke it up by weekends and by the second or third one, we were done. (And that’s mainly because we needed the paint to dry before adding another coat and then finally, bringing it into our place).
Overall, we spent less than $150 on the whole project: wood, paint, brushes, screws and hardware.
To complete the rustic look we were going for, we bought these bistro dining chairs from Amazon.
Are you thinking of DIY-ing your dining table? What are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below or DM us on Instagram @theirwildlife. We’d love to hear from you 😊