New Dining Room Table

One piece of furniture I've been wanting to build for quite a while is a new dining room table. Ours was about 10 years old and a cherry wood color which didn't go with anything else in the house. It was a good table and it survived through two children growing up (at least out of the toddler stage).

I wanted something that was larger than our current table. By larger I mean a bit wider and the length to be somewhere between our current table without the leaf and with the leaf. That way you could sit 6 people easily and more could squeeze in if necessary.

I searched on Pinterest and Ana White to find a table that I wanted. I wanted something simple with a bit of character. Something that would last for a long time, sturdy too.

This is the table that inspired me: It can be found here: http://thehandcraftedlife.blogspot.com/2013/12/dining-room-progress-completed-dining.html

 

Loved the clean lines of it and the character it also had with it. 

I decided to make the table in two parts; base and top. It would make it easier to move and lighter. It was very heavy.

This is the base; it's not completely finished at the time I took the photo. I'm guessing it needed another coat of stain and then poly to protect. I added about 4 coats of poly to make sure it would hold up well.

Here's the completed base with the top added. I basically made a small frame on the underside to go around the base and "lock" it into place. I had planned on just screwing it in but it's such a tight fit that it sits there just fine by itself. As long as no one is standing or dancing on the table it should be just fine.

I also wanted benches to go along with the table. Something sturdy that the kids wouldn't be tipping over or falling off themselves. The 4x4's really add to the sturdiness.

And this is the completed table. It's hard to really get a good photo of the color with the sun shining in but it's so nice and really spiffs up the space.

It didn't take very long to finish the building of the table. The tricky part was in the finishing, mostly the poly coats at the end. I definitely learned quite a bit in finishing it off. I did have to sand it completely down once and start over because the poly just wasn't looking nice. Since it's such a large surface it was hard to get the poly on without it drying too quickly. But in the end, with a lot of coats and patience, it was able to be done and I love it.