There's a popular decor trend going on right now known as "rustic industrial." It involves lamps made out of metal spheres, up-cycled wood projects, and farmhouse tables. I've looked at enough Pinterest diys and watched enough episodes of "Fixer Upper" to declare myself completely, madly in love with this theme. But I didn't own a farmhouse table or metal sphere lamps, and I can't just go to Anthropologie and buy a $1,000 farmhouse table. A few months ago I found free woodworking plans to build a knock off version of a beautiful Anthropologie farmhouse table. I convinced the hubs that though he could not cut in a straight line, he could learn. We could do this. And guess what happened? We did!
The original plans are for an 8 foot table, but to fit in our dining area we modified it to be 6 feet long.
We invested in a miter saw, a better drill, and a kreg jig. I didn't understand what a kreg jig was but all the woodworking websites said they were worth the buy, so I picked one up. Then hubs and I went out to get the wood and poly coating. I already had a dark stain I liked in the closet from when we had previously redone a $30 dresser we found at the thrift store.
I should note that though Shane and I have painted and distressed furniture in the past, this was the first time we had ever actually built something. As a Facebook reader had commented, "More like 'Taking on Extraordinary.'" Ha!
I should note that though Shane and I have painted and distressed furniture in the past, this was the first time we had ever actually built something. As a Facebook reader had commented, "More like 'Taking on Extraordinary.'" Ha!
I measured out the cuts we needed and Shane cut the wood. Then he did angle cuts. I will admit here that we ended up mis-measuring/mis-cutting a few pieces so we had to make two extra trips to Home Depot for more wood. Shane joked about how the next time we go in, they're just going to greet us by name. Luckily, we just had to replace a couple of 2 x 4s, which were only $2 each.
After the cuts were done and sanded, it was time to assemble! Don't be deceived though, assembling was a little tricky! We had to make sure everything lined up correctly, and it required one of us holding things down while the other screwed everything in. Tricky, but still fun.
The next day I re-sanded the table to get it smooth enough for my liking, then stained the whole thing. I let the stain dry for a day, then applied the poly.
The day the table was officially done, I was able to sell our old dining table and chairs for $300 in order to make room for our new one!
The total cost of wood supplies, sand paper, poly, and screws was $118. We will be building a bench for one side (I'll update you on that soon!), but in the meantime I found these chairs on clearance at Target that I thought would go well. I bought 4 of them for $189. That brings my total of supplies for the table up to $307. If you subtract out the sale of the old table from the cost of supplies and chairs for the new one, I was able to get this beautiful farmhouse dining set for $7! (Still waiting on those chairs to come in. I'll show you pics when they do!)
Do you like it? We're going to build a similar one now to put outside, and are open to building more for our friends and family! Maybe we'll start a furniture side business... :)