Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Dining room completed.... $75 farm house table - shut the front door!

It has been almost a year since I completed my dining room table.  Geesh how time flies.
I used a modified version of the Farm House table combined with the Narrow Farmhouse table I already built (see project here). I also took ugly $10 craigslist parson style chairs and modified them to be stools.... 
This table is roughly 7'x3' but it looks so tiny in this photo.


So, here it goes.  I found old barn wood on Craigslist.  The dude brought me a huge stack of the 10' boards , all varying widths for a mere $40 (including the delivery) OUTSTANDING!
 The trouble with Craigslist bargains for me, is there is always that BUT.  The barn wood was not immune to the BUT.  I had to purchase a belt sander because of the really rough texture of the wood.  Which I undoubtedly burned up. I exchanged it for a beefer, more expensive version & spent far too long sanding away until my planks were baby butt smooth.


 I also tried to make a wood wash concoction by rusting steel wool in vinegar.  Much to my dismay, I purchased non-rusting steel wool (who knew there was such a thing?). I threw some nails into the punch and got a rusted solution in the end, however it was a red rust as opposed to the grey rust I was going for.  Nonetheless, the plain cheapo pine boards used for the table legs, received a splash of the rust solution before any further steps were taken.


 I kept the boards uneven on purpose.  The real antique harvest table I have has unmatched boards.  Usually when I see an antique farm table in antique stores the top boards are not perfect either.  I thought it gave it a very authentic look. 
 I decided that the wood was too warm and new looking. I decided to experiment.  I diluted a little black paint with water & did a wash.... WAAAAHLA what a difference.  I think it turned out great, exactly the worn/gray wood look I was going for. 

before the top boards were attached

What do you think? 

3 comments:

  1. I looooooove your dining room!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful!I have a table just like this that I got second hand for $500 & by far it is my favorite piece of furniture. Good job. RR

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this table. What size is the table and did you put any poly on it?

    ReplyDelete