Well, I have to say, this project was a first for our house. And thanks to Pinterest for making me believe that I can do anything apparently, I decided that we were going to set out and build our own dining room table.
My husband (aka the hot table craftsman in our house) was super grateful when, while laying in bed, I sprung on him my plan for our dining room. Specifically, building our own large dining room table which meant lots of hours of for him to dust off his woodworking skills from highschool.
For a few years now, my obsession with Colorado beetle kill pine has been getting out of hand growing. I love the grayish blue color of the grain of this abundant resource here in Colorado, so naturally, I starting considering where to buy a piece of furniture for my home made from beetle kill pine. My husband and I visited a friends mountain home in Winter Park a while ago, and, there it was. The most lovely beetle-kill pine dining room table. *AHHHHH* Cue the angel voices in my head.
So I started researching furniture builders in the area, and quickly came to the realization that having a large table made was going to be a bit out of our budget (considering we just expanded our family with an expensive addition, also know as a baby). So, after a lot more reading and researching (ok, spending hours on Pinterest) I found some great images of what I wanted our table to look like…
My husband, being somewhat fearless, said he would tackle the project for me. He measured and drew out a table plan we both liked, and away we went. It took us one weekend and we were done! HAHA! Not even close.
We found an awesome specialty wood store here in Denver, and selected our beetle kill pine boards. We went with 10″ wide boards for the chevron pattern, just due to the size and scale of the table I wanted. I have a big family, so the table had to seat at least 10 or 12 chairs around it. We designed a table base using black steel piping and fittings for the industrial look we both love.
Creating the table base was pretty simple and quick. Making sure the pipes were cut the right size and threaded correctly was a bit of a pain, but the hardware store did this for us at no charge. Once the base was assembled, we painted it a dark graphite grey/black. The base for the table top was a large piece of plywood cut to the size we wanted for the top. This is what the beetle kill boards were adhered to. We measured the boards out and chalk lined our angles to make sure the edges were straight. We added a center stile which gave us a bit more flexibility for recutting boards if needed (which we did). To finish the sides of the table we cut long rail pieces and screwed them into the side of the table. The finish work involved hand-planing the top to get the boards all the same height, natural pine colored wood filler for the gaps and then a lot of time sanding to get a smooth even finish.
Once we were done sanding, we assembled the table in our dining room, wiped it down really well, and applied 3 coats of MinWax Polycrylic (fabulous stuff) to the top to seal the wood and give it a soft luster. The Polycrylic dries really quickly, so we had 3 coats done in about 4 hours. We added some brass corner detailing to protect the corners, and called it done!
So, After about 3 weeks, 237 trips to the hardware store, and purchasing about half of the tool section, we did indeed create our very own dining room table. I love it love it love it. Mostly because my husband worked so tirelessly on it and he poured his all into making it really beautiful for our home. He also completed it the night before Mothers Day, which was an added awesome bonus!
Enjoy the finished photos!
salt design inc 