Did you see the vintage chair I made over yesterday? Well we bought it to accent this amazing table that my husband built last weekend.
You see, we build our house last year and actually moved in last April. Shortly after moving in we decided to put in a pool which totally tore up our yard. Between the pool and then the requisite fence, our backyard was a construction zone through the end of September. We’ve been so excited to actually “live” in it this year so we’ve spent the winter dreaming up plans for the outdoors.
I posted about all the work grading and laying sod we did a few weeks ago, and we recently decided to turn the patio area into a dining area and move our patio lounge furniture to the pool area. The point of all that was that we started looking at outdoor dining tables and we quickly realized buying one was not going to happen. Even the most affordable options were going to be over $500 by time we got the minimum of six chairs we’d need. So we decided to build one. And by “we” I mean my husband Randy.
I directed Randy to the Ana White site that we used to build our headboard but he wasn’t finding his “vision” in the plans there. He was really inspired by this Pottery Barn table (which is an indoor table) so he made his own plans up using the Simple Farmhouse Table Plans from Ana White, this farmhouse table tutorial featured on Remodelaholic, and his own design.
Update! Superstar Ana White has drawn up easy plans for this DIY dining table so you can build your own!
I have to admit I was a little nervous with him making his own design so I kindof signed out of the process. He went to Lowes last week and spent $60 on the wood he needed. Then Friday I went grocery shopping and by time I got home he had framed it out already!
So I was a ~teensy~ bit impressed at this point. He works a lot and doesn’t get a lot of DIY time in recent years so I guess I had forgotten that he has some pretty great DIY skills! (A case of blog-induced DIY megalomania I guess!) He finished up the table and then handed the process over to me for finishing it up.
The first thing I did was fill all the screw holes with stainable wood putty. Then I used Minwax Wood Conditioner on the entire piece. Once that was dry I lightly sanded it and did one coat of Minwax Polyshades in Mission Oak-my favorite stain color!
Now the table just needed the finishing touch-the turnbuckle underneath like Randy’s Pottery Barn inspiration. This proved to be a bit of a debaucle because he had wanted one large turnbuckle underneath but to do that we’d need a left hand threaded rod and apparently these are very hard to come by without special ordering it. We did not have the patience for that so we ended up using two smaller turnbuckles with hooks on the left hand threaded side and used a regular right hand threaded rod to attach it on either side of the table frame. See those rectangular washers on the outside of the frame? He actually cut those out of an old license plate! Smart man! (I gush a bit over my hubby, I kinda like him!)
All of the hardware was sprayed with Hammered Brown Rustoleum Spray Paint. If you’re going to try this make sure you get the zinc-coated hardware, the galvanzied is very difficult to spraypaint.
So there is the table. Fantastic and under $100! While all of this table building and vintage chair reupholstering was going on we had 5 other chairs getting their own little makeovers and I’ll show those to you soon! I’m so excited about our patio makeover!!
Have you started revamping your outdoor spaces this year? What do you think of our DIY table?
Allison says
This is such a beautiful table!! Thank you for sharing your plans 🤗 I also love the stain color you chose, do you mind sharing what color/brand you used?
Thanks!!
Jonathan says
What type of wood did you use, I want to use this outside and I was concerned about rain, moisture, etc
Melissa says
we used pine and restain and seal it every year or two. Over time it has warped slightly (6 years now)
Eddie says
How do you handle wood movement in the top? If you use wood with > 6% moisture content, it will warp or twist, even when you have it attached like you suggest.
Kelly says
I’m going to make this for outside use and burn the wood then apply lindseed oil. I think the process is called sho shuig ban (that spelling might be off, but close enough for google).
Zeel Kitchens says
I love your DIY dining table! It look so amazing and interesting. I love your DIY ideas and it even inspire me to start DIYing and consider applying for ideas to it. Thank you for inspiring me and for giving me insights too.
Robert Wallace says
I LOVE this table! My wife and I have been looking for a new dining room table and this looks perfect! Thank you for sharing!
Jose Garcia says
We love it too – the metal bar on the bottom is sweet.
Marcus Smith says
What!?! This is awesome. I have been looking for tables plans for a new dining room table . Love, love,love the turnbuckles on the bottom too.
Barb says
Great project. I would love to make this as an outdoor table but I would need to store it for winter. Would it be possible to put hinges on the legs so they would fold in? I think it would be cool if say one side/set of legs laid just on top of the the other. I don’t know if they could lay flat. More than likely to achieve that the legs would need to be shortened and that would not be good. Thank you for all the great ideas.
Melissa says
I’m really not sure Barb, it’s a very heavy table. Sorry not to be of more help…
phillip says
Melissa
i just finished building my farmhouse table in red cedar. now i am looking for the turnbuckle system. could you tell me where you bought yours please?
thanks
Melissa says
We found ours at Lowes Phillip
software defined networking says
Hi mates, its impressive paragraph about teachingand completely explained, keep it up all the time.
Beth says
I agree with so many others here, your table looks much nicer than PB. We bought supplies tonight and will be starting this first thing in the morning! Thanks to you and Ana fort the inspirations
Melissa Riker says
That’s awesome Beth, I’d love to see a picture when you’re finished!!
Josh says
What is the stain color? Table looks great !!
Jennifer says
Do you need the turnbuckles? My son loves hiding under the table and I thought that would be dangerous?
Jennifer says
Are the turnbuckles needed for support? They look hard to install properly?
Thank you
Melissa Riker says
Hi! The turnbuckles are just for decoration, you can totally skip it if you don’t want them! (They weren’t difficult to install though!)
Jennifer says
Thank you
Wei says
This is a fabulous project! You guys are awesome! Do you mind to tell my where to buy the hardware and how to install them? I really want to make this! Thank you!
Melissa Riker says
I bought my hardware at Lowes and simply attached with screws.
Jessica N. says
I LOVE the table and the turnbuckle hardware really sets it off!! Can’t wait to do one for our patio! Thank you for sharing!!
Wei says
This is a fabulous project! You guys are awesome! Do you mind to tell my where to buy the hardware and how to install them? I really want to make this!