Farmhouse Table Tutorial

 

Did you ever wonder why we are attracted to things of the past? I once took a test to see what era I should have lived and I got the 70s. I did live in the 70s a few years but I don’t remember them of course. But to me it’s almost weird how I often find myself drawn to 70s stuff, whether it be music, tv shows, muscle cars, events that took place, clothing, or even furniture styles.

So if you spot me wearing bell bottoms and huge, round glasses, I’m just letting my inner self out. I’m kidding, though. Definitely not everything is appealing to me about the 70s. I could never get used to blue toilets, dark paneling walls, or the huge, round glasses people would wear.

I often spot pieces of furniture that take me back in time to grandma’s house, especially little jelly cupboards or drop leaf tables.

One of my favorite furniture pieces to make are little cupboards or tables. The last while I have been working on a farmhouse table that I want to share with you.

I had just enough wood from an old barn left over to make a beautiful top with. That certain wood is kind of hard to come by. It needs to be the right thickness and the boards need to be fairly straight. These boards had awesome character, probably created by animals mostly. It’s funny how I wouldn’t mind eating off a table that was chewed by a horse but I complain when the boys miss a few crumbs when wiping the table. :\ 

 

 

I needed chunky pieces for the legs and thought these square fence posts would work out great.

 

 

The first step was cutting the legs, which were cut to 30”. The next step was the skirting. I wanted the table top to be 80” long so I needed to cut the skirting the right size for that. I wanted a two and a half inch overhang on the top and the posts were 4” thick, so I cut the skirting around 67”. That allowed for the two 4” legs and 5” of overhang to fit underneath the top.

 

 

 

The skirting for the short size turned out to be around 21” since the top is 35” wide.

 

I glue everything and use screws to fasten.

 

After the legs and skirting were put together, I painted that part before putting the top on. I don’t always do that but for this table I did.

 

 

I didn’t get a good picture of this, but 2x6s were added in between the skirting to fasten the top. I didn’t want any screws showing on the top so everything is fastened from the bottom, which is at times a little challenging for me. At one time I was lying on the floor, in sawdust, getting the screws set just right. If I drove them in too deep, they would appear on the top and not deep enough, would only push the boards up.

Oh, and before I fastened the boards, I sanded and sanded them. As I type, I still feel sanding dust in my head. :\

 

I distressed the legs and skirting using my sander.

Before fastening the boards, I laid them on the frame to make sure they fit nicely. Oh, and did I mention I sanded them for a long time?

 

Here is a bottom view..

 

I tried something different for the finish on the top. I got an oil based polyurtherane at a local hardware and applied that to the top. I used a foam brush to apply. I will probably give it another coat tomorrow. It wasn’t quite dry the last time I checked and I think since a table top gets a lot of wear, a few coats would be good. I usually shy away from oil based products, but thought I’d give it a shot with this table. I was impressed how it darkened the the wood and gave a nice, smooth finish. I ended up applying a coat to the white part of the table and that gave it a nice, off white look. Before, it looked too stark white.

The finished piece…

 

 

 

 

There’s something about a red checkered tablecloth that will never go out of style for me. (I bet it’s a 70s creation)

 

This table is for sale, so if you are interested in a nice, sturdy table, it’s yours! You can message me through my facebook page if you have any questions. (porchswings n honeysuckle)

Thanks for visiting!

-Mary

Old Door Headboard

 

If you are looking for a headboard that is low cost and that I believe will be in style for years, you may want to start eying old doors. They can be found in antique malls, auctions, or if you’re lucky like I was, just finding someone who wants to get rid of them.

For a headboard, you want to choose a door with symmetrical raises. They can be a bit challenging to find at times, but not impossible.

Sometimes, as was the case with mine, you will need to cut them down a bit to even up the raises.

 

 

For years we had an old door headboard and I just recently sold it (with mixed feelings). When I redid the bedroom earlier this year I saw how much more room we would have in our bedroom if I removed he headboard. You can read about that makeover here. Our bed is king sized, so the door I used was perfect for that.

 Just recently someone ordered a headboard just like ours so I made another one. I used the last door that I have from the collection that came from hubby’s home farmhouse.

After taking about four inches off the bottom, adding a 2x4 on the top as a header, and attaching the “legs” it was ready for a coat of paint. Since the door was black already, I just needed to paint the header and legs.

 

 

A close up on how I attached the legs…

 

 

 

 

And after two coats of white satin based paint and some distressing…

 

 

I didn’t drill any holes in the legs of this headboard since I wasn’t sure how the frame of the bed is where it’s going, but for ours, it wasn’t hard to fasten it to our metal frame.

I know there are other ways of using doors for headboards, but for me, this worked great!

Have a great day & thanks for visiting!

-Mary

 

 

Folding Chair Makeover

 

When I host garden parties out on the deck, I always find myself in a mad scramble for chairs, especially if I have a large party. What I usually end up with is an odd assortment of chairs in various shapes and colors…

 

 

So, about a year ago I bought five metal folding chairs from a friend’s parents for two or three dollars each. They were a nice black color, but I wanted to do something with them since they were rather plain and well, cold.

 

 

I mixed together around four different shades of blue and green paint since I didn’t have enough of one color. Thankfully it turned to be a nice light aqua color, just what I wanted. I then used my trusty sprayer to apply it.

 

 

I felt they still needed a little spark so I stenciled words related to flowers on their backs…

 

 

I used a white spray paint from Wal-Mart for this.

 

 

I hadn’t forgotten the black underneath. That had to come through a bit. I used sandpaper to distress.

 

 

 

So now I have at least five of my chairs matching…

 

 

 

They will also provide good seating elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

So if you don’t like your plain, squeaky metal chairs, you can always give them a bit of flair with paint and some stencils!

Thanks for visiting!

-Mary