You may remember a few weeks ago, I decided to do something crazy and
makeover my mom's dining room in 5 hours. One of the projects was converting her dining table into a farmhouse table. It was actually the quickest project out of all the projects I did in here and so easy and simple! I had asked her beforehand if she cared to keep the table, and she said no. So, when the time came to redo everything, I saved some time by just redoing this table instead of making a new one. Here's the before:
It does have a leaf in it, but she never used it and never planned on using it either. So, this process would only work if had a stationary sized table. It could be done otherwise, but that would be a whole other tutorial :)
The first step was measuring out the width and length of the table. I was lucky that her table was just under 6' long. So, that saved on time with cutting for size. I just grabbed 6' pine boards from Home Depot. For this table, I ended up using five 1x6's and one 1x4 to get the correct width. After buying the wood and starting the project, I realized how this wasn't going to be symmetrical; it would have been best to have an even number of both sides of the middle 1x4. I decided that this is farmhouse style which leaves more room for uniqueness :)
I secured the wood onto the table top using wood glue and 2 1/2" nails with my nail gun. This did take some measuring and moving around before hand. I even got on the floor and had to look up at the top to make sure it was equidistant overlapping on each side.
At first, I placed a small 1x3 apron along the sides, but quickly realized that it wasn't deep enough. So, I came back after all was said and done to add another apron. I used 1x6s on this. I just measured the length for each side, making sure to leave room for overlapping on adjoining apron pieces. I secured these with wood glue and 2" nails.
At this point, I sanded the heck out of all the edges and the wood to get the smoothest finish I could and get rid of all sharp joints.
I then painted what was remaining on the original table.
As for the finish, I was going for a look that totally didn't work in the long run. But, this is how I got what I did. I used a dark mahogany stain on the table top first.
I then took off all the excess stain. Before the stain was completely dry, I took white paint and brushed it all over the wood. The stain showed through more than I would have liked...actually turning some parts pink. So, I just went back and added more white. When you look closely, you can seen some imperfections and the stain showing through, but the overall color of this table is white.
The next step is to use polycrylic to seal everything. Use 3-4 coats for a piece that's going to be used a lot. I even thought about putting waterproof caulk in the seams to prevent festering food and spills getting down in the cracks. I didn't. But it might be a good idea to do so if you have kids :)
I love how this table turned out. It cost under $50 to finish this table and literally like an hour to do minus drying times.
Turning the round table into a rectangle table added so much extra room to the table.
This process achieves a really rustic farmhouse or cottage look. I wasn't sure my mom would go for it. It's totally my style, but I wasn't too sure about hers. And she loves it! I ask her every time I go see her if she still does. I was worried it would be uncomfortable or awkward or too white or to many imperfections. Either she's lying to me because I'm her daughter, or she really does love it :) haha
Here's another before of how her dining room looked before I changed it up. She hated this table so much, it was covered in a tablecloth it's entire existence :)
This table was one of the main pieces that completely transformed this space! It brightened it up and completely updated the style.
I did this similar look to my dining room table years and years ago. Although mine wasn't permanent, I loved it at the time. It was a little crazy looking:)
You can see it here.
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