Farmhouse dining table

We have a perfectly serviceable dining table that we bought 8 or 9 years ago at a scratch and dent sale for $125. It came with 5 chairs, not the usual 4 or 6, but we weren't complaining. We had a real dining table instead of the glorified cardtable (a square, tile-topped wood table) that we had bought when we first got married. That table was actually a bit big for our first apartment, which tells you how small that was, but when we went to language school and lived in a real house that had an actual dining room, the table looked rather pathetic.

However, I've never really liked the finish of the table- a bit orangey for my taste, and the carving looks sloppy IMO. Ana White posted some plans for a farmhouse table awhile ago and I realized I could make us a new dining table. I'd already figured out what I wanted to do with the old one when it was replaced, but I couldn't do that till we had a new dining table.

Can I tell you how much I like Ana White's site and the myriad plans that are available? And it's so easy to alter them to fit your needs. The original farmhouse table plans are for an 8 foot table. We don't have room in our eat-in kitchen for an 8 foot table, so I cut the plans down to 6 feet long and started building.

Here's the frame:

After sanding the wood puttied screw holes, I primered the frame and then painted it a dark gray. I then pained a couple coats of white on top of that in preparation for some distressing.

I attached the table top, then did lots of sanding. LOTS of sanding. There was enough difference in the height of each board that the palm sander couldn't handle it all. We ended up getting a belt sander (which we needed anyway), which made fairly quick work of leveling the surface. After sanding with a rough sanding belt I switched it for a smoother sanding belt and sanded the whole thing again. After that, I used the palm sander again, and by then it was nice and smooth.

Table top on:

I fixed the wood putty, sanded it again, then applied wood conditioner and stain.
I was a little apprehensive about using a black stain, but I think it turned out pretty good.

Table top stained:

But, I made the mistake of using the palm sander to lightly sand between coats of polycrylic:

When they say 'lightly sand', they mean lightly sand by hand. Somehow I missed that one...
The spot wouldn't take more stain, and it was pretty obvious, so it had to be fixed.

So, I stripped the table top:

And sanded it again before re-staining and applying polycrylic properly:

I built it downstairs in the basement and Mr M helped me carry it outside for the sanding, but this table weighs a TON. I knew there was no way we could get it upstairs by ourselves. Luckily our home teachers were willing to help us move it, so it was much more manageable.

The finished table:

The chairs do detract from it, but that's just because I haven't had time to refinish them yet. I'll be painting the wood and changing the fabric and finally getting rid of the vinyl that's been covering the seats since LMS started eating solid food. Not sure why I wanted to protect the upholstery, but there you go.

I'll also be building these benches to go on the sides. The three chairs on the sides will find homes in other parts of the house.

Next up:

Pictures of what I did with the old dining table.