We were off this past week for the holiday. Nothing says holiday to us more than a few extra days at Star Hill. No Internet, watching the birds, squirrels, deer and listening to the sounds of nature. Loved it.
Because baby boy is getting married in two weeks to Sweet Amanda we spent a little time at resale shops looking for essentials like lamps that are needed for their new apartment. We also went into Huntsville and shopped at several antique shops. We decided that the difference between a resale shop and an antique shop is often only the price. I will have to post some pictures of the awesome mid-century lamp I bought. The nice man at the resale shop did want me to know that he had some pretty lamps I might want to look at. :) Hubby and I got the lamp and two huge framed mirrors (project parts) for $25.00.
Our main project this week was to make a farmhouse table. I did tell you that my kids are both getting married right? All our current projects are going to have to be CHEAP. Hubby found a table a while back at Goodwill. It was a cracked tile topped forest green beauty, but the frame was solid and it came with two chairs that will be living at the newlywed apartment.
I have wanted a farmhouse table for our eat in kitchen ever since we went to Round Top, Texas last year but Wow! Those folks love their tables and price them accordingly. We changed out the siding on Star Hill this past year because the cedar was rotting but I could not bear to part with the wood. We kept everything that was good and you will be seeing it in many projects that I plan on posting. I knew that the top of the table could be from that reclaimed wood. Hubby has one rule when it comes to building; an elephant has to be able to dance on anything that he makes. He reinforced all four legs, then put a sheet of 1/2" plywood on top. The reclaimed wood went on top of the plywood. We decided to make the table as long as the reclaimed boards would allow and 42" wide. It ended up being 72" long.
Lots of glue on each sanded plank, then we used an air nailer.
We don't have any fancy stuff for building- yet- so we did have to top nail the boards. Hubby wants a biscuit joiner and a plainer but.. right now we do what we can with what we have. We were lucky that the weather was really pretty nice this past week. The Garagemahal tends to be a little warm in the summer.
We forgot the pipe clamps at home so clamping was a pain. We used just about everything we had. The reclaimed wood is old- about 45 years- and hung on the house exposed to the weather all those years so it is a little warped. We made a set of "sort of pipe clamps" with two by fours and ratchets when we got finished but it was too ugly to take a picture of. Use pipe clamps to clamp all the pieces together across the table boards.
The next step is sanding. Again. All the boards were sanded before we cut them to length but once they were on the plywood we needed them to be smooth. I am still scared of the belt sander, but I have learned to use it. I love the little sander, it just doesn't take off enough wood when starting out.
After Hubby said the wood was smooth enough, I started sealing the wood. I love this polyurethane!
It is amazing the difference the poly makes.
I am so proud of the finished top. Hubby did a great job with the mitered corners!
Once the table is in the kitchen I will post pictures. The total cost for the project was less than $100.
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