DIY Dining Table Pottery Barn Inspired Farmhouse Table

Hi there. My name is Nils from DIYNils.com. And if you like me are too cheap to buy a fancy table, I'm going to show you how to make this one that I patterned after a pottery barn table. I built this table over the course of several months, just spending an afternoon here or a Saturday there working on it. And I think the majority of the time I spent on this was actually sanding to get a nice smooth surface. When I was done, I saw a table that my wife and I both really liked on the pottery barn website. And it was about $2,500 and I thought there's no way I'm going to do that. So I went ahead and got SketchUp and hopped in and started designing some measurements and layout for this table and trying to interpret it the best I can based off what I saw on the pottery barn website. And their table is beautiful. It's actually made out of reclaimed pine. And so I went and made this one out of Douglas fir, which is similar to pine. It's a softer wood. A Douglas fir has a little bit tighter grain. One of the nice things about pine or Douglas fir is that you can purchase them from any big box hardware store like Lowe's or home Depot and the total cost for this, including all of the hardware that I used was under $300. Let's take a look at how we got this project started. I'm going to break the explanation of this table down into two parts. First, we'll look at the base and how that's constructed. And afterward we'll look at the top of the table. So for the base, really we just have three types of lumber here. We have four by sixes that make up the majority of the base of the table. We also have a four by four running the length of it. And then up top, we've got two, two by fours. Those are holding the top together to hold the whole piece nice and strong. Then as we move up toward the top, basically all we've got here are four two by 12 pieces of lumber, one next to another, and I'll show how to fit those nice and tight. Then we've got two by fours acting as the end caps for the table. And then finally some two by twos going underneath, running the length to create the skirt for the table. Now I've placed the plans and a cut list for this table in its entirety on my website. So head on over to diynils.com slash DIY kitchen table, where you can download those for free. Now it's time to get started out in the shop. The first thing I'm going to do is use my miter saw to make all of the cuts on the cut list. I'm starting with the four by six pieces, and then I'll move on to the four by four and the two by fours. Once I had all the pieces cut, I went ahead and laid them out on the floor in just the same shape that they would be once the legs were assembled. I then took a speed square and marked my two inch corners that I was going to cut off the ends of the top and the bottom piece of each foot. With my cuts marked, I took those back to the miter saw and cut them off. So those cuts take care of all of the main pieces for the feet. And next up is just the little triangles that we're going to put on either side of both feet. To do those, I just took them to the miter saw as well, made my marks and chopped them out. Now this next step is optional, but in the pottery barn version of the table, there is actually a cutout of about a half inch running the majority of the length of each foot. To make this, I just took my speed square and mark the half inch line, got my measurements from either end and then used my bandsaw to cut this out. Now, a lot of people don't have a bandsaw and that's totally fine. You can actually try doing this with an extended length blade and a jigsaw. It's a little bit trickier to get a nice square cut with that, but it can definitely do the job. And keep in mind, this piece is also completely optional. If you want to just leave that piece in that's okay too. And once that was done, I was ready to apply the texture. So you can see on the base of the table here, I've got this kind of cool rugged texture going on on the whole base of the table. The technique I tried that I was most excited about was using a reciprocating saw or a sawzall where you run it along the length of the wood and it gives it this nice rough sawn kind of look. I tried that and maybe my blades just weren't beat up enough, but it really just didn't come out all that great. So I thought maybe I could assimilate that same concept by using the bandsaw. The blade on my bandsaw is probably a little bit older. So I tried running all of the pieces backwards through the bandsaw and I loved it. It came out actually really awesome, gives us really cool look. And then when you stain it and finish it, boy, it totally pops. So if you have access to a bandsaw at all, if you know someone who has one and can use one even just for a little bit, this is a fantastic way to give this really cool texture to the wood all along the base. Next up for the base assembly. So for the assembly, we're going to use six inch wood bolts, pocket hole screws and three inch wood screws for the six inch lag bolts. I put four of them on the top and bottom of each of the two main vertical posts and then two on either side of the middle piece. Once that middle piece was in place, I put my triangles in and drove two in through the bottom of each of those. Next up were the pocket hole screws and I applied three to each of the two by fours on either side of the table. And lastly, the three inch wood screws are what I use to hold on that four by four running across the bottom. Now I made sure not to just drive these six inch lag bolts in because I didn't want to split the wood. I marked the location of each of them. And then I used a one inch Forstner bit to drive about a half inch down and that's where the head would sit and be completely concealed. Then I used a quarter inch drill bit to pre-drill the length of each of the lag bolts. That way the threads did all the work and there was no chance of splitting this. I had my favorite son out in the garage helping me out. We used the impact driver to drive all these down. And one thing I would have done differently had I done this again is I would use some washers on these. So put some good sized washers around the outside and that way you can drive the heads of the bolts right down to the washer. Now one step I almost forgot to cover is that in order to run that four by four piece across both feet and have it sit flush inside there, you'll actually want to use a band saw or another saw to remove about half the thickness of the wood and make it so that the two of them sit inside one another. And you can check out my plans to see some detailed instructions on how that works. Now to build the top, I started out by removing the rounded edges from the two by twelves. I happen to have a joiner. So I ran all of the pieces through the joiner. If you don't have a joiner, another way to do it is just to run these through a table saw. If you don't have a table saw, you can even use a straight edge, especially a longer one and a skill saw to get nice sharp 90 degree edges on each of your two by twelves. The idea here is to get yourself a nice sharp 90 degree angle so that you can place these one against the other and not have any gaps in between. Once the two by 12 edges were all cleaned up, I laid them out on a surface and then used a pocket hole jig to drill the pocket holes on three of the sides. That way I would have a joint between all four of the pieces. Then I applied glue. And then although I did it kind of backwards here, I'd recommend that you clamp them as soon as you put the glue on and then drive your pocket hole screws into them. The pocket screws, at least in this case, are basically acting as reinforcement to the wood glue that I'm using in between each of these wood glue when applied properly and cured all the way should be as strong or even stronger than the wood itself. So this is kind of an extra step that I took just to make sure this thing was nice and sturdy, especially because of the weight of these two by twelves was pretty substantial. Once you've got the tabletop glued up and clamped, I'd recommend that you take a skill saw and a straight edge and remove however much you need to off the end to where you don't have gaps, you don't have split ends there, and it's actually looking fairly clean. In my case, that was about an inch or an inch and a half. And then I would drill the pocket holes all along the side, maybe every eight inches or so so that you can attach your end caps, which will be two by fours. Once the tabletop dried and the glue was nice and cured, it was time to shape it. You're going to end up with some inconsistencies in the height of the wood on the surface of the table. Like you see here, I used a hand plane and a sander to get as much of that work done as I could. But I then realized that probably a lot easier way for me to do this was going to be to use a belt sander with a low grit paper. So I purchased a cheap belt sander and use 36 grit paper to do a lot of the shaping. And if things moved a lot quicker at that point, sadly while working on this table, my trusty and loyal Ryobi orbital sander that I've had for over 16 years bit the dust and finally gave up the ghost and stopped working. So let's have a moment of silence. Now before I got too carried away with sanding and planing and shaping, I thought it was time to put the skirts on and then the two by four end caps. So remember on both of these, you do want to remove the rounded edges that typically come on any two by fours or two by anything. So once I had those cut, I placed them on the table, use some wood glue and then use Brad nails to hold them in place. And you probably don't have clamps that are six feet or eight feet or 10 feet long for such a long table like this. So what you can do is once you have the skirts in place, you put the end caps on and then you can use a ratcheting strap, the same kind of thing you would use for cargo on the back of a truck or a trailer, for example, and strap those down to hold it in place while the glue dries. All right. Now, as soon as that sander died, I went online and did a whole bunch of homework and research, read through a bunch of reviews, watched videos and ended up choosing the Makita variable speed orbital sander, which is actually a pretty terrific tool. So if you want to check that out, there's links in the description below. Definitely a highly rated and well-reviewed product. Now with the skirts and end caps in place, it is time to sand my little heart out. At this point you sand and you sand and you sand some more. I ran some 36 and 60 grit through the belt sander to do most of the heavy shaping. And then once that was done, I used the orbital sander to go through 80 120 and 220 grits in succession. Now, before you call the sanding good, make sure you take a really close look and look for any scratches like this one that you see here. This is the result of me using the belt sander with that 36 and 60 grit and leaving some pretty heavy scratches that I neglected to get out with the higher grits. You can use a 120 or a 220 grit on the orbital sander to take care of these. Just work at it a little bit until you eventually get those scratches all the way out. Check the rest of the table and make sure you're nice and smooth and ready to go. Finish all of the sanding and sand some more and sand some more and sand some more. And then you're ready to use some wood filler. So I use this plastic wood X it's an all purpose wood filler. And this stuff is pretty cool for a couple of reasons. Number one, it goes on pink and then dries more of a natural color. So you can see when it's dry. And number two, it's a stainable wood filler. So it actually matches pretty much whatever type of wood you use with it, especially in this case with a Douglas fir or a pine, it matches really quite nicely. Make your way around the table and using a putty knife, use the wood filler to fill any gaps, any cracks, any knots, anything that's basically going to prevent the table from being smooth and even all the way across. Once you've got them all filled and the wood putty has dried, use your 220 or a 120 grit sandpaper to smooth it off again and make sure you finish again with a 220. Next up was my favorite part. Staining. Staining is where you get to see what this actual table is going to look like. Now, before you stain the base of the table, hit the whole thing with a 220 grit sandpaper. After the light sanding, I used a cheap painter's brush to apply one coat of Minwax special walnut to the entire base of the table. With the base squared away, I brought the table top on. And with this one, it was a little more tricky. We've got two different textures here between the base and the top. So the base absorbs the stain quite a bit more than the top does being sanded so smooth. So once that first coat was on and dried, I came back the next day and put a much heavier coat on and actually didn't even wipe it down. Just let that sit on there so that it matched the color of the base of the table. With the stain applied, I was ready to finish this table. I chose to finish this with a Minwax satin or matte polyurethane finish to give it kind of a soft look, not too glossy. And as before, make sure to use tack cloth on this, to wipe all the dust off the table before you get started with the finish. Since any imperfections could certainly show up. I used a high end brush here, not a cheap one like I used with the stain, but one with nice bristles that I paid a few bucks extra for to make sure I got a nice, smooth, even application. I put the first coat on pretty heavy. And then once that first coat was on, I let that dry and then sanded it with some 320 grit. The reason we use a higher grit like a 220 or 320 or even 400 grit in between coats is that you don't want to scratch the finish, but you do want to remove the little bumps or imperfections that can show up while drying or curing. So be sure to sand between each coat and then use tack cloth again, to get it nice and cleaned up. I ended up applying three fairly thick coats of polyurethane to the tabletop. This does two things for me. One it gives a nice thick coating of protection against dings and scratches and things like that. And it also provides a nice luster for the tabletop. So it has a shine to it, but a matte finish. For the base of the table, I just put one thicker coat of polyurethane on the same stuff and that just makes sure it's protected against food drops and things like that. It's a little bit wipeable, but not so glossy like the top. Now, I got to tell you, I actually love the way this thing turned out. The top is nice and smooth. The pottery barn table with the reclaimed pine looked beautiful, but I imagine that washing that thing every day would be kind of a challenge with all the bumps and grooves of the rough sawn wood. But I love that look for the base of it. It gives it texture. It gives it some personality and some contrast between the bottom and the top. And the top is really easy to clean since it's so smooth and it's got a nice luster to it. Now, when we brought this table in, I was at least a little bit tempted to make some benches to go with it. You can find some like that on the pottery barn website, but there's several hundred dollars a piece. They would be pretty inexpensive to build, but we wanted to get some individual chairs. So we didn't have kids fighting over rocking and that kind of thing. We found these chairs for actually about $40 a piece on Amazon. I'll include some links in the description and they come in different colors and different finishes. And I think they actually look pretty great with the table. As I mentioned earlier in the video, the total costs for the supplies, the materials, the lag bolts, everything involved was less than $300. And this was actually a pretty fun project to do. So if you want to get the plans for this again, check out diynils.com slash DIY kitchen table, where you can get the free plans for this as well as a cutlist for everything you need. Thank you so much for watching this video. I want to cover three really quick things with you. 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Lots of good books out there for you to listen to. Thanks for watching. And we'll see you on the next video.