DIY Dining Room Table

So with future plans of a big family and holiday dinners, we really wanted a dining room table that could accommodate more than 4 people.  (Un)Fortunately the options for 10 foot tables were WAY out of our price range.  With that in mind we decided to put this tutorial to the test and build our own.  Take a look and let us know what you think:

 

Final Cost: $505 (including the cost of some new tools- pocket hole guide, square, level, etc.)

Average Purchase Price of a similar table: $1,000

 

 

Staining and Clear coating the legs after they were cut-

The base of the table top-

Table top with the hard wood flooring glued and nailed into place-

 

The table leaves which take the main table from 6ft to 10ft-

 

After the first pour of clear coat-

 

A ham on the table

 

First coat of clear coat on the leaves-

 

 

The base of the table set up in our dining room-

Centering the table top on the base to secure

 

Close ups-

 

 

In action-

We absolutely love it!  At a 50% savings, I’d say it was a great investment.  The strength and character of this piece makes it so special to us!

Pumpkins

Back when we picked our pumpkins we worried it was too early.  The plants hadn’t completely died off yet, but we had fears of frost and as a main wedding decoration, we didn’t want to risk losing them.  Now we’re paying the price as many of our pumpkins are already rotting long before they should be.  Luckily we did have a few that were acceptable to carve.

 

 

 

Jon carved the Chicken and I stuck with the W that looks like a muscle man

 

My artistic ability is severely lacking!

 

Did you carve pumpkins for Halloween?

Happy New Year!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope everyone is off to a wonderful start for 2011.  If you asked me to recap 2010 in November, I would have told you that 2010 was a terrible year.  I lost my grandfather and an uncle and Jon lost his grandmother, and so many other people that I know passed away in 2010.  It was a trying year filled with difficult times, but I know there are many good parts of 2010 that I often overlook as well.  Greif can do that to you.

 

All that aside, I am looking forward to a very exciting 2011. 

 

On December 31st we got four seed catalogs in the mail.  Nothing says excitement like a mailbox full of seed catalogs, well in our house anyway!  So far we’ve received Burpee, Cooks Garden, Henry Fields and Gurney’s.  I’ve read the catalogs cover to cover multiple times already and that will likely continue until I start planting seeds.  Gardening is high on the priority list in 2011.  Were planning a garden with focus on putting food up, wedding decoration, winter chicken feed and some fun new things as well.  I can’t wait to start!

 

What are your plans for 2011?