So, you’ve decided you want to learn how to build a farmhouse table. You’ve seen the tables people are building, and you’re interested. What you need to know though is this: you don’t have to be a carpenter in order to make a table. It just takes a few basic skills, but what’s more important is that you do something you enjoy doing, and it allows you to put your own unique stamp on something.
What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, a lot of people who build a farmhouse table end up building craftsmen tables or “toy store” tables for kids. While the toy store probably has the most creative designs, if you’re not into working with wood, then you need to be able to do something with a piece of wood. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the prettiest, or the coolest-looking piece of furniture you’ve ever seen, but you can add your own personal touch.
What do I mean by that? For example, if you wanted to build a barn table, you would need to buy a whole bunch of lumber. A table is essentially the same thing, so you could just look at a pile of barn wood and build a table from it. If you’re into painting, you might want to go and paint the whole thing a nice shade of brown or tan, or even go all out and get a stained wood look.
What if you don’t have any barn wood? That’s fine! You don’t have to have a lot of tools either. You could easily build a simple table using table legs from an old chair, or from one of those wicker baskets that are floating around. The key to building a table is that you only need a few tools and as long as you can use basic tools, you shouldn’t have too many problems.
The next step in how to build a farmhouse table is to figure out what kind of table tops you’re going to need. If you’re going to go with a painted finish, then that’s pretty much covered already. If you want a more natural looking finish on your table, you’ll need to pick out some unfinished pine or oak. This is especially important if you’re looking to match the rest of your table, but you can easily get this done on your own if you’re in a rush or aren’t good at woodworking.
Once you have the table top finished, you can then start building the frame around it. One very easy way to do this is to buy some sturdy planks for the frame from your local Home Depot or Lowes. You can then glue them together with wooden putty, or even nails of course. If you decide to buy some nicer planks, you can simply dip the ends of them together to form a nice sturdy frame. Your barn table will be complete!
