DIY farmhouse farmhouse table table tutorials

How to build a Farmhouse Table

May 24, 2019

I've been dreaming about building my own farmhouse style table ever since I started using power tools on my own.

I've drooled over magazines, pinned piles of tables on Pinterest, but never actually did anything more than that.

Today I want to share a simple but rustic farmhouse style table which you could also build yourself.

I cheated on this build since I used the base frame from this old work desk for my first farmhouse table build.

The boards from the desk top were removed and saved for other projects.

I ended up using these boards when I built my Third Faux Fireplace which you can read about here, and also when I built my Wall Mounted Coat Rack which you can read about here.

I built a new apron for the table. I had lots of pine on hand which is what I used for the apron and the spacers in the table top.

This part wasn't the most fun. I had to rip some pine into paper thin pieces to create edging for the bottom side of the apron.

Below is a super crude sketch of the table top that I built. Part of the reason the table top is made from planks that are different widths is because I wanted to use up some thick planks that we hand on hand just waiting to be used.

Here you can see the table top after it's glued and screwed together. I used my KREG to create pocket holes on the back side to attach the planks together. The purpose of having a board at each end running the opposite direction is to help prevent the table top from warping as it is used and dried in different temperatures.

I then used a belt sander to sand the table top to a nice smooth finish. I also distressed the table top with a variety of different tools including, keys, screwdrivers, chains, hammers, etc. When you're distressing something like this, you want it to look like natural wear and tear. It's important not to create a pattern in how you distress it.

Once the table top was sanding to perfection it was ready to stain and seal. I stained it with Dark Walnut by Minwax.

I used Minwax's Polycrylic Protective Finish to seal the table top. I sealed both the top and the bottom of the table top.

Below you can see how the distressing shows up after the table top is stained. There was a fair bit of actual natural distressing which adds even more charm and character to this table.