Our Fancy Smancy Farmhouse Table with matching benches

I’ve been dreaming of a farmhouse style table for a long time and for several reasons:

• The rustic feel
• The seating capacity
• The classic style

I mentioned my dream to Andy once we got the house built and actually had room for such enormousness…he agreed we had the perfect space in our morning room. I searched the interwebs for ideas and plans and found several I liked. I narrowed it down to three designs and let Andy pick the winner since he was the one that would be doing most of the work.

1. http://ana-white.com/2012/11/plans/farmhouse-table-updated-pocket-hole-plans
2. http://ana-white.com/2013/04/plans/pedestal-trestle-dining-table
3. http://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/fancy-x-farmhouse-table

He picked # 3… the 96″ table with matching benches!

You can find the bench plans here http://ana-white.com/2012/09/plans/fancy-x-farmhouse-bench

We had an aggressive goal. We were planning on hosting Christmas lunch for my family and friends.  Soooo with that said, Christmas Eve was our goal to have it finished or at least useable.

Andy set out to find the perfect lumber for the job. No big box stores would have what he had in mind. He wanted rough cut lumber.

Did you know there was a such thing? What’s the difference you ask… I asked my friend Google. Here’s what I found: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-rough-cut-lumber.htm

“Rough cut lumber is wood that has been cut by a sawmill from a large log. When a log is processed in a sawmill, it is cut into pieces that will be sold as boards, dimensional lumber, veneers and other components. In addition to its relatively low-cost, rough cut lumber is thicker than the surfaced lumber available in a lumberyard, giving more room for error in projects. This is because of the shrinkage associated with planing and drying; it is cut rough and large to leave room to plane the lumber to smooth it and to allow it to shrink as it dries.”

With the help of my dad we were able to get exactly what we were looking for locally from one of my dads friends. Dad helped his friend mill and plane the wood so Andy could work with it. We ended up using White Oak.

As part of my Christmas dad loaded it up on the trailer and we brought it home with us the Sunday before Christmas. We had our work cut out for us to meet our goal.

After breaking out the saw and following the plans exactly, we realized some of the measurements were wrong. Andy made some adjustments and we were able to continue. Lucky it was 75 degrees here in NC that day, so the weather was perfect for this job.

Cut after cut, it was slowly starting to come together.

We started with the benches and I was getting so excited to have the first leg (literally) done. We made two more just like the first and started assembling.

You’ll find out if working with rough cut lumber there will be some flaws in the wood. Some of the boards were not straight so that required a little more work on our part to make everything line up. This is why I love the idea of using this lumber. I want that rustic farmhouse feel and you definitely get it.

So be aware, if you are looking for precise clean lines,  where everything is perfect, get the lumber from the big box stores and skip the rough cut.

We finished making all our cuts for the other bench and table. Monday night Andy started assembling the table legs while I was doing my wifey duties (making dinner & cleaning) .

Tuesday afternoon he brought all the pieces in the house with the help from a neighbor cause this wood is not light by any means. Those benches probably weigh 150lbs each. We started assembling the table. Foster helped.

Even though it still needs to be stained we decided we were close enough to actually finish the construction of the table and use it for Christmas Day.  Once it completely dries out we will have to take it apart to stain it. Here it is in all it’s massive, beautiful nakedness…

This bad boy seats TWELVE comfortably! I love the way it turned out and cannot wait to get it stained.