MADE: Modern Farmhouse Table

Last week I told you I’d post a dining room table tutorial on Monday. Today is Wednesday so I lied. As it turns out, I also didn’t create a step-by-step tutorial, only the Ana White plan that I followed to an almost-T. So I guess I double lied. Forgive me twice.

This was my first woodworking project other than an upholstered ottoman whose wood was never visible. Super intimidating. I studied the plan for 2 weeks before making the first step to purchase the lumber. I showed the plans to everyone in my circle and heard everything from “go for it” to “just go buy a table” to “there’s no way a woman built that”. So I bought the lumber and screws and I built a table and we’ve sat around it daily for meals and hangouts and it makes me feel very proud. What you need to know is that YOU CAN BUILD THIS TABLE. Like all by yourself. I failed to pre-drill a hole and as a result had a hard time with the screw so I had husband hold the base steady while I pushed on the drill with all my body weight. That was the extent of the assistance needed for this project. It is 100% a beginner project and I know that because I am 100% a beginner. Ok so follow these plans for Ana White’s Modern Farmhouse Table while keeping the tips below in mind.

1. Lay your boards flat IN THE STORE. I skipped this step thinking it wasn’t important and ended up with wood planks that refused to lie flat enough to be attached. A few of them I left as is because I just couldn’t stand to make a 16th trip. I’ll say they add character or whatever. Also, cut your own wood if you have the tools (I don’t). But if you must rely on Home Depot or Lowe’s, check and check again to make sure the boards line up exactly, especially the 2x6s that will be your tabletop.
2. Pre-drill holes. Remember when I said I failed to pre-drill holes. I did it a lot of times and I had to remove a lot of screws, pre-drill a lot more holes and then screw them again. PRE-DRILL THE HOLES FOR REAL.
3. Use the correct drill bits. Apparently there are bits for wood and bits for metal and bits for whatever else. If you use the wrong ones, you will break bits in half and they will be permanent parts of your table. You don’t want this.
4. If you don’t have a Kreg Jig, you will have to use a countersink cutter. This is really important because the plan DOES NOT mention it and without it you will be left with highly visible screws. So you pre-drill your hole, create a hole larger than the head of your screw with the countersink, and then insert the screw. The screw ends up being beneath the level of the table allowing you to fill the hole with stainable wood filler making it a super secret screw. The plan mentions filling the holes but never tells you how to get the holes. Incredibly frustrating if you’ve never heard of a countersink cutter in your entire life and are left to discover it on your own.
5. Sand the hell out of your table and then sand it just a little bit more. Trust me.
6. Test your stain on one of the uneven pieces of wood that you ended up stuck with because you ignored #1. But prep it in the exact way that you’ll prep your finished table (super sanding and wood conditioner before stain). If you don’t test it, you’ll put it all over your table, hate it, cry, threaten to burn it, call all your people for help, then start the entire process over again. Save yourself. 
7. I can’t make this 7 disappear. There is no 7th tip. But I’ll use this time to say that I initially intended to fill the spaces in the planks with wood filler, but husband convinced me not to. He was right.
   I posted this photo to show you that stainable wood filler isn’t so stainable sometimes. This is my attempt to fill the gaps made by uneven wood cuts. If I let it, it will drive me insane.It’s a good idea to lay everything out in the store to make sure they’ll (mostly) line up when you take it home. I happened to go on a day where there was a very polite and patient lumber cutter on duty. This is the stain disaster. I tried to use Minwax Weathered Oak followed by Special Walnut. My tears were mixed in there too. The lighter planks you see are in the process of sanding all the stain off for a fresh start. This was the worst part of the project by far.
   

This is the countersink drill bit and the hole it makes.

I hope at least one of you will make this. If you do and have questions, I’m here.