How To Build A Farmhouse Table

Add beautiful character and rustic charm to your home with this DIY farmhouse table! This step by step tutorial will walk you through how to build a farmhouse table of your own!

If you want to upgrade and revamp your living room or kitchen, nothing beats the rustic beauty of a solid farmhouse table that allows the entire family to gather and have some dinner fun. This type of chunky, bulky furniture is, unfortunately, expensive, so the best way to approach your home remodeling project is to build one of your own!

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You’ll need some tools, but don’t worry – you’ll see the return on investment soon. Once you’ve got a taste for making your farmhouse table, you will quickly move on to building some desks, benches, and even DIY beds. So let’s get started, as we have some work to do!

How to Build a Farmhouse Table and Have some Fun in the Process

Tools

• Electric wood saw
• Electric wood sander and sandpaper
• Wood glue
• A bag of wood nails (short and long) and a nail gun
• A screw kit with all the trimmings
• Clamps, penny washers, angle irons
• A vacuum cleaner
• Lacquer or wood paint and the proper brushes
• Protection goggles and rubber gloves

Materials/Supplies

• One standard North American 48 in × 40 in × 6 in pallet
• Ten wood planks for table cover (you need solid dry wood even if you reclaim old fence boards or other wood scraps, we recommend getting your wood planks from your local lumber yard)
• Reclaimed table legs (use the legs or the support of an old rustic table or go to the lumber yard to get four rectangular pieces of wood to turn into legs)
• Floor cover (cardboard or plastic, as you will make a mess if you work indoors, although we recommend you do this in your backyard)

Instructions

First, you need to cover the floor you are going to work on with plastic sheets or cardboard. Put on your goggles and gloves and let us begin the magic!

Preparation

Use the electric wood sander to smooth out the pallet. You will use it as the base of your table, and it needs a smooth finish (especially if you are going to leave it raw and not paint-treated).

Put the pallet aside and start taking care of the boards. They’ll sit on top of the pallet to form the top of the table. They need to be longer than the pallet so that people have room under the table for their legs. Measure the planks and pallet, decide how much longer than the pallet you want the boards to be, then cut the boards.

Reclaimed wood can be quite warped, and you will be gluing the planks to each other, so they need straight edges. Rip each wooden plank with the help of your wood saw to obtain perfectly straight and smooth edges on all sides.

Use the sander to make sure all the planks are smooth and splinter free.

Use the vacuum cleaner to remove the sanding debris from the wood pieces and your work surface.

Now it is time to do some miracles with the farmhouse table legs. If you want to use reclaimed table legs, make sure they will support the weight of the pallet and boards. Thick, solid, rustic legs will do the job. In case you want to make the legs yourself, rip four rectangular piece of lumber and use the sander to smooth all surfaces. Use the saw to cut the legs at the exact height you want them. (Don’t forget to account for the height of the pallet and boards as well!)

Build

This table will probably take you two days to complete, but it is a weekend DIY project to enjoy making together with your family members.

It’s best to apply a finish to the table before you start assembling the pieces; it will be harder to finish once it is a solid piece of furniture. Use lacquer or paint to give the table and the legs the colors or the look you want – keep it rustic and natural with wood lacquer or paint it in the color that works best with the room. Apply finish to the entire pallet frame, the legs, and each tabletop board; leave to dry until the next day.

Glue the boards onto the pallet frame starting from one side: glue the first board onto the frame, glue its side, then press the next board to fit tightly against the first board and against the pallet, and so on until you finish the tabletop. Clamp the tabletop so that the boards are pressed tightly against each other, and add some weights on the tabletop so that the boards are pressed against the pallet frame.

The next day, flip the tabletop over and use the nail gun and the short, thin nails to fix the boards onto the pallet frame; it is better to fasten the nails from the underside to get a smooth finish on the top of your table.

Next use penny washers for the screws and nails and also angle irons to make sure everything stays in place at the corners.

While the tabletop is still upside down, place the table legs in the correct positions and glue them onto the frame; let the wood glue dry overnight.

The next day, fasten the legs further against the tabletop with angle irons and screws on each leg side. They will have to support the weight of the table, and of everything you put on the table so you need to make sure the legs will not move.

Flip the table again and use the longest nails you could find to fix the top planks to the corresponding leg. If you do not want to see the nail heads on the table’s surface, add a finishing layer of paint or add some handmade paintings and decorations; let dry and enjoy your new farmhouse table!

We hope this short tutorial was of use to you – a farmhouse table is a thing of beauty and we are sure you will not stop here! After all, a kitchen farmhouse table may also need a bench or some chairs! And, if you get the hang of it, you could start using pallets or reclaimed wood scraps to build rain barrel stands and other cool projects for the home and backyard!

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