This summer, my girlfriend Jocie (check out her awesome blog) and I decided to embark on a project together; to design and build our very own Dinning room table to go in our new house. With all the excitement of buying a house, we got a little carried away/over ambitious, deciding it wouldn't take that long. We weren't following a recipe as such, just a vague plan Jocie sketched delicately on a piece of paper, including precise measurements on how to make a table look random yet considered. Here's how it went down. Step 1. Bought wood from B&Q 4x(200cm x 9.3cm x 1.5cm). Step 2. Cut it down to varying sizes based on the design. Step 3. Laid out the wood to check they fit together. Step 4. Numbered each piece so we always knew where each went. Step 5. (This was the fun bit) We distressed the wood using nails, screws, hammers, files, and many other sharp, blunt or heavy items to make each piece look like it had history. Step 6. We varnished the wood individually so they wouldn't quite match up. The vanish would thicken where we had distressed it, making it appear burnt or weathered but generally old and well used. Step 7. Was the longest step; each piece had to be doweled individually about 5 or 6 times to give it strength and support. Step 8. Using wood glue, a lot of clamps, and Jocie's Dad as backup, the table was bound and left to dry. Step 9. The ends were planed flat then attached to the end pieces using ten dowels each side. Step 10. The legs were made from two B&Q fence posts that were cut in half and bracketted on using four 'L' Shaped brackets on each leg.
Despite vicious rumors that I built this table alone, it was very much a team effort. My part was simply brute manliness, and a love for playing with power tools... But as a great man once said... "it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl"
Despite vicious rumors that I built this table alone, it was very much a team effort. My part was simply brute manliness, and a love for playing with power tools... But as a great man once said... "it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl"
Here it is in action, in the new house. Since this photo it has been varnished, and the rest of the room looks a lot better than it does here.
