school table!

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this school year, once our dungeon project was done, we would be moving the school room to the other side of that room and making a bedroom in the old school room. Since the dungeon is done (Hallelujah!) and the bedroom is half done, I was eager to have a better school table than this old padded card table. It worked just fine for Noah and I but adding Evie in the mix this year has been difficult. It's wobbly and crowded. 

When I researched tables I was pretty much appalled at prices. It's ludicrous. On facebook a while back a friend's boyfriend had made them a table from some Ana White internet plans. That woman's site is amazing and totally inspiring. So when I realized how much I didn't want to spend on a table, I talked my brother into "helping" me make one. Terry has enough going on right? I mean, can I get an AMEN?! Yeah. So Nathan and I (and Ana!) went to Menards and spent like $92 on supplies and got to work a couple weekends later.

This was the plan we modified.

I did help a very little bit. Having absolutely no experience with power tools, I was scared. But Nathan helped me cut some boards and screw all the holes with the kreg-jig thingy - which I learned is for hiding screws, making them go in sideways. Then he screwed the table top boards together with the help of his clamps. We also used wood glue.

About a week later Nathan came back over to finish up the table. I wasn't as involved at this point. He made the cuts to the legs and apron and nailed them together. He added those corner supports in too.

Ana was there looking cute with my cute baby.

Nathan had to change out some of the screws that were too long and came through the table top. He put smaller ones in with some wood glue to repair the damage. You can't even find where these spots were now that it's done.

Then he slammed the top on and was done! Now it was my turn to finish it...

Here's the under side. Hahaha.

I spent an afternoon's quiet time sanding down the raises edges of where the table top boards met. I needed it smooth for writing. Once that I was done it was time to stain! I didn't want to spend any money on finishing the table, so I used what I had. First I put down a coat of leftover dungeon white trim stain.

Then I put on some mahogany gel stain I used for our dining room table and chairs six years ago.

And I didn't like it. So I tried putting more on and that looked terrible. So I sanded it all down as much as I could and put more mahogany on. It looked a lot better. Turned out I had put too much white down initially. Then I put six coats of polyurethane on since we're a six pack. And pine is soft wood. 

And voila! Today was our first day on the new table! It's wonderful! Just need a couple benches... Eventually.