Table

We moved about 3 months ago from a tiny townhouse to, what feels like in comparison, a huge house with plenty of room for the twins to run. In our tiny townhouse we used a dining table that was given to us by Mary's parents. I never loved the table, but it was free. With the twins so young I never had time to refinish it the way that I had always planned. When we moved to the new house I suddenly had a dining room instead of a small space between the living area and the kitchen that I stuck the table. My tiny little table looked silly in the new house. I looked around at tables that I wanted, but the costs were insanely high for a newly staying at home mom. So, I built a new table. That's right - I built a piece of furniture. I am really pleased with how it turned out. There is room for 8 (double what the last table accommodated) and it is wide enough that serving dishes can comfortably remain on the table during dinner. I started with a trip to a lumbar yard, plans from the best site ever, and a willingness to completely screw up. Mary, the cheapest person you will ever meet in your life, was not so willing to accept a write off of the money spent on the lumbar, but she was happy with the idea of a small price tag if I pulled it off.

The pile of wood that I started off with:

Luckily, I had two amazing "helpers" to keep me entertained through the project:

Why do I buy toys? All they need for fun is that laundry basket.

In the end, after taking the thing apart and rebuilding it twice because of errors (it was my first time building something that didn't come with an allen wrench for assembly), I ended up with a table I am happy with. It has flaws and irregularities not found in mass produced Pottery Barn tables, but I can tell everyone that I built it with my own hands. The table that I really wanted to purchase was $4800. All told I spent about $350 to build the table. The wood, glue and screws were in the neighborhood of $250, but I had to invest in a few tools. Not to worry, I will make good use of the investment in my next projects.

The table pre-stain:

Every time we sit to eat dinner as a family at the table I am grateful to have a such a wonderful home for my family, and a place to eat with a enough space that my legs don't touch anyone else's legs.