Farmhouse Dining Table with Gothic Revival Legs
To get the Hanger bolt into the holes I drilled, I locked them into my drill and screwed them in. You have to be careful with this method or you risk stripping the threads of your hanger bolt. Low speed, high torque is key.
I fit the corner brackets into the grooves on the apron.
And then you’d think I would attach the leg and take a picture that I could share with you, wouldn’t you? Yeah, well, you’d be wrong. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the work that I forget about basic blogger protocol, like taking a freaking picture every once in a while!
Seriously, it’s a marvel that Handan hasn’t fired me, and an even greater marvel that you, dear madam, still read this half-chewed blog!
Okay, so I’m cheating a little bit here, but I just crawled under the table (no small feat, I assure you) and snapped a picture of a corner bracket. To keep things in their proper perspective, I flipped the picture upside down.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves here, but you can see the tabletop fasteners in action there, too!
Okay, rewinding to the basement. After I had the legs secured to the apron, and the apron positioned on the table, I marked and drilled little holes for the 40 fasteners I would be using.
All that remained was for Handan to paint the legs and apron. We moved them over to another work table.
This is actually when I sprayed the legs with shellac. When the shellac dried, Handan started to paint.
After several thin coats of her world-famous chalk paint, color-matched to Old White, Handan sanded it down a bit to give it some light distressing.
It was here that she realized that I had forgotten to glue the corbels in place. Me forget? Shocker, I know.
So I sanded off some paint…
And epoxied the corbels in place, securing them with brad nails while the epoxy cured. Here they are after Handan hit them with a few more coats of paint and then distressed them.
We were so close now. I could taste the table. It tasted like victory. And ash.
The final steps would be completed upstairs. We carefully…so carefully…carried the tabletop and the legs up to the dining room. The tabletop weighs about 73 tons, so I had to use about half my strength to get it up the stairs. Ash may be cheap, but it is dense!
We laid down a tarp in the foyer, and Handan waxed the apron and legs with Fiddes and Sons clear wax – this stuff is the best we’ve found for furniture – both natural wood and painted.
When she finished waxing, we carried the legs over and placed them on the upside-down table in the dining room. We had it propped up on our old chairs to make the work easier. We centered the legs and screwed all the tabletop fasteners in place.
Handan was having some issues working the camera on my phone, so I was trying to show her an easier way…all the while, she was snapping photos of me.
Part 5 – The Reveal
We made it! I can’t believe I wrote all that, and I sure as heck can’t believe you read it! Good for you, madam. You have the fortitude of a honey badger.
So, ummm, enough of my yapping, I guess, right?
As you no doubt noticed, we also bought new chairs. I will cross them off the list below, but I will talk about them a little more in a future post. I’m all out of words! This was one heck of a long post! Kudos to you, madam, if you’re still with me!
Dining Room Makeover Checklist
Moodboard and plan.Paint the room.Create a gallery wall and design printables for it.Decide on the rug.Buy Chairs.Build dining table.- Build a small console table.
- Makeover/upcycle antique wardrobe.
- Makeover/paint the buffet table.
- Decorate dining room.
Click here to see more dining room makeover posts as we continue to cross items off our checklist!
OMG! I was laughing so hard throughout this post. You are FUNNY!
Great job on the table. As always, very entertaining. .
đŸ˜€ Thank you, Revital!
That is a beautiful table. Very well done. Love the chairs too.
You are such a talented writer! Great post. Very entertaining and informative. What a combo.
Thank you so much, Amy! đŸ™‚
Your table turned out beautifully and I love, love, love the chairs you put with it. It’s more country chic! I have to ask where you learned your woodworking skills. I have none and would have nailed the boards together thinking glue wouldn’t be enough! I envy your and Handan’s skills! You should put out a how-to blog for dummies like me!
Thank you so much, Giselle! I learned all my skills through trial and error, YouTube and reading random stuff on the web. Trust me, I had no skills at all when we moved into this house 4 years ago!
Wowza, great storytelling and a gorgeous ending to the Table saga. Well done ?
Thank you so much, Jacqui! đŸ˜€
That project turned out gorgeous! What a great way to save beautiful legs from an old table. The entire project is to die for. Love the chairs too!
Thank you, Dawn! I appreciate that very much! đŸ™‚
Gorgeous! What a beautiful table, the finish turned out beautifully. And those chairs….great choice! Handan is right, those little rings on the back really make them special! Perfect match.
Thank you, Claudine! Yep, Handan has a great eye for those kinds of things! đŸ™‚
Great job. I felt your pain with those dark spots.
Love the chairs, too.
As a Brit I find how you measure in inches in the US so, so difficult. aarghh 55 1/16″ – 5 3/8″ Ever thought of going ‘metric’?? So much easier, believe me.
Thank you, Di! Lol, Handan wishes we’d go metric, too. I wouldn’t mind a bit, but until then, the Imperial system doesn’t bother me, either đŸ™‚
BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL work! You have much talent for woodwork as well as writing! Thanks for sharing your efforts! The Dining Room is a stunner.
Thank you, Linda! We are thrilled with the table and with the dining room makeover! đŸ™‚
GORgeous! You tackled a big job and it turned out great. I would have given up a long time ago.
Thank you, Jeanine! I would have given up, too…but Handan would never let me, lol! đŸ˜€
WOW!!! WOW WOW WOW!!! It’s fabulous!!!!
Thank you, Derry!
Absolutely beautiful. I did notice the feet are straight on instead of facing the corner of your beautiful tabletop, as they originally did. It looked odd to me so l compared them to your original photos. Any reason why? Great job!
Good eye, Hilary! Yes, there is a reason. If we had the legs facing out from the corners, it would have been impossible to attach them securely to the apron. We decided that facing out towards the ends of the table looked good enough, so we ran with it! đŸ™‚
BEAUTIFUL!!!!! You and Handan made a gorgeous table. That table was special in its time, but you two created something you can be proud of every time you walk by it. I Love it.
Thank you so much, Cheryl! I am so proud of it every time I see it!
The table is gorgeous! Absolutely worth all the blood, sweat and tears! Simply stunning! I am going to have to try both wipe on poly and bondo!
Thank you, Barb! You will love both of those products!
Oh my freaking gawd! I can’t believe it! You have the exact same chair as I do! The green one with the arched back, in the basement. Mind you mine is in the storage shed waiting for a makeover.
Anyways, what a fantastic mammoth effort you did! I can feel the torment of perfectionism!
I love the way you are real and miss bits of the job. All comes good in the end though, hey!
One point; I notice you didn’t use biscuits joiners to join the table, just curious as to why?
Fantastic post and fantastic photos.
Well done!
Great minds think alike, Aletheia! I have four of those chairs that I bought along with a kitchen table back in 1995. It was my first adult furniture purchase! Regarding biscuits – they are not necessary when gluing pieces along the edge grain. A good quality wood glue (like the Titebond III that I use) will give a joint that is actually stronger than the surrounding wood. Things get wonky with end-grain, though. The side grain of the end boards attaches to the end grain of the main table. That is not an ideal joint. Furthermore, there is more stress on that joint than any other on the table. Because of this, I used a spline joint. You can think of a spine as a biscuit that runs the length of the joint. One last note: though biscuits are not needed with edge glue-ups, they can help keep the boards in alignment during clamping. The ash that I used was very dense and rather thick, so I’m wondering if a biscuit would have helped or hurt with my warping problem. If I could have applied enough pressure to straighten the boards and get those biscuits locked, it may have helped a lot. But if I couldn’t get the board straightened enough, then I’d lose my chance at gluing them together. I think for thinner, softer boards like pine, using biscuits might help if some of the boards aren’t perfectly straight. They may also help for those who don’t have clamps.
Amazing work! You guys make a great team.
Thank you, Barbara! We think so too đŸ™‚
I’ m exhausted…I read it TWICE!! First for me and then my hubbie heard me chortling away…and I read it…again to him. He, too, is a “woodworker” and I’m a little bit “Handan.” The table is so “farmish”…it is gorgeous! KUDOS!! (one of those exclamations was from my hubbie.) franki
LOL, thank you, Franki! I’m so happy you guys liked the post đŸ™‚
That table is simply gorgeous! GORGEOUS! I just hope your amazing restoration/makeover will be a sort of inspiration for my hubby, we have 2 more or less “antique” tables waiting for some mercy in our garage…
Thank you so much, Maigwen! If your husband gets inspired, please send us some before & after pictures to greg@thenavagepatch.com.
Oh my goodness! I absolutely love how the table turned out! Is just breathtaking! Plus I read the whole thing and I just love everything in there I definitely laughed out loud a few times!! Hehehe GREAT JOB!!
Thank you very much, Kristy!
Beautiful! What type of brush did you use for the legs? I’m refinishing an ornate piece and am daunted by the details.
Hi Heidi, I usually keep a set of cheap artist brushes handy, and I use them with the ornate pieces, such as these table legs. They sell similar ones also at Michaels, and they end up being cheaper than the ones on Amazon if you use a coupon.
Here is the one I get from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2P040P6.
And here is the one I get from Michaels: https://fave.co/2o4TieB
The table turned out amazing! I was laughing so hard at your commentary throughout the post! I started reading from the failed table attempt post (I feel your pain there). That was SO MUCH hard work! You did a wonderful job. Now I understand why custom tables cost so much HA! I’ll definitely be back to read more about your projects!
Thank you so much, Katt! Oh, what a pain in the ass this project was, but it was worth it in the end! đŸ™‚
Beautiful work on this table! I fretted a bit when you took the corbels off the legs and was so happy to see that you were able to incorporate them into the new design! All my projects have issues, too and there have been many times where cursing has ensued. I am enjoying your blog – loved the adventure stories – you could make those into a book!
Hi Jeanne, thank you so much! I don’t think I’ve completed a single project without some sort of issue or problem. DIY is life, and we figure it out as we go. That means a lot of mistakes and a lot of learning!
I found your blog a few months ago and just have to say, your writing is amazing and the projects incredible!! I literally spit coffee out from bursting into laughter on the horse hair brush comparison.
The table is gorgeous!! Kudos in buckets!!!
I come up with all sorts of projects and let my “babes” in on the plans with “…so, hon, I was thinking…”, at which point hubbie says, “…and I’ll be doing”. We’ve read lots of your posts to prepare with “our” projects…thank you!
Welcome, Andrea! I’m happy to hear that I’ve not only entertained you but have also given some good advice. Good luck with your projects! đŸ™‚
Wow!! I am so impressed with your perfectionist woodworking skills. And your hilarious storytelling abilities got me hooked. What a terrific
team you and Handan are. I do a little furniture refurbishing and I learned a ton from watching this tutorial. I am definitely a fan.
Thank you so much, Barbara! Handan and I are happy to have you along on our adventure! đŸ™‚
Well, I’m a little late to the party but had to comment anyway. I read through the previous nightmare that you had with the original table and honestly, I would have loved it the way it was, horse hair and all. And I nearly cried when I read you were going to use just the legs for another project. But, that said, the final result was just BRILLIANT and I love it so so very much. Far more than the original table. This was truly what I would consider my magnum opus but I know you have many of these types of projects under your belt so you may not agree. I think the spots on it WERE your tears, lol. But you worked it out and I believe it was serendipity. It truly was better BECAUSE of the mistakes and disappointments. This is a lesson in the greatness of perseverance and determination. GREAT job. Just amazing.
That was one heck of a project, Tracy, and I don’t know if I’ll ever make another furniture piece as complicated. Time seems more scarce these days. But I still have the memory of that build, and more importantly, we’re still using the table in our Florida dining room!
That is a table meant to be used for a lifetime and passed on to future generations. I would leave a detailed description of the hell you went through to get it done, and tape it to the bottom of the table, lest someone not appreciate what went into it. I wanted to post some of the things that made me laugh out loud but there were so many, why bore you with your own material? lol It truly was a great read, an amazing job and I felt like I was on this adventure with you. I can appreciate a job well done and this really qualified. Thanks again.
Hi Tracy, thank you for this lovely comment! I love your idea about passing it down with a note. I just may do that! I’ll print out the blog post, seal it in a ziplock and tape it to the bottom! đŸ˜‚đŸ˜‚đŸ˜‚