Benchright Table and Benches

Submitted by mebohn on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 14:14

I wasn't very experienced when I built this table. It was only my second big piece of furniture (farmhouse bed was my first) and it was the first time I had every used a compound mitre saw, which my husband had just bought for my birthday. We had no dining room furniture, so I made the 2 benches to go with, until we could set aside money for the ever so expensive dining chairs. (We'll keep one bench for sure for the kiddos!) My seasoned carpenter husband was so impressed when he came home from out of town to find this table done just in time for the holidays. I love it so much and am very proud of the finish since it was the first time EVER I had used stain or poly. We did order materials for the stretchers, but haven't put them on yet. They were from Fastenal and are pretty pricey - but hopefully, they'll give the industrial touch to finish it off. The whole project took me under 2 weeks - but it would take far less for someone who is more skilled and doesn't have to stop every 5 minutes to tend to 2 very active toddlers.

Estimated Cost
Less than $200 without turnbuckles
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
2 coats of Minwax English Chestnut and 3 coats of Polyeurethane, lightly sanding in between coats
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

SawgrassHomeGirl

Tue, 06/12/2012 - 06:01

The table looks gorgeous and I love the stain color. Bravo! Can't wait to see what it looks like with the hardware! :)

givehugsprn

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 01:12

My sister is in need of a new table and I have been thinking of building this table for her. I bought a very nice round table and 4 chairs on CraigsList but the table is too small for her dinning area so I sold the table and kept the chairs. Now I'm working on stripping the wood and recovering the pads on all 4 chairs. Maybe after all the chairs are done I will be able to start the table. I hope mine looks as nice as yours. Great Job!!!

Rebecca H. (not verified)

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 17:52

Hi - what a beautiful job! I'm thinking of making this my first big project and you have really inspired me. One question, did you stay with dimensions found on the original plan? For some reason the table seems bigger. Also, if you did keep to the original dimensions, do you think this would be an easy plan to adjust to making the table wider? Thanks so much and congratulations!

mebohn

Tue, 08/14/2012 - 18:47

Sorry Rebecca - I just saw this question. I ended up adding an extra 1x6 board to widen the table just a few inches but my 1x6's here were not 5 1/2 inches, they were more like 5 1/4 inches. So I had to adjust the whole tabletop anyway. I'm thinking of actually building another one that's longer to fit my dining room better and stain it a little lighter. I don't think this was my first BIG project. I think the farmhouse bed was for me - but I haven't posted yet b/c I just refinished it. This was my first project with a compound mitre saw that my husband eventually bought me for my birthday. I had to learn my way through bevels and angles by myself and I did make a few mistakes, which were frustrating, but a total learning experience. You can do it! Just don't rush and be patient with yourself. I wish you so much success!!! I look forward to seeing your table posted when you finish it! :-)