Introduction: Farm House Table From Reclaimed Lumber With Drawer

About: Learn. Create. Bond.

We take old rough sawn lumber that was used for a bookshelf and make a
beautiful functioning table. This table is smaller than your typical "farm house" table. Usually you think six feet or so, but this one was designed to fit in a breakfast nook right off the kitchen. It's purpose is to serve as a eating table of course, but also as a home school desk. With that in mind we made a drawer in the end to hold school supplies. You can watch the video HERE.

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Step 1: Find the Table Top

There were only a few boards in which the table top could be made from. The first thing to do is to move the boards around until you find an arrangement that is visually appealing. Measure and mark where to cut the boards. After cutting the boards you have the table top. I chose to use pockets holes to join the boards together. You could also use strips of wood on the under side of the top to join them together. Another way would be to joint the edges and glue them together. The overall dimensions of the table top is 28"W x 42"L x 1" thick.

Step 2: Construct the Base

For the legs I used old fence posts or 4x4's. The fence posts were well weathered and came down during a storm, so I decided I could use them. Most tables are about 30" high from floor to table top, so that's the height I made this one. The top is roughly an inch, so i cut the legs at 29". I set those aside and focused on the aprons. I knew I wanted a drawer, so I had to figure out the apron dimensions without making them too wide to allow for leg room after assembly. I went with about 5.5 inches. That was pushing it, but I wanted the drawer to be as deep as I could make it to store school supplies. In the end It worked out perfect. Just like the table top, I found my aprons among the boards, measured, cut and used pocket holes to install them. I set the aprons in about half an inch from the outside edge of the legs. One thing to note here is that one of the short aprons required an opening for the drawer. I made the opening as big as I could without covering the entire apron with the drawer front. Oh, by the way... the legs are two inches in from each corner and attached to the aprons and table top with pocket holes. The over all dimensions of the base is 26"W x 40"L x 29"H

Step 3: Make the Drawer

The width of the drawer depends on the width of the opening of the short side apron. I made the drawer width slightly smaller than that and the final length of the drawer was roughly 25-28 inches. The length can be as long as the inside measurement of the drawer frame work. The frame work for this type drawer is very simple. It is made up of 1x6's and I cut strips of 1x1's to fit into the frame work of the drawer cavity to act as top and bottom runners. Basically, the drawer rest on the bottom runners and they act as supports. The top runners keep the drawer from tipping downward when the drawer is pulled out for access. The full drawer can be taken in and out easily due to the fact that it's not connected to anything. The drawer is nothing more than a box with a bottom glued and stapled to it. The drawer front received a 30 degree chamfer on all four outside edges giving it a subtle detail. A mid century looking drawer pull was installed as the finishing touch.

Step 4: Finish It

After sanding with 80 grit to remove all the splinters and loose grim I finished the whole table with a very thick coat of Polycrylic by way of a regular paint brush. This was the first time I used this stuff and I love it, especially on reclaimed lumber. It brought out the warm tones and gave it a nice feel. It dries very very quick, too. It's also water based, so you really don't have to worry about all the heavy fumes and messy clean up. Just wash out your brush with water and it's ready for the next project. I'll link it in the project tool section. :)

Step 5: Project Tools

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