IKEA table turned farmhouse table

April 15, 2013

DIY farmhouse table

Hello hello! Hope you had a lovely weekend! I’m back today with a DIY project that I’ve been SO excited to show you! It was a LONG time coming – it took me a few weeks to finish and a couple years to even make happen.

So here’s the thing. I love our kitchen but the table area has been a thorn in my side for years:

round table kitchen

It looks innocent, I know. :) But it was so cramped. I mean, our kitchen isn’t huge by any stretch, and the spot for the table always felt too small for me. And we added the bay window when we built, which made it even bigger.

The problem was, even with the chairs pushed in (which they hardly ever were, all at the same time), we kind of had to schooch through next to the island, over by the pantry and when we went outside we had to make sure the chair was pushed in to open the door.

I was always, constantly, numerous times a day PUSHING IN CHAIRS.

I was so tired of it, really, I mean, total first world problem here, but it was driving me crazy.

So I came up with a solution in my head. One I never even mentioned to the hubby because it involved knocking out a wall and expanding the kitchen. I had it perfectly planned out. You see why I didn’t mention it to the husband though. ;)

Obviously that wasn’t going to happen, so about a year ago I came up with a new plan – ditch the round table.

I love that table (it’s an antique but not a family antique) but once I did some measuring I realized the round shape was ALL wrong for that spot. But the size for the new table I was looking for needed to be less than 60 inches long and do you KNOW how hard it is to find a kitchen table that size?

I guess I should mention I had a “look” in mind that I wanted. And Dad and I did consider making something, maybe even using the base of the table I already had, but when I showed him tutorials online we determined we didn’t have the tools needed.

So for months and months and did I mention months? I looked on Craigslist. Then I tried places like World Market, even Walmart – just looking for something I could change up if needed. No one had a smaller table with the look I wanted.

And then, one night it came to me.

IKEA. Duh. Duh duh duh!

I found exactly what I wanted:

IKEA Norden table

Well the shape and size and mostly the look I wanted. It is the Norden kitchen table and it’s something like 35 by 59 inches. Perfect.

So I planned a trip to IKEA (it’s a two hour trip one way so I picked up some other stuff). I met up with these cuties:

That would be Beckie and Traci doncha know. ;) We got to spend the day shopping and chatting and goofing off in IKEA, it was SO nice. When we found the table the girls solidified my ideas and thought it would work.

It wasn’t till a week later that I finally put the table together. I was crossing my fingers the size would work – sweating a little bit actually. ;) But it fit GREAT. I was SO stinking excited.

So originally I had planned on building a new top for the table, to make it more farmhouse looking. But once I got it together I was kind of hoping for an easy fix, so I tried sanding the top to see if it would take a stain. (It comes with a leaf to expand it so I experimented on that.)

The top is supposed to be real wood and I still think it is, but man, they put some supersonic protective stuff on there. It would NOT sand off. So I got a wild hair and just tried staining over it to see what would happen.

I was really, really pleased with it actually – the stain actually took and turned it a lovely grayish brown color:

IKEA Norden table

I was so excited that maybe this would work with less work on my part than anticipated. I still didn’t know why that finish took the stain like it did – it was so odd. (Do you sense the foreboding here?)

It wasn’t the look I had originally planned on, but I liked it OK. I did the rest of the table and it still wasn’t my ideal, but it was pretty!

I went ahead with the rest of my plan to paint the base white – originally it was that blond wood color:

IMG_5134

I got busy with some white chalk paint:

IKEA table to farmhouse table

I used that simply because I didn’t want to have to sand down all the legs and everything. I was able to just put it right on which saved me a ton of time.

So everything was almost done, and like I said, I liked the top just fine. But then, later on the same day, after I had put a coat of poly on (that had dried) I put something on the table and heard a sound I know all to well – the sound of a finish being scratched off. You just KNOW it after a while. ;)

UGH.

Yep. I knew it was weird that that stain seemed to take so well. It didn’t. :) It scratched right off. I mean, it took some effort, but I could do it with my finger nail and some force.

Sooooooo…my plan A that became plan B became plan A again. It was time to build a new tabletop.

I’ll let you pause here to grab a snack, I know this is a long post.

Get some Doritos for me.

I gathered some wood and had plywood base cut down to the size of the original table top, then started figuring out my cuts:

DIY farmhouse table

I went with the same design as the small end table I did for the basement.

I used wood glue, my nail gun and a clamp – starting at one end and gluing, clamping and nailing as I went across:

long clamp

Some of the boards were slightly warped so I used hand weights to put some pressure on them. And even though I clamped as I went (a good, patient carpenter would have clamped them together with numerous clamps and let each row set before moving on. I am not a patient carpenter.) there were still some small gaps between the boards.

Because I didn’t want to worry about food or liquid falling down in there, I used a stainable filler and filled in ALL the cracks and holes:

DIY farmhouse table

And then I sanded and sanded and sanded. I’m sure my neighbors were like, WOMAN! It’s smooth! I sanded so much. And then some more.

But I wanted to make sure I got the putty residue off (turns out I could have sanded even more) and the sanding was knocking down any of the warping issues too – when I was done it was SO stinking smooth.

I’ll show you more about my new sander soon:

bosch sander

It made this part SO easy! I love this thing!

Just before dark we brought it in and set it on top of the table:

DIY farmhouse table

I stained it two times with the same dark stain (Rustoleum Kona) I used here. Then I gave it two coats of a gloss poly:

DIY farmhouse table

And in the end it turned out JUST as I had imagined for all those months:

DIY farmhouse table

I am SO proud of this piece, I just can’t even tell you. I think it turned out so beautifully:

IKEA table to farmhouse table

To hide the plywood base of the table top and to finish it off a little more, I added another “apron” around it – it’s glued and nailed into the plywood base. (I went with a thicker plywood knowing I would do this.)

I needed something thin (I made the tabletop just slightly bigger than the IKEA top so we didn’t lose any space in here) to trim that out, so I ended up using door framing trim. I love how it looks!:

IKEA table to farmhouse table

I have zero patience so didn’t wait as long as I should have to stain after doing the putty (I’m five years old, I swear). You can see a couple spots where I didn’t sand well enough and the stain didn’t take as well at the end:

IKEA table turned farmhouse table

But I don’t mind it – I didn’t want it to look perfectly perfect. The wood is just pine – I went with the slightly more expensive kind that doesn’t have knots – and it stained up just beautifully!

The table is way bigger than our old one, but the shape works SO much better. SO. MUCH. With the table and chairs and the rug before it was taking up a space about 70 inches around. This way works because the ends where we saw the most traffic don’t have chairs:

IKEA table turned farmhouse table

And I know, there’s no chairs in the pics – those are for another post. This one will continue. The light is a surprise too. ;)

I think it is one of the smartest changes I’ve made in our house. I seriously don’t know what took me so long. We LOVE it. Loveity love lurve:

IKEA table turned farmhouse table

I’ll show you the seating soon (I’m still tweaking).

I gotta say, I’m a little excited to have a pretty table to decorate for holidays again too. When we got rid of the table in the dining room I figured I would miss that part and I did. It’s not the reason for the new table obviously, but it’s a nice little bonus. ;)

The great thing is, I made this so the top can be lifted off. So the one or two times a year we need a large table we can pull that off, put the leaf in the table and then seat eight easily (six at the table and two on the ends).

I am SO thrilled with it! All together it cost about $350 -- $270 for the table and about $70 for the wood. Worth it for a custom piece that fits our kitchen just right! 

So there you go, phase one of three, where plan A was B than A again…but it’s done. I’ll show you the rest soon!

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Comments

  1. It looks amazing! You did a great job, especially coming up with Plan B when Plan A didn't work. I love it.

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  2. I love it!!!! You did a beautiful job :) I can't wait to see you in a few days.

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  3. This couldn't have come at a better time! I am currently about two days away from buying all the stuff to build a farmhouse table, and I am NOT a carpenter. I found a great plan on Ana-White's blog, and it looked easy enough, but I adjusted the plan. THIS is a great alternative!!! I will have to go and check out IKEA today! :-)

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    1. Lacey, after seeing the simple base to this table, I am pretty sure we could have DIY'd it, but it would have taken a while. The extra cost for the expandable table was worth it to me. Good luck!!

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  4. Ha, I did the same thing you initially set out to do! I found that table and 4 parsons chairs on CL for $100(!!!), so my husband and I hauled it home. We sanded the poly coat off (we had to use a super low grit) and then stained it using Cabot's Fruitwood color. It is the exact idea I had in my head. But my husband did have to do the sanding because it was hard work to get that poly coat off. Also, using such a low grit left marks in the wood, but it just ended up looking like reclaimed wood or something. We love it.

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    1. Awesome find! I couldn't find something to save my life! There were plenty of people selling custom tables but they were starting at $600.

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  5. Love it. Oh my gosh it will look amazing for the holidays! Can't wait to see it!

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  6. Love it!! I'm picturing a bench in your table's future! :)

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  7. Wow, this is timely. I have the little square norden, and I'm hoping for just the same look. I was going to try to strip the super-mega-coating off, but now I think that might be a waste of time and money. I've been putting it off / waiting for spring (er, for a couple of years), ao this is just the inspiration / kick up the bum I need!

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  8. beautiful job! I am working on a different solution for our kitchen table too! I am actually looking for a pedestal table similar to yours but white and Chippendale chairs in a raw wood. Did you put something on top of the stain for a glossy look? The light reflects beautifully on it!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I put a couple coats of glossy polyurethane over it to protect it. I wanted a shiny look and it's easy to clean!

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  9. congratulations, it looks beautiful...

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  10. It looks amazing! I just love Ikea. I bought new sofas there myself this weekend. :) My breakfast area is pretty small, too. I ended up with a six seater table from Garden Ridge because it's the only one I could find under 60" and fit six people. All of our family lives here so we need six chairs and no one ever wants to stray far from the tv and go to the dining room, especially since all of our parties are around sporting events. Yesterday was The Masters and I thought all the men were going to break their neck straining to see the tv, lol.

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  11. Amazing, what a beatiful country style table! I recently posted an Ikea hack myself.

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  12. Sarah~It's beautiful! It looks just like my kitchen table
    http://www.lindahomeiswheremyheartis.com/2012/06/deja-vu-i-think-ive-done-this-before.html
    Great minds think alike :) Great job! ~Linda

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  13. I have that same table but went the unfinished route. We've been letting it age naturally over the course of the past two years but I think I am now ready to add a little stain. Just something to make it look really, really old and maybe, just maybe a light coat of chalk paint on the legs to mimic worn paint. All in all, we love our table! Yours turned out beautiful and it is truly amazing how much it opened up the space!!

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  14. Great idea, I love the table. You did an amazing job. Hugs, Marty

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  15. Looks great! I absolutely love the light above your table. Do you know what brand it is?

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    1. Yes, you can still get it from Lowe's! Here's a post about it: http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-before-and-after-new-light.html

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  16. I love it!!!!! So beautiful! Great job!

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  17. Fantastic, and either it's the crossed eye syndrome I am suffering today pre-migraine, or those imperfections in your filling/sanding are obvious to you only because you know they are there. *wink*
    I especially love the trim on the edge,... and the humor.

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  18. Looks amazing! I love the contrast of the dark top and white legs. I've been dreaming about doing something similar in my house. Can't wait to see what you picked for chairs!

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  19. What a nice job on that table! I like the trim and the fact that you can take off the top to expand it! Lovely.

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  20. I love it. angela

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  21. You were smart to sand out those grooves. Our dining room table has grooves in it and I cannot even begin to describe the nastiness that has accumulated in there after 8 years of three little boys eating at that table. **SHUDDER** Every six months or so (I should do it more often I know, but I just can't bring myself to do it more often), I have to get out a putty knife and use cleaner to loosen all the little bits of food and scrape out all the little grooves. Feh. Pat yourself on the back a hundred times for smoothing out those grooves, girl!

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  22. I have that table but the larger version in white. I love it!! I just switched out our windsor style chairs for two long benches either side (we play a lot of table tennis and it was a pain having to move the chairs out of the way - the benches slide right under out of the way). Love your hack! Wouldn't have thought to do that at all.

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  23. This looks really great! But the best best part is how functional you made it - I LOVE that you can take the top off and extend your surface area! Perfect!

    Awesome Job -

    Emily

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  24. Excellent Sarah! It looks like it's been there all alon! love it!

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  25. That look amazing! I cant believe that is a ikea table.

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  26. I love it! Simple, but the planked top, gloss and contrasting bottom make it extra special! Great job!! :)

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  27. Wowzas IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! I love that stain color. And it's so shiny-- just dreamy. Great job. Gotta check out that stain color next time I head out. :)

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  28. It's amazing how the right table shape can make such an impact, but it so does! We've had round, square and rectangular. The right table for one house never seems to work in the next. lol. Oh well, we love change so it's all good. ENJOY!! It sure looks pretty, I love the dark top you decided on, it's so rich and pretty :)

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  29. Lovely! I love how you kept saying you really, really love it. And I can imagine how awesome you feel to have accomplished it! I love that feeling myself! You are my inspiration station!

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  30. This is amazing...beautiful!! I so admire your carpentry skills, not to mention staining and painting! I know you must be on top of the world to see your plan come to life. I love it!

    XO,
    Jane

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  31. This is EXACTLY the look I want for my table! Great job! Thanks so much for sharing : )

    xoxo Liz

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  32. This looks great Sarah! I have been wanting a different table. I think this is something we could do. I too picture a bench on one side of your new table. ;)

    I can't wait to see what you chose for your new light. We just recently replaced ours. The large ring at the top of our chandelier broke. ??? strange! I was kind of glad to have the chance to replace it. When the electricians installed it, they cut the chain and wire so short!!! (then left me the extra wire and chain on the counter, really?) 8.5 yrs it was eating at me. It was SO hard to find something I liked. Something that went ok with the rest of our lighting as it is an open floor plan. I just gave up and reordered the same one. This time, we hung it and Hubby made sure it was the right length.

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  33. Great choice! It came out really nice. Doesn't it seem like Ikea sometimes designs their furniture to be hacked?

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  34. it looks awesome!! Saw the reveal on Instagram! Love the kona stain. I used it to stain an outdated oak banister with the shiny finish on top and it has held up its color perfect! Great idea! Gotta love IKEA:)

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  35. Gorgeous table! I love it! Just curious how many chairs can fit?

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  36. pretty, pretty! we want a farmhouse style table in our dining room. we've been scouting Craigslist for some old barn wood boards to use for the top so we can reuse the frame and legs we already have!

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  37. It looks AWESOME!! So excited you found the perfect table for it. Ikea - seriously love that place.

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  38. I LOVE it too! What a great job. I'm glad the staining didn't take the first time. I think I like plan B more. And think about it, if you have messy crafts or something like that you can life the top off and have a workspace for messes!

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  39. You are so creative! I love how this table turned out! My boys do their homework at the kitchen table and they must press really hard with their pencils, because you can literally read words that have been "carved" into the table while they were doing homework. :) I'm really loving those black doors in your kitchen area. I've been thinking of painting mine black too. Great job!

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  40. Bummer that it didn't work out the first time, but oh my goodness it is fabulous! I can't wait to see the chairs. I'm planning on refinishing our table with the same look. Bought the chalk paint, but then it snowed today, so I have to put it off till after SNAP! Can't wait to meet you by the way!

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  41. I had that same exact problem with a round table that we had in our breakfast area. When we had it as a round table there wasn't enough room, but when we put the leaf int he table, which made it an oval, it worked much better. so we keep the leaf in it all the time now.

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  42. love, love, love! I actually would have assumed the round table would give you more room. What a surprise! XOXO Jill at www.missiondecorate.com

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  43. I love it! It looks beautiful. The dark top with the white legs is so pretty. This is one of my favorite projects that you have done. I have been following your blog for a few years now, every day I check in. You are seriously so cute, fun and hilarious. Your personality comes through in your writing and you always make me laugh. Thanks for making me smile. Your blog is one of my favorites! -Erin

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  44. GORGEOUS!! :) Genius idea! It looks so good in that space. My last two posts have been over new tables we've added to our home recently too. I need to stop buying tables now. haha

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  45. Gorgeous! I've been eyeing that table for a while and wanted to stain it--good to know it doesn't take stain :)

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  46. Pretty. So, in case you don't have a plan for your old table, I've got an idea for you. You'd mentioned that you had thought about having a coffee table/chairs in the old dining room turned library, right? (I thought you did?) You could take the top off the round table, whack the base height down considerably and reattach the top - bam! Coffee table. That's what we did with our old, beat up dining table a few years ago, and it has been awesome as a coffee table. One of the best projects we've ever done. Just a thought...

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  47. I never get tired of the imaginations you bloggers have, it's just so heartening to hear about all the industriousness remaking things, repurposing. No matter what the reason it's just great, for instance the comment above mine about your old kitchen table. Think "some" of us older gals have alot to learn from you much younger ones.
    You are some carpenter gal, so talented and brave. If I didn't have a hubs I'd never have the things he's built for me. I'm afraid I'd cut off a few fingers or a hand, not too graceful you could say, lol.
    Love how you painted the base of your table white with the dark top, gorgeous and the trim around the base, genius. Happy Days

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  48. The stain on the table top is gorgeous! Great job!

    Susan
    http://simplymodernhome.com/

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  49. Love it! I have this table in white and then I have the bigger version of this table in my dining room. I would love to know how it slides off to make the table bigger. Does the trim keep the table top in place so it doesn't move around? My table is getting pretty beat up from the kids and I would love to update it!!

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  50. ahhhh this is so crazy!! We're moving in a WEEK and I'm planning on ditching our little round table and I was trying to think of a way to DIY a table - I was totally thinking of getting a base from IKEA & putting wood over it!! Thanks for the tips - I'm sure I'll use them when I make ours :)

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  51. Shut the front door. It is bad a##. I love it. So beautiful. So clever. Now I am wondering what I should do to mine. My hubby will not be happy with you. Really beautiful. You must just stare at it.

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  52. I'm so glad you posted this!!! We just built a table using some Ana-White.com plans. It's a beautiful Farmhouse Table. But it's sitting in my garage, unfinished because I am STUCK on what finish to do. I LOVE the dark finish you did!! I love how yours turned out!! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  53. I absolutely LOVE your table Sarah!! It turned out so custom, and farmhouse, and fabulous, adore!

    xo, Tanya
    twelveOeight

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  54. Wow, you sound JUST like me!!!! A lot of my projects succumb to my lack of patience and I'm always looking for an easier way!! The table turned out absolutely gorgeous. What a great job.

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  55. I love your table! You did a great job...can't wait to see the chairs! My hubby & his daddy built us a farmhouse table last year...our plan a was to use left over prefinished hardwood & to stain it dark walnut. After trying every thing in the WORLD to get that finish off we realized it wasn't coming & we ended up doing wooden planks on top like yours! It's one of my very most favorite pieces in our home...especially since he and his daddy did it together!

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  56. Yet another beautiful project! You are so very impressive, Sarah! Your blog is a happy thing, even when days are not so happy otherwise. Thank you.

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  57. I know I'm late to the party, but I just had to comment. :) It's lovely, Sarah! You did a great job!

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  58. We have that same round table with the claw feet in our kitchen--it belonged to my great grandfather and it was our kitchen table in the house I grew up in.

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  59. absolutely gorgeous - you are an inspiration!

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  60. Perfect! I love that stain....

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  61. I sure hope you make it all the way down to this comment! I'm going to do a post today about a project I just finished that involved NOT sanding enough and have lots of nasty wood filler spots showing through the stain. I was reworking our IKEA TV table, actually! I love how your table turned out and I'm really thrilled with how our table looks now, too! IKEA provides very good blank canvases :) I'll send you the link to my post once it's live.

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  62. I was wondering how you use the leaf? Do you just take the top you made off?

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  63. Awesome!! Just love it!~~Angela

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  64. Beautiful! What brand is the gloss poly you used? I tried a rub on once and it wasn't very effective to get that really nice gloss that you've got here.

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  65. Beautiful result and so many great tips too! Thanks!!

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  66. Great Job. I love the dark stained top contrasting with the white bottom. It's a great look. You're making me think bad thoughts about my round kitchen table.

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  67. Brilliant! And gorgeous! I might even hate you just a little bit it's so pretty! I've been considering making some kitchen table changes as well, but I don't think I can build what I have in mind. You've got me thinking though!

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  68. It's really pretty! You did a great job!

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  69. Great transformation, the table looks awesome!

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  70. Looks fantastic! I think my favorite part is that you can take the top off and still add the extra leaf when you need. What an ingenious idea.

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  71. what a transformation!! i am so impressed. and inspired. and craving (!!) a table like this!!

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  72. you did such a great job with it- I love it! And the finish is perfect!

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  73. This is so pretty! I'm thinking about attempting something similar but don't have a nail gun. Do you think that wood glue, clamps and a staple gun would do the tick? Otherwise I have to ask hubby to break out the jig and that will take longer than I want to wait. ;)

    Also, and maybe I missed this entirely, how will the table be expandable going forward? Is the top you created designed to just lift off for when you want it bigger? (my brain just can't wrap around this today!)

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    1. You could! You'll just need to keep each set of boards clamped for a longer period of time -- so it will take you longer. :) The top lifts off and then the original table underneath expands.

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  74. I love this. I just did something simular with our table.

    Brandy,
    http://basicallybrandy.blogspot.com/

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  75. The table looks great!! I am soo glad I subscribed to your blog, you are just too cute!!

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  76. Great job...!! I love it.

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  77. Hello! I know this post is old, but I came across it today as I looked up advice for what to do with my kitchen table...I have a farmhouse style table (not authentic) that I am refinishing. The look is similar to the one in this project. I was looking for advice on how to fill in/seal the cracks in between the “planks” so that crumbs don’t get stuck so much in them. I see it looks like you did this with a filler...can you elaborate for me?? What kind of filler, what color, stainable? And how do you use it? I don’t want to lose the look of the planks on my table so I don’t want to HIDE the cracks, just make them easier to clean...if this makes sense? Thank you!

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  78. Hello! I know this post is old but I came across it as I researched ways to fill/seal the cracks in my kitchen table. I have a farmhouse style (not authentic) table that I am refinishing, similar in style to the one you did in this project. My question for you is, can you please elaborate on how you filled the cracks between the planks on your table top? It’s looks as though you used a filler...what kind, color? How did you use it? I want to keep the “look” of the planks, so I don’t want to hide them, just make them easier to clean. If this makes sense? Thank you!

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    1. Hello! I used a stainable filler -- any kind will do. I just filled with the putting knife shown. Also, when you sand the cracks will fill nicely with the sawdust. :)

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