A New Farmhouse Coffee Table

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The other day my friend texted me this:

My friend:  Where did you get your coffee table? It’s just what I’ve been looking for!

My reply:  Actually I built it.  Sorry I know that isn’t helpful

My friend:  Of course you did.

Ha!  DIY friends, does this happen to you? It’s actually kind of an awesome feeling.  Knowing that your friends are admiring your furniture so much they want it too, when it’s something you BUILT!!

So I built a new farmhouse coffee table.  It’s actually been like six weeks but I am producing projects faster than I can blog about them.  Because I’m lazy about blogging, let’s face it.  I’d rather be sawing and sanding than doing all the technical stuff of creating a blog post.

I got the plans off Ana-White.com again.  It’s so easy to just go to her site and get exactly what you want because she has so many options.  I just wanted something simple that would somewhat match the farmhouse table but not completely.  So I’m not going to be listing plans here, just go to her site to get the exact plans.  I didn’t change anything.

However, that being said I did have some challenges with this one.  And it’s mostly because of 2x2s.  If you buy the cheap-o 2x2s at the Home Improvement store, they WILL suck.  They will be warped and twisted and not flat and straight.  That being said, this is what I recommend instead.  Either spend the extra money on the really nice 2x2s (which will probably cost 4x as much) or buy 2x4s or larger and rip them to size using a table saw.  I STILL don’t have a table saw (I know, right?!  That’ll be Christmas) so I would opt for the pricey ones.  For now.

I painted it with DecoArt Chalky Finish in Everlasting, which is my favorite because, well…it just is.  Then I finished it with the DecoArt Soft Touch Varnish which is like butter.  I didn’t distress it because I have gotten lazy and just wanted it painted.  I’m sure it will naturally distress over time.

One last tip:  Make sure none of your wide width pieces have cracks in the wood.  I have no idea how I overlooked this, I think I was in a hurry because shopping + kids = death to all.  But the base shelf has a large “character adding” crack in it.  Hopefully it still holds up over time.

I love this coffee table though.  When I first built it, I wasn’t sure if I loved it because of all the issues I ran into.  But once it was in my house, I decided I loved it.  It was much more substantial than my old industrial style one and fits the decor of this house more.  And it is sturdy, man.  Heavy.  My kids can jump off it all day and never do a thing to it.