We made some headway with Daniel & Adelle’s Farmhouse Table in the last week. We put in one solid days work on the weekend, as well as one weekday evening.
Our work was a bit all over the map, as there was four of us we decided it was best to go our separate directions and knock off different tasks. I will try to focus my posts on each specific topic, and today we’ll get down with how we made the table top.
The Table Plans
Bright and early we headed to the lumber yard, bought all the lumber & supplies, and rented a Zipcar van to get them all to the garage. We are using spruce for the legs & supports and gorgeous 2″ thick pine for the table and bench tops.
Lumber purchased (and no, we did not plan to bring it home on that scooter)
We inspected the tabletop boards, and decided on layout. We attached the tabletop boards together using the Kreg Pocket Hole system, 2 1/2″ screws and glue.
Deciding on board layoutDaniel marking the Kreg pocket hole locationsDaniel drilling the pocket holes (Dan is now a Kreg expert)Glue baby glue
We added support pieces to the underside of the table to try to curb any warping the table may want to do (we are not using breadboard pieces on the table, so we wanted some extra assurance that things would stay put.)
Adelle attaching supports under the table top
After that, we clamped on a guide (we used a level) and cut the ends flush on the tabletop with a circular saw. The poor saw had a bit of a tough time with the thick wood
Cutting off the ends of the table top so everything is perfect
Sanded, sanded and sanded some more. While two people were power sanding, the other two were alternately cutting the rest of the lumber we needed, and hand sanding.
Sanding, sanding, sanding…
After we could just sand no more, we decided to give the table top a coat of wood conditioner, then a coat of stain.
Applying wood conditionerOne coat of stain applied
We let the stain dry, and applied a second coat a few days later.
Two coats of stainClose up of the table top
The table top is now ready for poly, and we can move on to making its legs.
We are not going to assemble everything until we’ve moved it to Daniel & Adelle’s new place, as this huge table would never fit through doors assembled!
This weekend is a holiday weekend in Canada. I think we will be turning our attention to gardening, bbq’s and drinks on the deck. I fear we will not be very productive this weekend!
Any big plans for the weekend? BBQ’s, cottages, fireworks?
Our friends Daniel & Adelle are moving into a new place, and have asked us to help them build a table and benches for their dining space. We jumped at the opportunity. We love building things, we get to try some new techniques, and we get to help out friends. Win win situation.
They have been scouring the web for inspiration for the past few weeks, and decided on a modern farmhouse table and two benches. Their space is large, but narrow. We took a basic farmhouse table, stretched it out to be 8 feet in length, and shrunk the width. We also designed skinny long benches that will tuck under the table on either side. The table has similar dimensions to an 8 foot long banquet table, and will be able to comfortably seat 8-10 people.
Want to see the plans?
The Table Plans
My hand drawings just are not as pretty as CAD blueprints, but you’ve gotta work with whatcha got, right?!
Here’s the details:
The top is made from kiln dried pine 2×10’s, and the frame is made from spruce 4×4’s and 2×4’s. They decided to omit the “breadboard” ends seen on many farmhouse tables, and instead using three wider planks the length of the table.
The benches are similar to the table, except their tops are pine 2×12’s and the legs are 2×4’s.
The table and bench tops will be stained dark and polyurethaned, and the bases will be painted white.
We will be using the Kreg jig for quick and easy assembly.
The plan is for the four of us to work together and knock out as much as possible this Saturday. I foresee having someone measuring everything, another person cutting, one operating the drill, and one sanding. Hopefully we can knock out this big (but fairly simple) project in a day!
I will check back in next week with our progress, and a full tutorial & cut list when we’re finished. Wish us luck! Do you have any big projects planned for this weekend?
Its been six weekends of hard work, but we finally reached the final stretch of the printmakers media cabinet project.
This is where we left off. The cabinet was built and sanded and ready for finishing. If you missed it, check out part one, two, three, four, and five of the project.)
Cabinet built and ready for stain & hardware
Next up we took all the drawers outside, and set up a staining station, and gave everything a coat of wood conditioner.
The drawers & doors ready for wood conditionerDIY Tip: Put your cabinet on scrap wood to make it easier to stain the bottoms of the legs
After letting the wood conditioner sit for half an hour, we set out to staining. We had done many a test on stain, and came across a cool technique we wanted to try on the cabinet. It involved wetting the wood, then putting on oil based stain on top of the water, then quickly wiping away. It left an almost zebra like effect. We knew it was going to be a risk, but decided to give it a try none the less. It involved several hours staining, many a swear word, lots of teamwork, and a whole lot of second guessing.
Cabinet stained
We took two days to stain everything, the first day we did the cabinet and all the drawer & door fronts. The next day we stained the interior of the cabinet and the drawer boxes. For the interior, we didn’t bother doing our stain technique, and instead just used the stain traditionally.
After the stain dried, we applied several coats of polyurethane, sanding with a 320 grit sandpaper in between coats. We put a total of 5 coats on the top of the cabinet, and three everywhere else.
We use Oil-Modified Polyurethane with a foam brushDrawers & Doors mid-poly
Once the poly had dried, we set to installing hardware. The screws that came with our cup pulls were too short for the double thick drawers, and too long for the single thickness doors. So we headed to the hardware store and picked up longer screws for the drawers, and El Granto cut down the screws with the dremel for the doors.
Pulls attached to door fronts, and ready for hinge installation
After the handles were installed, we set to installing the hinges, stays and clasps for the doors.
Installing hinges on the doors
This involved a whole load of finikity work, lots of tiny screws, and stubby little screw drivers to fit into the cabinet.
Attaching hinges to the cabinetAttaching claps to keep the doors closed
Next up, we needed to add the lid stays to make sure the doors dont open too far. We wanted them to stop at 90 degrees.
Installing lid stays
We used a square to hold the door at 90 degrees and attached the stays with small screws.
Now we could set to putting all our electronics into the cabinet. To keep things neat, we installed power bars to underneith the back of the shelves. This keeps the cords off the ground, and makes it so that the cabinet can sit flush with the wall.
The view of underneath the shelf in the cabinet showing the power bar.
We routed all the cables and electronics as best we could through the cabinet, and its so much more organized than our old media center!
The electronics all tucked into the cabinet
Enough with the technical stuff, are you ready to see what it looks like all finished?
Hardware: ($130)
15 cup pulls – Lee Valley
6 inset hinges – Lee Valley
6 sets drawer slides – Lee Valley
3 lid stays – Lee Valley
3 cabinet clips – Lee Valley
8 1 1/2″ felt furniture pads – Dollarama
Trips to lumber yard -4
Trips to hardware stores -10+
Coats of polyurethane – 5 on the top, 3 everywhere else
Stain samples made before deciding on one – 11
Time involved – 6 weekends, 70-80 hours total
Number of electronics in the cabinet – 11
Number of screw-ups – 3
Number of arguments – 2
Total pieces of wood – 119
Screws – about 300
Injuries – 0!
Swear words – more than I’m proud of
I feel like we’ve been working on the media cabinet forever (check out part one, two, three, and four). The whole being a grown up and having to work 40 hours a week really gets in the way of project time. The end is however finally in sight. In fact, this will be my last update before the reveal.
Where we left off, we had made the drawer boxes for the upper and lower drawers. We then had to cut down the upper drawers as they were too tall. Oops.
Trimming the height of the drawer boxes.
We used our new table saw to cut everything down to size (setting the fence and ripping each side of the drawer until they were all the proper height.) After a quick sand, we installed the drawer slides and had operating upper drawers! (woot!)
All the drawer boxes installed (the drawers will have fronts on them to make them look all fancy like)
The way this cabinet is designed, the drawer boxes are fabricated and installed, then drawer fronts are attached to them (to cover the unsightly visible hardware and gaps.)
The center portion of the cabinet also gets fold down doors to hide all the electronics.
Now we needed to make the drawer fronts & doors. We headed to the garage and ripped down a bunch of lumber to size, then did all our length cuts on the miter saw.
All the wood cut and ready to assemble
The larger doors & drawers are actually made up of three pieces attached together so that they look like two small drawers and a spacer. (as its supposed to be a printmakers cabinet that looks like it has lots of little drawers.) To attach them together, we used pocket holes and screws.
Assembling the drawer fronts using the pocket hole system. (also note the use of a square to keep everything all nice and straight & square.)
After everything was assembled I spent the afternoon filling and sanding everything.
The three small drawer fronts ready to goOne of the large drawer fronts. You can see how its made up of three different pieces.
Then we used our Ikea Fixa drill template to mark where we needed to drill holes for all the handles. We have gotten so much use out of that darn template. Worth every penny.
Marking holes for the cabinet hardwareDrilling the cabinet hardware holes
Next up we needed to install the fronts. The plans call for a very ingenious way to do this. (Sorry for the lack of pictures, this was an all hands on deck kind of task.) Essentially you space the drawer fronts perfectly in the cabinet, and attach it temporally with two screws through the cabinet hardware holes.
Temporary screws through the hardware holes holding the drawer front in place until it can be attached from inside the drawer
Then you take the drawer out, and attach the front permanently by putting a few screws through from the inside of the drawer.
Attaching the drawer fronts with some screws inside the drawer
Then you can remove the temporary screws from the hardware holes, and drill all the way through for the hardware. We continued on and attached all the drawer fronts this way. (Note, we didn’t attach the fold down doors, as we didn’t want to do that until everything was stained & finished.)
Now the whole cabinet is built, sanded and ready for finishing.
Cabinet built and ready for stain & hardware
Ta da! All that’s left is stain, poly & hardware! Stay tuned for (hopefully) the big reveal next week.
In my quest for a stain for the media cabinet, I have about driven myself nuts with options. I have tried a stack of stain cans, jars full of “custom stain mixes” and even shoe polish. I am desperate, and indecisive. I don’t know why I am having such an issue with making my mind up, I guess we’ve just put a TON of work into the cabinet, and I don’t want to screw it up. I want it to be PERFECT. (Not that I am anal retentive or anything…) I think I have come up with a stain that I am happy with (more on that next week) but I wanted to show you one of the unorthodox options I was working with that turned out pretty cool.
Meet burnt wood
Yep, I torched that wood with a propane torch. Turned out kinda neat, right? Thats not stain at all, just raw pine that’s been torched. The theory on it is that you lightly flame the wood, and bring out the remaining sap. The sap, which is all sugary (maple syrup anyone?) burns when the flame hits it much like the top of a crème brûlée. You have to be very gentle with it, or else you’ll be left with firewood. The trick is to use even strokes and to not stop and start on the wood. Pretty much exactly like spray painting.
Its a cool finish, and something we may use around the house, but I think its a bit too much for the whole media cabinet. I thought it might end up looking like a country & western bar up in here. As much as I like cowboys, it was a bit much for our living room.
Ever used any nontraditional wood finishing methods? Ever torched any wood?
Cabinet drawers, not underpants. Get your head out of the gutter.
A big part of our Printmakers Media Cabinet project is the 6 storage drawers to hold remotes, and our DVD’s & video games. The cabinet has three shallow drawers at the top (for the remotes), and then three deep drawers at the bottom. Where we last left off was that we had built the small drawers.
Drawer Box. These skinny drawers go at the top of the cabinet to hold small things such as remotes and magazines
Last weekend we cut some hardboard bottoms for the drawers and attached them with brad nails.
Attaching drawer bottomsCompleted drawer
We gave the drawers a final sand, and headed inside to install the drawer slides. At this point in time the whole cabinet build had went very smoothly. No major hiccups, everything was great. Usually every project has it caveat. Its one pain in the ass task, or something liable to go wrong. Well we hit that with the drawers. We had tested the size of the drawers to make sure the drawer slides would fit on either side of the drawer into the hole in the cabinet. What we did NOT take in to account was that we purchased regular old kitchen drawer slides, which require at least 1/2″ in clearance in the height of the drawer to be able to take the drawer in and out. (The drawer slide has two rollers, and to take the drawer in or out you have to lift the drawer roller over the cabinet roller, thus the 1/2″ height clearance requirement. Our drawer boxes were 2 3/4″ tall and our hole in the cabinet is only 3″ high. So when you tried to put the drawer in, the drawer box hit the frame of the cabinet. Oops.
There were three options on what we could do to fix things.
Option A.)
Head back to Lee Valley and return our traditional drawer slides and buy the fully extending expensive slides. The reason we didn’t buy the fancypants full extending slides to begin with was that they were FOUR TIMES THE PRICE of the regular ones. If it was my kitchen and drawers that I would open and close several times a day, I would have went with the expensive ones. However, for a media cabinet that will maybe get used a few times a week, I was not ready to invest $120 in drawer slides when I could have something that worked for $30…. So I wasn’t too keen to this option.
Option B.)
Rebuild the drawer boxes shorter. This would mean essentially tossing out the drawer boxes we had made and making new smaller ones. A decent option, still cheaper than buying new slides, but it meant another trip to the lumber yard and a few hours work.
Option C.)
Cut the drawers down 3/8″ in height. This would involve no cost, but the potential for disaster was huge. (Our biggest worry was hitting a pocket hole screw with the saw blade, ouch.)
While we debated on what to do with the small drawers, we decided to build the large drawers (albeit to a shorter height than the plans said) to make sure that the drawer slides would in fact work. Cause I would be really pissed if I rebuilt the small drawers only to find that it still didnt work.
So we cut, sanded, drilled, clamped and screwed the big drawer boxes, and added drawer bottoms.
Assembling large drawer boxes
Then we gave a shot at installing the drawer slides. I was a wee bit worried at this point, and even watched a YouTube video on installing drawer slides. (Yep, that happened.) However it was one of those worry for nothing tasks. It was easy as pie to install. We had measured everything properly, the drawer slides fit in perfectly, and after a mere 20 minutes everything was installed correctly and moving without problems.
Bottom Drawers InstalledHoly crap, they actually work
The drawers still need their drawer fronts (which will cover up all the hardware and gaps etc.) But hey, it’s actually starting to look like a cabinet! Yay us!
So I bet you’re wondering what we decided to do with those small (but too tall) drawers?
The Printmakers media cabinet project is coming along (if you’ve missed it, check out part one, two and three)
We checked a few things off the list last weekend. First up, we headed down to Lee Valley Tools to pick up the hardware. I had pre-scouted online but wanted to go to the showroom to take a look at everything in person. Turns out, we walked out of the store with the exact things I had picked out online! (not that I minded wandering the isles full of awesome tools and hardware at Lee Valley…)
Here’s what we bought:
Inset HingesCup PullsDoor Stays
We also picked up standard drawer slides (350mm) and some door latches. The purchase set us back $135 but it was actually considerably less than I was expecting. I will give you a breakdown of all the fees once the cabinet is finished.
On the same day as our hardware adventure, we also trekked out to the lumber yard and picked up the wood for our interior shelves and drawer boxes.
We got to work installing the shelves. They are inset into the frame, so we were trusting our fabrication to have everything go in perfectly. I was expecting disaster, but it went smoother than expected. It was a tight fit, but with some persuasive hammering we were able to get everything in and screwed into the frame using pocket holes. It needs a good sand, but overall we are pleased with how its shaping up.
Media Cabinet with Shelves Installed
We also got started on the drawer boxes. We cut the sides and fronts of the boxes to length, pre-drilled pocket holes, then assembled using our corner clamps and a square to ensure the boxes were perfectly square. (Un-square boxes will cause us a ton of headache when we try to install them.)
Assembling the Drawer Boxes using corner clamps and a square
The assembly of the drawer boxes went fairly swiftly and smoothly. Now they’re ready for the drawer bottoms and then we can install them (which I am super stoked about!)
The Drawer Boxes ready for drawer bottomsDrawer Box. These skinny drawers go at the top of the cabinet to hold small things such as remotes
We also spent a good chunk of time trying out more staining options. I am still not in love with anything, but am getting closer.
Three stain options using Varathane “Kona” stain. I love the one on the left, but have been unable to reproduce it
I think this is the most indecisive I have been about anything in the house. I have a wildcard option that I am going to try out this week, and I will let you know how it goes (that is if I don’t light the house on fire while trying it.)
Hopefully this weekend we can install some drawers and get some staining done!
I know exactly what I want, but I cant find it. Isn’t that infuriating?
I heart the look of the reclaimed pine from Restoration Hardware. Its a grey undertoned warm finish that looks old, but not dirty. (I hate how some reclaimed wood looks so dirt ridden that you’d never want to have it in your house.)
Restoration Hardware Antiqued Pine Finish
I want to find a stain that will turn my raw pine media cabinet into a fantastically aged awesomesauce masterpiece (yeah I know I got a bit carried away with my adjectives there). I went on a quest for stain. A quest for stain is not nearly as fun as you’d expect a quest to be. There was no ring and not even one Hobbit.
Left: One coat of “Kristen Mix”. Middle: Weathered Oak Right: 2 Coats “Kristen Mix”
Here’s the list of contenders:
First up, Minwax Classic Grey. Conclusion: Too flat and weirdly unnatural.
Next stop, one coat of Classic Grey and one coat of Early American. Conclusion: Too dark, the grey got lost entirely, and it ended up much too red.
Thirdly, Minwax Weathered Oak. Conclusion: I had high hopes for this fellow, as the swatch online looked just like the RH finish. Its a new stain, so none of my hardware stores carried it. I had to special order it, and waited with bated breath for my miracle finish. Conclusion: Looks exactly like Classic Grey… it is lacking the warmth I wanted.
Fourth try, six parts of Classic Grey mixed with one part of Early American. aka “Kristen Mix” Conclusion: One coat equals the closest result yet, it’s still a bit warm/orangey, but at least has the grey tones I’m looking for. Two coats got muddy and grey again, and lost the bit of contrast one coat had.
Left: One coat Classic Grey + One coat Early American, Middle: one coat “Kristen Mix”, Right: two coats “Kristen Mix”
I now need to decide if one coat of “Kristen Mix” is good enough, or if I should continue on my search. I would still like a bit deeper tone in the knots, cracks etc.
The other option I am considering is doing the one coat of my “Kristen Mix” then some Annie Sloan Dark Wax. I think it will give me the darker hue I am looking for, especially in the cracks and crevices. However, Toronto has yet to get a Annie Sloan retailer. Our closet stop is Bracebridge or St. Thomas Ontario. Both of which are a bit far away for a girl without a car.
Anyone used Annie Sloan’s Dark Wax? If so, is it the magical remedy to my stain woes? How about shoe polish? Yeah, I know it sounds a bit cray cray, but swear I remember Norm using it on an episode of This Old House.
How was your Easter/Passover weekend? We enjoyed some well deserved good weather, which meant many a good dog walk as well as a lovely Easter dinner and ruckus Yahtzee game with the family.
We also used the long weekend to get a bit more work done on our media cabinet project.
We started with the cabinet frame assembly, and quickly discovered that it would be near impossible to hold everything straight and square while screwing it all together without more hands or some sort of corner clamps. (Of course El Granto said we needed the clamps from the onset, but eager me said we should try without them. Kristen fail.) The problem with pocket holes is that you have everything lined up, and start to screw everything together and at the last second it all goes to hell. The last bit of the screw tightening somehow pulls it all out of whack. Swearing ensues.
So we headed to the hardware store, and picked up two Irwin corner clamps. Best $25 spent, ever.
3″ Irwin corner clamps
We then were able to pretty quickly assemble the rest of the cabinet frame. We were a little assembly machine, clamping, gluing and screwing.
Corner clamps in action holding everything in placeEl Granto assembling the frame using pocket holes and self tapping screws
After a couple hours work we had the front and back frame built. (The front is more complicated as there is the whole exposed framework for the drawers and doors.)
The frame backThe frame front. I really need to touch up that wall…Yay for dogs scratching your walls trying to get a ball.Detail shot of one of the (many) joints made perfect by the corner clamps
The next day we set to attaching the front to the back of the frame. According to the directions, we should have attached the sides before attaching everything, but of course we didn’t have the wood for the sides and impatient Kristen wanted to go ahead anyways. (It’s OK, it turned out fine!)
We used the corner clamps again to make sure everything stayed where it was supposed to be, then we screwed everything together from inside.
*TIP* The Kreg jig comes with an extra long drill driver. It normally works perfectly, however when we were trying to assemble the cabinet it was too long, and made it so the drill was not able to fit inside the cabinet. Oops. So we headed to the hardware store and picked up a mid sized #2 driver. This will come in super handy as the rest of the cabinet installation will be done from inside the cabinet!
Inside view of how the sides attached to the front and back of the frameThe sides being attached to the front and back of the frame
After almost 100 pocket holes and screws, this is our completed frame!
Cabinet frame assembledframe frame frame
Starting to look like a cabinet now right? Remember this Restoration Hardware cabinet is our inspiration.
Restoration Hardware Printmakers Media Cabinet
The frame that we built will actually be exposed (you can see it in the RH version).
The front still needs drawers and doors, and of course the top and sides, but we’re actually over half way done! Woot.
Are you working on any big projects? Ever built a cabinet?
