Make Your Own Designer Dining-table

I have a Designer-taste, I admit. I also have a lot of expensive Designer-magazines that give me hundreds of ideas. Unfortunately I don't have Designer-money and so to get my house looking the part I have to be creative. So when we needed a new dining-table that was going to look very expensive (but was not) I got an idea, seen in church. An altar! So keep this design in mind when you decide to make this table. The beauty is in its simple design, and of course designers know this too, when designing stuff. So when I saw this table advertised somewhere for $2000 I decided we could easily make this ourselves.

First you need a trip to the local saw-mill. Here you see slabs of timber, piled up to dry. They still have the natural shape of the tree, most of the time. We choose a fairly dry slab of 8 cm or 80mm thick. This is chunky. I don't know how big you'll want to make your table of course, so I'll tell you my own measurements. The top is 70 cm or 700mm x 1.63 meters or 1630mm. There are two "legs" only, also squarish : 53cm or 530mm x 72cm or 720mm. So you'll have three parts. If you don't want a rectangular top, you might want to keep the sides of the top natural-looking like a tree and go for an even more unique look.

At this stage the wood doesn't look nice; probably grey-ish. It also might have knots in it. Don't worry, I guarantee you it is going to look great.

By now you'll have 3 pieces. Sand the pieces as much as you can; either with a sander or sanding-paper. I wouldn't take the knots out or any cracks; personally I like the unique look of timber. Decide what is going to be the top-side of the top. Turn this slab around. Now comes a bit of a tricky part, and requires a bit of very careful measuring. You'll have to use the chisel to take out 2 cm or 20mm of the bottom of the table-top and the "leg" must fit in there, and very precisely. If it is too narrow the leg won't fit, and if it is too large your table will wobble.It must also be in exactly the right spot. My table is "chiseled out "about 30cm or 300mm, measured from the end-sides of the top, and 2 cm or 20mm deep.

Before placing the "legs" in the top put a bit of builders glue in. Place the legs in these holes and there is your table! A couple of layers of good quality clear varnish and you'll see what I mean: a real unique "designer table". The varnish will lift up all the beautiful colors inside the wood, and over time it will look even better. Also: you can wipe it clean easily when it is varnished.

Since we bought slightly wet timber, that was still shrinking and doing its natural thing,we did put metal brackets on the inside, between the top and the leg. Also, I would advise you to make the table, especially the top a bit larger than we have . It will seat 4 people though, but just. All this looks very complicated, but it really is not and we spend only $180 on timber. I have had several offers from people to buy it, but I love it too much now. Well, happy hobby-ing from me!