Round farmhouse table build and a little life talk

Have you ever reached a point in your life where things just felt stagnant? Where things you once enjoyed just didn't fulfill you anymore? That makes two of us. Around the beginning of this year I had reached this point in my life... call it a quarter life crisis if you will, which is why I momentarily stopped blogging. I found it more burdening than enjoyable. I was never content with my content and I was almost ashamed at what I was producing. Perhaps I'm putting too much thought into it and being a perfectionist. Any blogger would be lying if they said they didn't want a large following of people to interact and build a community with. In due time...

Now, on to the reason you're probably here! I had been working on building a round farmhouse table from October 2016 to February 2017. When I had finally finished this beast, I was so tickled with the outcome. I've been rolling around the idea of doing a YouTube tutorial. Let me know if you're interested! If you follow me on instagram (@blushandbatting) then you might have seen on my instastories how I mix my own chalk paint! Super easy and much more affordable than name brand chalk paint.

Starting with the base, it is constructed with two 2x4's crossed and a 4x4 post in the center. The feet are also 2x4's with a 45 degree cut. The support pieces are 1 x3's. The base was actually pretty simple to build once I determined what sizes everything needed to be to achieve the desired table height. Everything was secured together with wood glue and wood screws. If I had a do over: I would use chunkier wood so the base looked more substantial. You can see I used a dark stain on the edges only so that later on when I distressed the peice the wood beneath would be dark. I also filled in all gaps and screw holes with spackle and wood putty.

Next, I mixed up some chalk paint using wet dry wall compound and latex paint. If you find that the mixture is too thick, add a splash of water. I enjoy the sand-ability of this combination verses sanding pure latex paint. I then grabbed my palm sander and distressed the edges.

The table top by far gave me the most trouble. My initial plan was to use a 2" thick cable spool as my top. I had the spool sanded, stained and ready to go! When I sat the spool on the base, the table ended up 1" taller than a standard table. I just could not get past it. It was awkward to sit at! So it was back to the drawing board. I decided to make my own! Using 1x4 boards, I glued, clamped and pocket holed boards together to create a square. I then picked up this handy router guide and used a router tiny section by tiny sention to cut out the top. This was a tideous experience and a bit frustrating. After getting the hang of it, it went by much faster. If I had to build another: I would construct a square table top! I then added a series of stringers under the table the opposite direction as the boards ran for added support.

Moving on to the fun part! Staining this top was such a fun experience. I played around with layering of stains. I first did 3 coats of Minwax weathered oak, then did one coat of Minwax classic grey, then finally used a light amount of Minwax white wash pickling snd immediately wiped off excess. Work in small sections and less is more! I finally sealed the table with 4 coats of Minwax polycrylic so the table did not get a yellow cast from polyurethane.

And here is the final product! I have since sold the hutch in the background and moved an old gym bench in front of the window. Soon I'd like to tackle an Ikea shelf hack for where the buffet sat. Stay tuned!