DIY farmhouse dining table

Posted on January 7, 2017 by

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After finally getting the courage to sand down our orange-y maple tabletop in the summer, I realized it wasn’t quite right.

The pale wood showed every streak of marker (thanks, kids) and it started feeling a little . . . undone. 

When I really thought about it, I knew I wanted a planked barn-board table. So what was the easiest, least expensive way to get the look of barn boards? Faking it.

 It was time to implement Plan B: reversing the two-tone look by painting the base of the table (and chairs) white, and darkening the tabletop. Not just darkening it with stain, though — burning it.

I gave the tabletop another light sand to get rid of the few months of marker scribbles, pencil marks and water rings. 
Then I got out my big metal ruler and a pencil and started peering very closely at the wood. I could just barely make out the lines where the boards were smoothed, fit together to make the tabletop. Sometimes there was only a hint of it, where a grain pattern would stop suddenly. I drew straight pencil lines down each of these lines until I’d found the original planks of the table. 
Then I got out my pyrography tool and slowly burned thick, dark lines — deep enough that you could feel the groove between each board.

It took a couple of hours to burn all of the lines and then I started burning random marks to distress the wood — little dents, tiny holes, scrapes and scars. I darkened the burn between some of the planks to make the cracks wider and ‘dirtier,’ and traced some of the grain patterns to highlight them. Then I grabbed a fork and a hammer and started banging it up in different ways.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

Next it was time to stain …

Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home … 

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Category: DIY, Fusion Mineral Paint, Woodworking

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I’m Heather Laura Clarke. I’m a writer living in beautiful Nova Scotia, I have a 12-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter, I married my high school sweetheart, and this is the story of my handmade life.

I have depression and anxiety, and I fight like hell every day to keep them from taking over my life. Creating things helps.

Whether I’m writing novels, decorating a room, busting out my power tools to build furniture, getting muddy in the pottery studio, sewing clothes, or cross-stitching a swear word, I’m all about using my creativity to craft a life I love.

I’ve been writing this blog since 2009, so if you dig deep into the archives, you’ll meet a bright-eyed 25-year-old newlywed who was basically obsessed with having kids, buying a cozy house, and supporting herself full-time with her writing. (Spoiler alert: she got exactly what she wanted.)

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© Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life, 2009-2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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