My Harvest Table

Happy Sunday!  I am really excited to post these pictures of my dining room table.  After my grandparents passed away a few years ago, I started hosting Thanksgiving.  My first year hosting it we used folding tables and nice tablecloths but I wanted a table that could fit a lot of people.  I have always loved old farm tables that are in antique stores and at one point last year I almost bought one.  I told my dad about it and he said we should build it.  So we did! :)  My husband also helped and we built it last October. We had our first Thanksgiving on it last year and I am looking forward to our second Thanksgiving with this table.  It will seat 12-14 people.  Here is a close up of the table so that you can see the slats.

Below is a picture of my dad, my neighbor, my husband and I getting the benches ready a few days before Thanksgiving last year.  I was being difficult because I insisted on using bolts that were galvanized instead of finished because I wanted to paint the ends black so that you wouldn't see all of these bright shiny silver bolts! Galvanized bolts are really hard to put the nuts on so it took a long time to put together. 

Below are a few pictures of the table as we worked on it.  I painted it with a flat black paint mixed with a glaze.  Then I sanded it to give it an aged look. Then I sealed it with a very very low sheen polyurethane. 

And the last picture below is the ladder that my husband and I made from old barn wood to hang above the table.  I wound grapevine and small lights around the ladder and hung it above the table.  Then we had a guy we know come in and take out the ceiling fan and install three individual lights that hang down through the ladder. 

I don't know if you can tell from the first picture (click to make it larger) but my whole dining room is done in old barn wood.  My husband and I hung that many years ago.  His grandparents tore down their old family barn and I got ALOT of the wood! :)  I have used it for many things around the house and I knew the wood would make the perfect wall covering.  Thank you so much for viewing this LOOOONG post.  This table means a lot to me and my family and I look forward to sitting at it again with everyone this Thanksgiving.  Have a great day!