By day, internet marketing nerd, by night, furniture designer and re-finisher. Like most moms, I am a woman that wears many hats and it can be hard to fit in hobbies that I like between shopping trips, school track meets, gymnastics, and a full time marketing job. But, on my last visit to the boonies, (aka, my in-laws neck of the woods – Northern Arizona), I was finally able to realize a furniture design idea I had been thinking about for years. I have wanted a new dining room table for a long time. The one we have was old, and my design aesthetic has moved towards the modern side since then. I wanted to create my own modern/rustic dining room table using Juniper wood. With the help of my Father in law, we were able to chop down an old Juniper tree, and create my table masterpiece. It all began with an old tree.
My Father in law happens to own his own lumber mill, so I wouldn’t exactly call this a do it yourself job, but a cool project anyway. With his help we were able to transport the tree to his mill, where we milled it into several 6 inch thick slabs.
We cut the rough edges off all slabs except the ones facing the outside, then with the help of some serious wood glue and heavy duty clamps we were able to seamlessly glue 3 slabs together. The joints had to be reinforced underneath the table top with screws and metal slats. Then we had to move the 300+lbs table top into a truck and back to our home, 3 hours away.
When I got it home.. the fun part began! I pulled out my belt sander and started sanding away. I learned a cool trick for covering the cracks between the slabs and making it look like one solid chunk of wood. You take some Elmer’s wood glue, and mix it with some sawdust from the sanding process. Then fill in the cracks with the mixture. Sand it down, and it is a perfect color match for your table – SEAMLESS!
We went online and found some cool stainless steel legs from a restaurant supply company. Here is a picture of the finished project:
I am so happy with the way it turned out. What do you think?
