The Story of a Table and Some Chairs
One of my proudest achievements of 2010 was a custom dining room table and chairs that Rita and I made. Before we got married, it dawned on us that neither of us had a decent table for eating. She didn’t have one at all, and my table looked straight off That 70s Show and was about to fall apart. We looked in a few stores, but they were either cheap and we would want to replace them after a while (Target), or they were way out of our budget (Pottery Barn or antique stores). Rita suggested that we just make our own table and refurnish some old chairs. I liked the idea, but was intimidated at the reality of it. After all, she hadn’t married me yet, and if I really embarrassed myself and let her down, it might have been a deal breaker. Not really, but it crossed my mind.
Once we committed to the idea, we began looking in thrift stores and cheap antique shops for old chairs. We eventually collected 6 that we loved over the span of a few months, never paying over $20 per chair. Rita loved the old mismatched chair look, but wanted to stain them all the same, repad, and recover them. I took the seats off, worked up a huge sweat sanding them down to remove old finishes they had, cleaned and stained each one, and then applied a few coats of lacquer to set the stain. Rita bought some fabric and padding, “borrowed” a staple gun from work, and handled repadding them.
The table was a bit tougher. Rita wanted to get an old door to be the top of the table. I liked this idea, we had seen it before, and finding a door didn’t end up being too tough. We found the perfect old weathered exterior door at a Habitat for Humanity for only $10. It had holes for the door knob, dead bolt, peep hole, and even a mail slot! However, after months of research and realizing I was in over my head for actually building the table, I went to my pal and master craftsman Chris Hostetler. Most of my building experience involves lincoln logs. But this dude builds ridiculous stuff, so I knew that giving me some pointers on building a table would be piece of cake. He sold me some pre-made legs for $15 a piece and told me to go buy a few pine boards and meet him at his shop one morning with some sausage biscuits. He cut the pine into perfect pieces for the skirt, which goes around the table and helps connect the legs and strengthen the table. He showed my dad and me the basics for putting everything together, answered a thousand stupid questions from us, and sent us home with a mission.
That afternoon we put the table together. With Chris’s help, it came out super sturdy and strong. I stained the skirt and legs, but we decided to keep the door on top exactly how we bought it: weathered paint and fresh unstained sides and bottom. The final step was a tempered piece of glass to go on top. At around $130, this ended up being the most expensive part of the whole process.
I never imagined how much I would like the result of all our hard work. Knowing that I had a hand in building what we use every day is a good feeling, as well as knowing that what we have is one-of-a-kind. We didn’t skimp on quality, and I think that will pay off in the long run. I want to tell our grand kids one day about how I made the table they are eating on.
