DIY...Farmhouse Table Top

My mom wants her farmhouse table top to be 54" x 36" with a 6 inch overhang on all four sides. Easy, right? Wrong. I built the frame first...42" x 24". The top was going to be made using 1x8 planks. All I had to do was cut the right length and screw them into the frame...well...not exactly. A true 8" wide plank actually measures about 7 1/4 inches. No problem...5 boards would make the table 36" across. I forgot about the overhang though. With a 6 inch overhang, only an inch strip of the side boards would actually be attached to the frame. hmmmmm...probably not a good idea. I can picture my brother mooning my sister, running and laughing hysterically to get away, crashing into the table, and having the side planks fall off. OK. Bad idea. Back to the drawing board.

Trying to keep it simple, I made an executive decision to remove a board, making the table only 30" in width. Still enough room for 6 people, two on each side and one at each end. I cut the boards to 54", sanded until they were nice and smooth and rounded the corners and edges. Placing them on top of the frame, the table started to come together...

Yes...I know. By now, I had broken rules number 1, 2, and 3... The top was now going to be 54" x 30". The decrease in top size and the base already built would mean that the long sides would only have a 3 inch overhang stead of the 6 my mom wanted. Then there was the issue of old wood. I had used freshly planked, off the rack pine from my local hardware store. I had a plan to make this new wood old...and I was running out of time...

Rachel :)