Hello, again. I'd like you to meet my table.

One whole year.  Life just took over. I have huge respect for bloggers that can keep it all together. I am not one of them.  So I'm going to take things slower this year and see what happens.

A year in review.
Hubby still has a job-- God bless his employer! Two oldest boys are in school all day now, which just leaves Busy Bee and me at home. Why don't I have more time? Can't figure this one out.

Wanna see my huge project last year? Heard of Ana White? I'm in love with her site and ideas. We have been in our house for 5 years and my dining room was begging for a large table to replace the hand-me down we got our second year of marriage. While it had 3 leaves, it was old, chipped and water stained. I toyed with refinishing it but I really didn't like the shape of the table legs anyway.  Then I found Ana White's Triple Pedestal Farm House Table. Instant love. Sold my table for $20 (yep, that's all I could get for it) and told my hubby that I was going to build a table.  He bought me the wood needed for my b-day.  Then he left the project to me.

After receiving major help from my father and father-in-law, here's what we created. Ain't she a beauty.

 There was no way I was going to try to cut out 28 matching arches for the leg braces... not happening. Father-in-law suggested 2x4's at an angle-- and they look great! So much easier. The edge was supposed to have a recessed 1x2 around it, but that created a ledge that I was just not willing to clean-- I got young kids, 'member? I also wanted to be able attach my pasta press and wheat grinder to the table top (since my kitchen counters are too thick) so my father suggested cutting the edges at each end like shown above.

 The original plans called for a 9 ft bench on each side.  I chose to do chairs and 2 benches just over 4 feet instead. I can put them both on one side or one on each side now.  I also made my benches with cheaper 2x4 instead of 2x6 feet. To make them easier I just used a solid plank of wood instead of piecing the tops together to match the table.

See that beautiful knot.  I couldn't fill that with wood filler, but I didn't want it to pack with food either. I took a tiny paint brush to get some stain down inside and then used Glossy Accents to fill it in the crack. It sanded down beautiful and clear. Now I can still see those beautiful knots!

Now Ana's plans say $125 was the cost to build her table. The wood cost about that much for me. That didn't include the screws, wood glue, stain, and polyurethane coating. But including the benches I was about $200 for everything (minus the new tools needed) which is much cheaper than what I could have bought a new 9 foot table for.  It also didn't take me 10 hours like it took Ashley over at Shanty-2-Chic. More like 2 months! I probably spent 10 hours just sanding. The top was the most time consuming because I didn't want any cracks or seams for food to get stuck in. It was all worth it. I love my beauty. Thanks Ana!

ETA: How we attached the angle braces on the pedestals-
From longest tip to tip they measure about 9". My father-in-law drilled three 1/2" holes about a 1/2" or so deep.  After pre-drilling for the screws, we fastened them on using 3 inch screws for the top and bottom holes and the middle hole got two 6 inch screws (they were LONG!). Then we cut a 1/2" dowel to create some wood plugs. The middle plug was cut straight on both sides, but the top and bottom ones were cut with one side at an angle-- less sanding. I applied a little glue and tapped them into place. Then I sanded them flush. Not liking the space some of them had I used some stainable wood filler around the plugs (except for the braces on the underside of the table-- 'cuz who is going to look there?) and re-sanded.  Here's a picture and a super-nifty drawing ;)

Yikes! Look at the dust already! Oh, on the benches we just used one hole and screw in the middle.