DIY Tutorial - Rustic Dining Table with Hairpin Legs

As part of my New Year's resolutions (yep, I'm still on about those in mid-January), I've decided to challenge myself to do or try at least one thing each month which is totally new to write about on the blog.

When I say trying something new, I don't mean a new shade of lipstick or cleanser, I mean something which I have never tried before and pushes me outside of my comfort zone. Suggestions welcome!

The January challenge was inspired in part by our house move, and in part by my other half, Andrew. When we moved into the new place we found ourselves with two dining areas - one in the lounge and one in the kitchen - but only one table which actually functioned in the space. Our little IKEA four-seater which was sufficient in the old house was totally drowning in its new space, and bordering on looking a little ridiculous.

After several weeks of looking at uninspiring, overpriced tables online, Andrew suggested we make our own - and that's what we did!

So if you'd like to learn how to build your own rustic wood dining table with hairpin legs, read on...

You will need:

• Wood - for the tabletop we used four 1.8m lengths of redwood, 22cm wide and 5cm deep. To make the frame around the tabletop we again used redwood which measured 7cm wide and 4.5cm deep. You will need six lengths of this wood, two at 1.8m and four at 74cm. We bought all of our wood at Lawsons Timber just behind ASDA in Fenham.
• Legs - we used heavy duty three-pin legs from The Hairpin Leg Company. Make no mistake, all of that wood is heavy and you will need the heavy duty legs. Made from 12mm thick steel, we opted for the bare legs as we were spraying the bottom third of the legs copper.
• Fixings - Wood screws (you will need at least 100 screws in varying lengths suitable for the thickness of the wood you opt for), 24 x fixit blocks, 4 x corner braces
• Tools - Electric drill with countersink bit and wood drill bits, electric screwdriver, sandpaper, masking tape.
• Paints and dyes - If you have opted for the bare hairpin legs you will need something to spray them with to ensure they don't rust or oxidise. We used Painter's Touch Craft Enamel in Copper on the bottom section of the legs, and sealed the legs with Wilko Clear Lacquer Spray. To dye our wood we used Colron Wood Dye in the shade Indian Rosewood. You will need a sponge or lint-free cloth to apply the dye.

Step one: Mark out your space

It's really difficult to imagine how big a piece of furniture will need to be in order to comfortably fill the space available. To ensure our table would fit in the room, we marked out the area with masking tape on the carpet. We're planning on getting a sideboard in the near future, so we also marked out the space which the sideboard will sit in, to ensure all of the furniture would work together.

Step two: Prepare your materials

Ensure you know where all of your materials and tools are. There's nothing worse than getting half way through a project and having to down tools to nip to B&Q for some sandpaper. Get everything out and in one place.

Recruit a small furry 'helper' for the day (optional).

Step three: spray your table legs

We decided to spray the bottom five inches of our table legs a copper colour to fit with the theme of our lounge. We measured the legs and marked off a section of the leg above where we wanted to paint so that the paint wouldn't transfer on to the upper part of the legs.

Once you've masked off all of the legs, spray the selected area in your chosen colour. Make sure you properly ventilate the room if you're using spray paint indoors.

Step four: prepare your table top

Whilst you're waiting for the legs to dry, move on to preparing the top of your table.

Lay out your four wide pieces of timber and check both sides. Choose which side you prefer and lay that side facing downwards. The four sides facing the floor will make your table top, and you will work on the underside of the table.

Take the two 1.8m thinner pieces of wood and lay them along the edges of the table top.

The timber yard didn't have time to cut the four pieces we needed to sit width-ways on the table top, so we had to mark and cut them ourselves.

It was OK though as we had Harvey to supervise.

We used a circular saw to do this.

Place the remaining pieces of wood on the table top and sand down any edges to ensure a tight fit. Once you're happy that the wood 'frame' sits together, attach the corner brackets to the outer four corners using an electric screwdriver.

Step five: finish the legs

By this point, the copper spray should be fully dry. Seal the legs with the clear acrylic spray and leave to dry once again.

Step six: finish the frame

Using an electric drill and a countersink drill bit, drill holes into the two middle 'brace' pieces of the wood frame.

Screw the brace pieces into place using the holes you have just created with the drill.

To ensure the frame is fully attached to the table top, place fixit blocks around the frame.

Screw the fixit blocks into place with an electric screwdriver.

This is how the underside of the table should now look.

Step seven: attach the legs

The legs should now be fully dried. Attach them to the table top inside of the frame. Do not screw them directly onto the frame as this will make your table too tall.

Step eight: dye the wood

Once you've attached the legs, flip your table the right way up. IT WILL BE HEAVY. Get someone to help you pick the table up and avoid putting too much weight on to the legs until all four can bear the weight at once.

Sand down the edges of your table to ensure it is smooth. Clean the wood with a small amount of white spirit to get rid of any sawdust or residue. Apply a layer of the dye with a lint-free cloth or sponge.

Allow the first layer to fully dry before applying another. We wanted to achieve a deep, rich colour so we applied four layers of the dye before we were happy with the colour of the wood.

Voila! This is our finished table! We are going to replace the chairs with four Eames style chairs and build a bench in time, but for now we're making do with these chairs from IKEA.

We're thrilled with how the table came out. We have a sturdy, solid piece of wood furniture for a fraction of the price it would have cost to purchase one. The hairpin legs are probably my favourite part of the table, they are so sturdy and the copper 'dip dye' ties the table in to the rest of the decor in the room so perfectly.

Building our own table was definitely a first for me, but I really enjoyed making something with my own two hands and feel a massive sense of achievement every time I look at it!

Will you be giving this DIY a go?

Emily xo