Thanksgiving is a special time of year at the Dean house because it is the one holiday that we host. Sitting around the table with our family is something that we look forward to and for years we would spend Thanksgiving morning trying to figure out our table arrangement. Each time we would come up with a different combination of folding tables and chairs to seat everyone. When we moved into our new house we decided it was time to get a new dining room table, but we couldn’t find exactly what we wanted so we decided to have one custom built. Luckily for us our friend Ken Trainor is quite skilled and happily agreed to help us construct our new dining room table.
We knew from the start that we wanted a harvest table so our 1st step was deciding the size, how many people it would seat, the type of wood, the base style and the finish. Our immediate family consists of 14 people so we designed a 10′ x 5′ table that could accommodate everyone. Next we looked at several types of wood and finish samples and after much discussion we selected white oak with an espresso finish. With all of the important decisions made Ken was able to put together a drawing and send it off to the mill shop to have the pieces fabricated.
The mill shop did a great job preparing the wood for us. All of the pieces were delivered on a Monday morning and were cut to size, the corners were broke and all pieces were sanded. We spent 3 nights in our garage applying the stain and on Thursday we brought the wood into our house and let it adjust to the temperature in preparation for a Friday night build.
On Friday night after work, Ken and his wife Ruth came over and we started the assembly of the base. It didn’t take long to mount the 1″ thick sheet of plywood to the four 6″ x 6″ columns.
We brought in the main boards, clamped them together and attached them to the base by screwing them from the bottom up. To finish the top piece we added the end boards and installed the skirt.
After assembling the table we let the table sit overnight to settle. On Saturday we applied the clear coat for an added layer of protection. On Sunday morning, we anxiously added our decor and waited for the family to show up and celebrate Thanksgiving and enjoy our new prized possession.
