DIY Hairpin Dining Table
I love a bright and airy aesthetic, and the majority of the decor in my house is simple and light/neutral colored—natural wood, grays, and whites. I've mentioned before that when I moved in to my current place, I had pretty much no furniture aside from a desk and a bed because I had moved around year to year in college and always just furnished my apartments with whatever mix-matched pieces I needed at the time, getting rid of them as I went along.
I wanted to put together a home that I enjoyed spending time in and felt at peace in. So I took to Pinterest of course, because I've been accumulating pins on boards that I have for literally every single room you could want in a house, for too many years to count.
When it came to the dining "room," I didn't have a ton of space to work with because my living room and dining area are all one open space with the dining area situated right in front of the opening to the hallway that leads to my other rooms. So, I measured out the floor space to see what I could fit and started searching.
I pretty much knew what I was looking for—I didn't want some massive table with ornate legs and mouldings, just a simple wood top with hairpin legs. (This was my original Pinterest inspired idea of what I wanted, I can’t find the original source of this photo.) I definitely didn't want to spend hundreds on what seemed like such a simple table, which I kept running into.
After months of not quite being able to find what I was looking for, I decided why not just make my own? I looked into pricing out what I would need, and finding a solution for joining pieces of wood together in a way that wouldn't require equipment I didn't have (working with just a drill over here).
At the hardware store (which I love going to, smell of lumbar and all), Blake and I sorted through slabs of wood to find similar colored ones and ones with nice looking knots and textures.
I ended up buying some inexpensive 1” x 12” x 6’ boards—but if you're looking for sturdier/thicker wood, there's options there too. I had some clear semi-gloss stain, again lots of options with that, a brush (you don’t need anything super fancy, if you don’t have one already, here’s an inexpensive one), and some assorted grit sandpaper from a previous project.
The hardest part was finding the best option for joining the wood together, and after a little trial and error, I went with 20-gauge wood-to-wood galvanized straps (I used a total of 4 - 24” straps and 4 - 36” straps, but it’ll depend on the length of your table) to use in between pieces.
Blake and I got to work sanding and smoothing each piece. I don't have a sander, so we just hand sanded, starting with a rough grit and then smoothing with fine. Once I was satisfied by the way it felt, we wiped the pieces down to get them ready for staining.
The process involved cycling between brushing the stain on, using long strokes to apply thin coats and letting dry according to the label before lightly sanding with fine grit, and repeating. We did this until the table top felt nice and smooth, without any bumps or rough spots. Be sure to check on it occasionally while the stain is drying too to make sure you catch and remove anything that might've found it way onto the tacky surface (debris, bugs, etc.).
Next was to join the pieces with the metal straps using LOTS of wood screws (I used #6 3/4” Wood Screws), the more contact points where the metal is screwed to the wood, the better it holds because it prevents the wood from bowing and pulling away from the strap. You can use a drill like the one I have, or grab a screwdriver and get to work!
The last step was to screw on the legs on each corner of the table (I ordered these hairpin legs on Amazon) and flip it upright.
And voila, a table perfectly (well I mean...I'm no expert or handy-woman) made to be exactly what I wanted. It all cost around $120 (I already had some things I needed like stain, sandpaper, a brush, and drill). It probably won't hold up you if you try dancing on it or anything crazy, but it does the job as far as a dining table (and occasionally a workstation for my iMac) and I love the way it looks. Plus it’s fun to be able to put to use the fruits of a project you created.
+ Decor
Now to find a bench to go with it… Maybe a DIY pt. 2?
If you need another project, check out my DIY Entryway Bench!
