Several months ago, my parents decided to move to the lake. They bought a great home in a beautiful setting with a yard that you find in a magazine. The style of the house is perfect, but there were a few minor cosmetic updates they wanted to tackle. I was fortunate to have the chance to help my dad put shiplap up in their two story living room! I'll share more on that project in a future post.
When you walk into their house, you come into what was setup as a den. There was a divider wall that had previously been removed to create a long, somewhat narrow room. As my parents were getting moved in and settled, they kept tossing around what they would do with such a large room. That's when my dad said he wanted a dining room table that would seat everyone (kids included) at one time!
In the beginning, this would have been a simple task as we started out as a family of five; my parents, two sisters, and me. Now our family of five has multiplied and with the latest addition of our sweet Ruby Ann, there's a total of FOURTEEN of us! That's when they called me and said they wanted me to build them a dining room table long enough for each of us to have a seat at the table. My heart swelled at the idea!
We went from the picture on the left to the picture right with #14 in my belly.
We immediately started figuring what the dimensions would need to be to seat 14 people and we came up with it needing to be 13 feet long! The longest table I had ever made was this 10 foot table for my brother-in-law & sister-in-law, but I knew I could do it.
Once dimensions were set, I started searching on Pinterest for plans for a 13 foot industrial style farmhouse table. There were lots of tables in that style, but not a single plan for one that long. Then I found this DIY Restoration Hardware dining table from Shanty to Chic. While it wasn't near long enough, I knew I could modify the plans to add an additional middle support to make it work. If you're a woodworker (just starting out or experienced), Shanty to Chic is an excellent resource! They share numerous projects (large and small) with step-by-step instructions for FREE!
As I was building it, I knew I wanted to add a personal touch. My husband engraved a little note from me to them underneath the top of it. Who knows, maybe it will become a treasured piece that gets passed down for generations like my grandmother's table.
As a final thought on this project, I sincerely feel that the world would be a much better place if we all would build a longer table. Create a seat for everyone. Celebrate our differences and just enjoy our time together. It only happens a few times a year that my whole family is altogether at one time and now we have a place to all sit together, converse and love one another. I’m looking forward to all 14 of my family sitting around this table for Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
