Welcome 2018! As part of my new year routine, I’ve been doing a bit of reorganizing and cleaning up…not only not with the house, but with my social media content, website content, and all the other places where content exists. While going through our Pinterest boards,  I realized this particular pin continues to be our most popular. That, in combination with the increasing number of questions I receive about this rustic painted furniture piece, is why I’m creating a post dedicated to it!

First, I am sorry to disappoint, but this rustic table has long since sold…BUT if you would like a similar style,  I am going to do my best to walk through the process of how we rebuilt this table. Good news is…it’s actually quite simple. Bad news is…I don’t have any ‘in progress’ pictures to share as this rustic painted furniture piece was built before I started documenting the steps of our projects (now you can see why I said I’m going to do my best, right?!)

So here we go!

First things first. I found this table and chair set on Craigslist for, I want to say, 40 bucks. Not a bad deal! Oh, and don’t ask how I remember that from years ago.  My brain works in strange ways — my odd memory baffles Cully every day!

Problem was, it was a very basic set. It was already a dark color, but it definitely needed a refresh. Nothing a little Furniture Paint couldn’t solve. I love the look of a wood table top and chalky finish painted bottom, so I decided to spruce up this drab set by creating the same distressed look.

Usually, I would have needed to remove the original table top, but this table top was thin — thinner than the average top, so I decided to keep the original top in tact and simply secure the wood slats to the top.

(Note: if you are going to try this using the existing top, always measure from the floor to the new top to make sure it is not too high — even a couple of inches taller can make you feel like the little kid at the grown up table if the measurements are off from the seating to the final height of the table top)

MATERIALS NEEDED

Now for materials. Here’s a list of what I used for this rustic painted furniture piece:

• 1×4 Pine Wood Slats (for the top)
• 1×2 Pine Wood Slats (for the frame)
• Dewalt Chop Saw
• Early American Stain by Minwax
• Brad Nailer
• Gorilla Waterproof Wood Glue
• Noir Furniture Paint
• Protective Finish

 MEASURE EACH CUT

The hardest part of this project was the measuring. Well, and that is only because I don’t like measuring. I’m an ‘eyeball’ it kind of gal, which can get me into trouble sometimes.

After measuring out each wood slat, I made the cuts needed and did a quick dry fit to make sure nothing was too far off.  After it all looked right, I started by gluing down each 1×4 slat on the top of the table. Then, I used the brad nailer to make sure each slat was securely in place. Next, I cut the wood slats for the frame using the 1×2 pine wood. I cut each corner at an angle for a seamless fit…

Ok, ok. I’ll be honest, after messing up for the third time on the angle, Cully helped with the last board of the frame (a case where my ‘eyeballing’ had failed me, yet again).

GLUE, NAIL, PAINT AND STAIN

Anyway, I digress. After all the wood slats were securely in place by both the glue and the nails, I let it all sit for a few hours then lightly stained the top with Early American by Minwax. 

While the stain was drying, I painted the table apron, legs and chairs using Noir Furniture Paint. After everything was dry, I applied 2 coats of Protective Finish..and just like that, a rustic high top table was born!

I hope this paints a better picture of how this rustic high top was created. As always if you have any questions regarding your own rustic painted furniture project, we would love to hear from you! Use the comment box below and we’ll get back with you as soon as possible.

Until Next Time,

Krista