I can’t wait to introduce you to another one of my contributors on IC. The Real Housewives of Bucks County are two besties from high school who share a love of DIY and home décor and they have a plethora of amazing projects on their site. Here to wow you with one today, is Monica and Jess with their reclaimed barn wood coffee table. I am green with envy over their pile of barn wood. Why can’t my father-in-law have an unending supply of barn wood? Please give a warm IC welcome to these two crazy talented girls from Bucks County, PA as they show use how to make a barn wood coffee table.
Hey there! We’re Monica & Jess, otherwise known as The Real Housewives of Bucks County. Hmm… Are they drama queens? Do they DIY plastic surgery? You can find those answers and anything else you may or may not have wanted to know about us and our DIY adventures over on our blog.
We were beyond excited and just a little more than flattered when Beckie asked us to be contributors on her blog for the next few months. Let’s face it, Beckie is awesome, so we would be crazy to turn her down. Are we right? 🙂 Once you get to know us, you’ll quickly figure out that we love reclaimed materials, which leads us to what we like to call our Barn meets Beach Coffee Table.
Luckily for us, Jess’ father-in-law supplies us with amazing barn wood from his barn in PA. but don’t worry! We’ll show you how to recreate that look if you don’t happen to have piles of reclaimed wood laying around. Stop what you’re thinking right now! We are NOT crazy, you just never know when a project might call for wood. Ha!
Are you ready for the DIY trick that makes this project sooooo easy? The base of our table is made of two adirondack tables! No extra assembly required, which, let’s face it, is exactly what we like about this project! We bought ours for $12 each from Home Depot during an after-season sale (right now they’re $29, but if you wait, they’ll come down!)
We started by priming just the legs of the tables (you won’t see the table tops once the barnwood top goes on) with Rustoleum’s Ultra Cover in Gray.
We love the color of the primer so much that we often use it alone (true story: I have four frames in my basement that are painted with this primer!), but this table was going in my nautical/cottage style basement, so we went with a Valspar Spraypaint in Navy.
While the paint was curing, we got started on building our table top. We laid our wood down so we could move it around until we figured out the perfect arrangement. Isn’t barn wood gorgeous?!
We measured 44 inches long and 33 inches wide, made marks, and cut the wood with a circular saw (you can use a chop saw, if you have one).
You may have noticed that our table has beautiful blue tones, and we can’t take any credit for it because only years and the elements can create that, but we can fake that look pretty darn well, if you ask us.
So here’s the break-down: We used a very dry brush to paint Benjamin Moore’s Beach Glass on the wood. The key here is not to cover up all of the wood, just brush it on randomly. We are not aiming for perfect coverage here! Then, we wiped on Valspar’s Translucent Color Glaze in Mocha, focusing on the cracks, bumps and holes in the wood. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it away. Sand down any thick paint spots and then brush on one coat of a water-based polyurethane. We recommend water-based because it seals the wood (so a glass with condensation left on it won’t ruin it!) and because it doesn’t alter the color of the wood. Oh yeah, do the same treatment on the edges too, because they’ll be visible!
Ta-da!
Just to prove it to you, here’s the faux-barnwood next to the real thing:
Pretty close, wouldn’t you say? We wanted it to look a bit more polished, but if you want a more rustic look, you can sand it down even more to reveal the wood beneath.
To build the support frame underneath, we took four 1×2’s and cut them to size. The two end pieces were 33 inches, and the long sides were approximately 40 inches (make sure the ends butt up against each other.) Lay the boards face down and then place your support pieces along the edges and nail into place. Grab a friend to help with this because you want all the edges to be aligned, and the boards to stay in place.
We also added two bigger boards in the center as an extra support, and so it rests evenly on the adirondack tables.
Once the top is done, flip it over and place it squarely on top of the adirondack tables. If you want, you can screw the adirondack tables into the barnwood top, but we skipped this step! I loved being able to switch things up if I want, or create open space if I need it by folding up the adirondack tables and hiding the top! 🙂 This beaut is now residing in my basement and I couldn’t love it any more than I do!
We’re hoping this table inspires you to bring a little barn wood into your homes!
LOVE this! So clever to use 2 mini tables. Totally going to try that finish too, way cool.
That’s it. I need a barn near me to fall down. I love the look of the weathered wood, and if nature can do the work instead of me I’d sure appreciate it! 🙂
Wow!! What a gorgeous table!! I love the barnwood – thanks for the great tutorial!!
love this! i’d love to make it, but i’m not the most talented in this area–is it absolutely necessary to have that middle-support piece/frame. is it possible to just lay the table-top directly onto the adirondack tables?
i just made an old barnwood table- but realizing i probably need to sand it and seal it with something- food is absorbing into it.
what should i paint it with and preserve the wood color? polyurithane?
Monica and Jess used a water-based poly on their table. The water-based will not alter the color of the wood. Hope that helps!
Light sand the table to get rid of splinters but preserve the gray. Use Modern Masters Dead Flat Varnish. Make sure it is “dead flat” and not just “flat.” There will be no shine at all, it will protect the color and surface, and you will not get splinters.