My apprenticeship continues

Now that I had my key element for the table, A.M. and I walked the five houses down the street to buy the rest of the lumber and have the legs cut shorter. A.M. had expressed concern that the legs looked too long, but I measured them against my body and I thought that they hit my hip in exactly the same place as our current table. As my husband tells me, if it’s possible to mess something up, an apprentice will find the most creative way to do it. With that sage advice in mind, I compared the legs to the table. I was correct, they were the same height, but I had forgotten that the table top would add another inch. Since the table was already on the tall side, another inch would have made it too high for comfortable dining. So as a neophyte, I decided to follow the plans as given. I like to be open to new experiences.
I don’t know why I thought all I would have to do was pick out the lumber and bring it home. After I presented my list, the customer sales associate, A.M. and I walked to the back of the shop.The guy who works in the back (I don’t know what you call the person who deals with the wood) and the saleslady conferred intently. A.M. and I tried to look like we knew what was going on. We wandered around looking at the stacks of plywood and long boards until the CSA announced that five boards would be enough to supply our lumber. So off we went to the front office, where I paid for the boards, plus thirty pesos for delivery and seventy for the cuts. We were advised to expect delivery in about an hour and a half.
Somewhere, somehow, I got the impression that the table would take around 4 hours. It took us about 2 days, 3 if you include the sanding and painting. Maybe 12 hours, neither of us being spring chickens and four hours of carpentry being our limit.
A picture being worth a thousand words, I present our project
Here is the apron on it’s side, we’ve just finished attaching the first pair of legs. On the floor are the boards for the top.


The finished table, A.M. with a drill motor and me with a hammer. Don’t we look proud?







I painted the table with a base coat of Wedgewood blue chalk paint. This photo shows the top after I applied a second coat of paint and waxed it. The formula calls it azul vago which translates as faint or vague blue, but I think of it as palest blue.







The finished table, the legs have gotten a coat of French blue over the basecoat. Applying wax over the two coats of paint creates the lovely aged patina. 




In these photos I’ve moved it into the dining room, and I’ve finished painting three of the six chairs.








I love the chalk paint,it’s a mix of cal, acrylic or latex paint and water. I was even able to paint over the plastic caning on the chairs. There’s more to come on this project, but I am not ready to reveal the rest. Stay tuned for more.