Chalk Painted Farmhouse Table

This chalk-painted farmhouse table has been a project of my dreams for some time now! Believe it or not, Jeff and I made this from simple pine wood and some good old-fashioned white chalk paint. Making this custom table ensured we got the exact size color and style we wanted. Here’s how it turned out…

The Farmhouse Table Build

In our case, we needed a dining room table that was 7 feet long and nearly 4 feet wide. The height is 31 inches tall. Jeff used 2 X 4-inch construction lumber for the tabletop, 2 X 8-inch for the breadboards (table top-end pieces) as well as 3 x 3-inch pieces for the legs. He got all of this from our local hardware store.

He used some pocket holes to screw the wood pieces together and a little bit of wood filler to fill in the screw holes under the table. He also used a handy Kreg Jig to help fuse all of the wood pieces when screwing them together. Then he lightly sanded down the top of the table for a nice finish.

I actually liked the idea of having some character in the table to achieve that farmhouse look, so Jeff did some manual distressing. This was necessary for us since we used new pine wood from the store. If you are using reclaimed wood, you might be able to skip the distressing part altogether. It just depends on what kind of finish you are looking for. He also made sure not to fill in the cracks between the pine boards too much. I wanted the edges of the boards to stand out a little bit. I knew once I added chalk paint to the table, it would bring out the character in the wood even more!

How to Distress Wood

Jeff used a hammer and lightly hit various parts of the tabletop and legs to give it a lived-in worn look. Pine wood is relatively soft, so it did not take much force. Once the distressing was completed, it was time to paint!

Chalk Painting the Farmhouse Table

Now for the fun part! Chalk paint! I think I get a little too excited but I seriously can’t help it. I CAN NOT get enough of Rustoleum’s “Linen White” chalked paint LOL! I have used this on so much furniture in my house already and it looks great EVERY SINGLE TIME! Yes, I have used other paint brands and colors before, but I keep going back to this one! The color is on point, with the perfect white-washed farmhouse finish, and it does not break the bank!

Chalk Paint Brushes

I have 4 chalk paint brushes total. One expensive one I got from home depot and the rest of the brushes I bought on Amazon. They all work great and do the exact same thing! I use one brush for lighter chalk paints, another for dark paint colors, another for clear wax, and another for dark/antiquing wax. I’ve been told that you can use the same chalk paint brush for all of your paint and waxing projects, you just need to make sure the thoroughly clean and rinse your brushes after each use. But I’m a little paranoid so I have always used four separate brushes and I label them to keep them organized.

Sealing Chalk Painted Pieces

The Valspar clear sealing wax has always worked great for my light color chalk painting projects. Its works exceptionally well with the Rustoleum chalk paints and maintains the chalky farmhouse finish that I love!

When I applied the chalk paint to the wood table, I just painted in all different directions to make a nice textured finish. The chalk paint drys extremely fast and was ready for a second coat within 20-30 minutes. I still let the first coat dry off for an hour or two because… paranoid. The wood is a light color to start with, so I only ended up needing two coats total.

Once the table was bone dry, I applied the wax much in the same way I did the chalk paint. I painted it on in different directions and I let the was sit for about 10 minutes before wiping the excess wax off with a lint-free rag. I did 2-3 coats of the wax total, letting each coat dry for at least 4-6 hours in between coats. In this case, I used a bunch of old white t-shirts. You can see this whole process in more detail in our YouTube video!

Enjoy your Farmhouse Table!

The sky is the limit when it comes to custom projects like this. Not only did we save a lot of money by building our own table, but we were also able to make the size and style exactly how we wanted it. I knew I wanted a table a little wider than the standard dining tables I have seen out there. This allowed for more objects like centerpieces, candles, water pitchers, bread baskets, etc. There is enough elbow room for people to sit comfortably, and if needed, it’s easy to squeeze in a few extra chairs for additional guests! It all comes down to your needs and style!

I hope this inspires you to go for it and make your own custom pieces if you just can’t find the one your looking for out there!

Chalk Painted Farmhouse Table Tutorial on YouTube

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What about you?

Do you have any tips on creating your own custom furniture? Have you ever chalk-painted anything? How did it turn out? Leave a comment below!