Kid's Table and Chairs - The Completed Table

There comes a point in every project where you finish the final step and the project is complete. After buffing a coat of wax and attaching the table top, I looked at the table standing atop my bench and thought, "... huh, I'm done". But really, I wasn't. It hadn't been delivered. It hadn't been tested. It hadn't been approved by the customer.

With that thought in mind I took the table upstairs, removed the battered table that was the impetus for this project and placed the new table in its final destination. Too bad I was the only one awake at that hour.




So I took that opportunity to take some pics before the boys had a chance to break it in.





The next morning I left for work before my wife and the boys were awake but not long after I got to my desk the phone rang with a call from home. It made my day to hear my wife gush over how beautiful she thought the table was. If you have been reading this series of blog posts about the table and chairs, you may remember that in the first post the thing I wanted to accomplish the most was to please my wife with this item I made myself. I think I succeeded.

It really hit home though when I saw the boys sitting at it and coloring. I made something truly useful. That's when I really felt the pride well up in me. That's it, I'm hooked. I now have no shortage of furniture projects I want to please my family with, but this one is only half done. I'll begin working on the chairs tonight.

Thanks for reading!
Jim

PS - While I may be quite proud of this table it is not without its flaws in craftsmanship, I just chose not to highlight those in the pictures. The table top is not perfectly flat due to over sanding a couple of spots, I put dowel center marks on one of the legs where dowels don't belong and the filet around the top of the table is a mistake-turned-design-element. None of those things matter though when you look at the figure and grain of the table top and run your fingers over the finish. Buttery smooth.

Link to the entire "Kid's Table and Chairs series"