Farmhouse Patio Table and Bench

Our backyard is very much a work in progress, but we still wanted to enjoy some outdoor meals this summer.  We really wanted a big table (we made ours to be about 9 feet) that had both chairs and a bench...because you can squeeze so many kids in on a bench!)  With our house being so small, it's super nice to have one big table that can fit a crowd.

We couldn't find a table that had everything we wanted either new (in our price range) or second hand, so we decided to make our own.  Hubby took the lead on this project, but I helped quite a bit too.  The girls' even helped some...and they LOVED it!  I'm excited today to tell you all about our rustic farmhouse outdoor table!  

We loosely used the farmhouse table plan from Ana White and then made a bench following roughly the same principles.  We spent a little over $200 for the supplies for table and bench together (we were able to take advantage of some memorial day savings on supplies, including wood).  We already had most of the saws, drills, etc. that we needed.  The only thing that we had to purchase tool wise was a Kreg Jig.

Want more details?  Keep reading below:

We purchased redwood wood to make our table.  We decided to go ahead and stain our boards before assembling them.  We made our table a little bit longer Ana's.  We also added some support beams to support the longer table.  More on that later.

After we cut the boards we touched up any newly exposed raw wood.

Another way that we altered Ana White's plan was to use a jig saw to cut out the pockets.  First we used a circular saw to cut out about 1/2 to 3/4 inch (by making lots of slices as Ana suggested) but we stopped once we had enough room to fit the jig saw in.

We turned it on its side and used a jig saw to cut out the rest of the notch.

Here they are all finished and ready to stain.

I've never used a Kreg Jig before, and it was so fun learning how to use it.  It was super easy and I can't wait to figure out more great ways to use it in future projects.

Below you can see how we added two support beams to prevent the table stop from sagging (more important because we made our tabletop longer than Ana's.

Now let's talk about the bench.  This picture gives you an idea of how it's constructed.  The ends match the table.  The top is just a 8 ft x 12 inches x 2 inches board.  The posts are 15 inches tall.  The side supports were 2 inches x 4 inch boards (cut to be 87" long).

And that's about it!  Do you like our latest addition to our backyard?  The hubby and I work best on wood working projects like these.  I'm excited to think about what our next one might be!  Big thanks to Ana White for the tutorial and plans!