A handmade dining table brings out the country charm of a vacation home.
You don't need to live in the country to enjoy an air of country living in your dining room. Hunt for, or make, a rural-style dining table to star at formal and informal meals. A country table, handmade, has character and enough interesting quirkiness to function as found art, even when it is supporting the holiday roast or the breakfast eggs from the backyard chickens. Does this Spark an idea?
Weathered Wood
Old wood gets new life when it is sanded and spliced into a dining table. A simple table has a top of silvered wood smoothed by time -- or a little judicious sandpaper -- and joined into a rectangle set on a reclaimed metal base. The base can be as uncomplicated as wrought iron or recycled turned table legs. Or add a contemporary touch with a base of metal angles bolted to the bottom of the reclaimed wood surface.
Mosaic Tiles
A plain picnic table gets a fancier demeanor with a surface of handpainted ceramic tiles. The table may be overlaid with glued-on tiles or feature a center panel of tiles set into the surface. The frame around the tabletop and the mismatched or repurposed wood chairs surrounding the table may be pulled together with the same glossy enamel paint for ease of cleaning. A country-style table like this works equally well in a casual home dining room, an eat-in kitchen or a covered arbor on a patio or terrace.
Repurposed and Painted
No need to treat an old farm table as something precious. It's destined for lively meals and rambunctious children and a whole new life in an urban loft or a country home. So whitewash and paint away its imperfections to give it a new lease on life. A scruffy handmade table becomes the star of the screened porch or the downtown open space home with a coat of paint and a complement of mismatched painted chairs with bright cushions. Set it with a random collection of plates scavenged from country flea markets and serve some homemade, hearty country fare.
Waste Not
When you renovate your country home, save the old wood and put it to good use. Keep salvageable boards out of the woodpile, and match them to each other instead for a new dining table. Worn boards may be smoothed by time and touch to a natural shiny patina, but you can give them a coat of wax or polyurethane if they don't have an innate glow. Set the joined boards on a painted wood frame supported by plain wood table legs, and paint the entire underside support structure in a color to match your decor. That way you save the pretty wood for the visible tabletop and still conserve money and the environment by using leftovers to complete the dining set.
Tags: dining table, country home, dining room, smoothed time, table legs
